When the first iPads went on sale in early April 2010, it became clear that the initial tepid public reaction to the device had been misleading. Apple sold 450,000 in the first week, 1 million in the first month, and 19 million in the first year. It took Apple six months to catch up with how fast consumers were buying them, and by 2011 the iPad had overtaken the DVD player to become the hottest-selling consumer electronics device of all time.
Within a year of the iPad’s release it seemed remarkable that Jobs had spent a moment worrying about Android’s rise in 2009 and 2010. Android continued its astonishing growth, but iPhone sales accelerated just as fast. In 2011 Apple made $33 billion, as much as Google and Microsoft combined; it had already passed Microsoft in 2010 to become the biggest technology company in stock market valuation. In 2011 it had passed Exxon to become the biggest company, period, in stock market valuation. By the end of 2011 it was sitting on so much cash — $100 billion — that if it had wanted to use that money to become a bank, it would have ranked among the top ten in the world.