The iPad does not have a spinning hard drive, so the altitude limitation
is false. It is a solid state drive(SSD). And the 10K ft limit is solely due
to laziness on the part of both marketing & the lawyers. Spinning HDs
have the 10K limit due to air pressure (avoid head crashes) but
no problems with SSDs.

Think about it....the Mars Rovers are in atmospheric pressure far
less than 10K and are doing just fine (or did for many years) Why?
Because they're using SSDs.

http://www.bitmicro.com/press_resources_defying.php

http://www.phenxint.com/what/VS1-250...eet%202-09.pdf

http://macperformanceguide.com/Stora...-Overview.html