On September 9^th, 2015, Apple® announced the Apple Pencil™, a stylus introduced for the iPad Pro costing just under $100 that will be made available for purchase in November of 2015. The Apple Pencil is sensitive to angle and pressure, allowing the user to draw graphs and pictures, edit photos, and write with a pencil-like device. While the Apple Pencil definitely has a large support base already, many people find humor in the irony created by this new Apple product.

The irony of the introduction of the Apple Pencil goes back to the unveiling of the iPhone 1 in 2007. Steve Jobs marketed the new phone by saying, “Who wants a stylus? You have to get em’, put em’ away. You lose them. Yuck.” Jobs then went on to suggest that your fingers should take the place of a stylus. The new Apple Pencil is the exact product Jobs claimed the iPhone would make obsolete 8 years ago. However, many argue that, since the iPad Pro doesn’t need to fit in your pocket like the iPhone does, a stylus is a useful addition and that when Jobs dismissed the notion of a stylus, he was only referring to use of a stylus for the 4.5” by 2.4” iPhone and would not say the same about the 12” by 8.68” iPad Pro if he was still here today. Another difference noted by several articles and reviews is that the styluses that Jobs discussed were meant for everyday use, while the Apple Pencil is geared more towards professionals. This fact is made clear by Apple’s advertisement of the pencil, which features mostly the work of artists and graphic designers.

Although it is not definitive whether Steve Jobs would have approved of the new Apple Pencil or not, the public seems to embrace this new product, as they seem to with every new Apple product. In the words of Norman Douglass, “distrust of authority should be the first civic duty” even when the authority is a well-dressed Apple representative at the front of a room.

Link to 2007 introduction of iPhone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YY3MSaUqMg