My thoughts on the iPad.
A lot of people seem to have an issue with Apple’s recently announced iPad, despite having never touched one. I personally think the iPad is going to be a game changer, and here are my reasons why.
The OS
Tablets are nothing new. They’ve been around for at least 15 years in some form or another, but they’ve never managed to do well. Why? I blame the operating system. A fully enabled windows or OSX expects to be run on a full PC or laptop. The way you interact with those operating systems is entirely different from how you interact with a touch-based OS.
Applications for desktop operating systems are designed with mice or click/point devices in mind. If you try to interact with your fingers on an application like that, the experience is pure garbage. The iPhone/iPod Touch got it right. The buttons are big, clear and concise. Couple that with amazing touchscreen hardware and you end up with a great product. Apple knows this and has leveraged their iPhone OS for the iPad.
The Apps
The apps that were built for the iPhone are generally lightweight-productivity apps. This makes them ideal for deployment on a mobile device with lower processing power. In addition to the processing power, you have to understand that tablet buyers aren’t looking for full functionality applications. They have desktops or laptops that are much more profficient at these tasks. Imagine a full copy of Photoshop running on the iPad. What would be the point? It’s simply too much. That makes the iPhone OS the perfect candidate for a tablet. I didn’t realize this before today, as I was expecting OSX to run on the iPad.
The Screen
The biggest gripes I’ve seen so far have compared the iPad to a “giant iPhone”. I would say that’s about right. What they don’t realize is that the screen makes all the difference. The screen size means two things: Firstly, you’ll definitely hold the device differently. In doing so, you change the way you interact with it. Unlike the iPhone, you’ll generally hold the iPad with both hands in either vertical or horizontal orientation. This makes all the difference from a UI perspective.
Secondly, the simple fact that theres more real estate on the screen means we designers can do more with the allowed space. With the iPhone, we’re constantly thinking about states. Because the screen is so small, we have to decide which functionality will be on the current page and which functionality will be removed for a different page. With the iPad, we won’t need to do that. This will result in more engaging applications.
The App Store
A lot of people blame the choice of operating system on the app store — They think Apple makes more money off of it, hence this is the only reason to use the iPhone OS… to gain profit from the app store. While I’ll agree they make a handy profit from the app store, this is far from the only reason to use the iPhone OS (and the app store).
The app store offers many things to both developers and consumers. Of course, application visibility is a given. A delivery platform is a nice thing to have as well — one place to manage your application purchases comes in handy. But, moreso than that, I enjoy the app store for the prices. Applications that sometimes you would pay $30 to $80 for are now only $1 to $10, tops. The competition because of the increased visibility helps keep prices low. It’s simple economics, really.
The Announcement
I teased that I was making an announcement here, so here it is. It’s not that significant, but I want to make it known. JimmyLA LLC will be producing applications for the iPad. We hope to have our first application available shortly after the iPad is available, if not immediately after. I won’t say what application, but rest assured that I see the power in this platform. I know it will be a big hit, and I’m positive a lot of people will be forced to eat their words. The ways this platform can be applied around-the-house or in-the-office are substantial. I don’t think business travelers will have a big need for an iPad, but I could see opting for the iPad instead of a laptop when on a personal vacation. I guess we’ll see, right?
— Jimmy
