Excitement about iPad: A Large Screen Multi-Touch Platform

[MacRumors]

With the launch of the Apple iPad, there has been no shortage of reactions and opinions on the device. We feel the most promising aspect of the iPad is there is now an relatively inexpensive full-sized multi-touch platform that is open to a massive audience of developers. Apple's multi-touch iWork implementation seems to be just the beginning, and it would come as no surprise if Apple were to port more of their applications (iMovie, GarageBand, etc..) over to the iPad in time. The implementation of a File Sharing system for the first time opens up support for these sort of file-based applications.

Joe Hewitt, a prominent developer who had given up the App Store, is excited about the prospects of the iPad.

iPad is an incredible opportunity for developers to re-imagine every single category of desktop and web software there is. Seriously, if you're a developer and you're not thinking about how your app could work better on the iPad and its descendants, you deserve to get left behind.

iPhone game developers have been particularly vocal about their enthusiasm for the iPad. Firemint, the developers behind the massively successful Flight Control game have already committed to an iPad adaptation. Meanwhile, they also believe that the iPad could offer more personal multi-player experiences:

There’s something very satisfying about sitting in a circle with family and friends and sharing an experience, whether it’s gathering around a camp fire, around the kitchen table or around an iPad. At the moment multiplayer games often physically separate people from each other. You might be in completely different places playing World of Warcraft over the Internet. You might be sitting on a sofa playing console games with friends, but facing a large screen instead of each other. iPad could be different, and once a family has gathered around it to play a board game, we think they are far more likely to try other kinds of games too.

Several forum readers have expressed excitement that music tools akin to the Jazz Mutant Lemur will be possible. In fact, any of the impressive large screen multi-touch videos that we've seen over the past few years could be possible in some form on the iPad: Missile command, Jeff Han, TouchGrind, Warcraft III, MIDI controller.

While the App Store has been a massive success, the scope of individual iPhone applications have restricted in scope by its the 3.5" screen. We expect to see more ambitious titles for the iPad over time.


Article Link: Excitement about iPad: A Large Screen Multi-Touch Platform

 

[martint84]

Great post. It's always nice to see that some people get it...

The MLB app alone is worth buying the iPad. Too many people on this forum doubt the talent and imagination of developers.

 

[GL2]

I think the iPad is a device that is going to take some time to really catch on. Whether it ever becomes a hit for Apple will depend on the quality of the apps that are developed for it. As it is right now, it's a bit of a dud. No built-in camera for video conferencing means this is really just a big iPod Touch. It's too big to be a portable device you can drop in your pocket. You need a bag or a backpack for it. And if you're going to do that, you might as well carry a more powerful laptop with a real keyboard. Apple saw this as filling the gap between smart phones and laptops, but I don't think there really was a gap there. The iPad may yet prove to be a success, but it will have to carve out a niche for itself, and for that to happen, Apple needs the help of developers to create apps to win over buyers. That and Apple needs to improve the features set.

 

[NiteWaves77]

Joe Hewitt, a prominent developer who had given up the App Store, is excited about the prospects of the iPad.

You abandoned us, Joe. Nobody cares what you think now.

 

[SandynJosh]

It could be that this device heralds the first step away from the "typewriter" metaphor that's been with us since 1868.

I've been more then a little impressed with the "thinking outside the box" that I've seen with the app designers for the iPhone and touch. I wonder if we will recognize the computer of 10 years from now.

 

[yyy]

I don't want to buy a whole new device in order to enjoy multi-touch apps. I want multi-touch on my Mac which I'm comfortable with and which I'm going to use most of my time anyway.

Apple, please don't invent new devices in order to make us pay more. It's a shame to waste your wonderful technologies by separating them from each other.

 

[firewood]

virtual desktop

There's an article that just appeared in Forbes touting the iPad as the perfect virtual desktop viewer. Why carry a laptop, when you can carry something even lighter than the lightest netbook, and view the desktop of your hot heavy Mac Pro, or octo-core PC workstation?

Enterprises can get rid of most of their laptops and PCs (except for power users, and remote field workers with bad net connections) and virtualize all of this stuff in their server room. Just give all their employees a VM in their private cloud server, fast wifi, an iPad, and a Bluetooth keyboard.

There are already over a dozen VNC and RDP apps in the App store, just waiting to get an iPad large screen update.

 

[Eric S.]

It could be that this device heralds the first step away from the "typewriter" metaphor that's been with us since 1868.

For real work you still need a keyboard, unless you use the Macbook Wheel.

There's an article that just appeared in Forbes touting the iPad as the perfect virtual desktop viewer. Why carry a laptop, when you can carry something even lighter than the lightest netbook, and view the desktop of your hot heavy Mac Pro, or octo-core PC workstation?

Enterprises can get rid of most of their laptops and PCs (except for power users, and remote field workers with bad net connections) and virtualize all of this stuff in their server room. Just give all their employees a VM in their private cloud server, fast wifi, an iPad, and a Bluetooth keyboard.

An iPad and a bluetooth keyboard? I'd rather have my laptop.

 

[arn]

I don't want to buy a whole new device in order to enjoy multi-touch apps. I want multi-touch on my Mac which I'm comfortable with and which I'm going to use most of my time anyway.

But your Mac is not a multi-touch device. So it can't offer these kind of multi-touch apps. Not one-to-one screen touching versions. A magic mouse or MacBook Pro mousepad is not the same thing.

arn

 

[ImNoSuperMan]

Well, was a lil underwhelmed when iPad (still giggling at the name choice) was first announced. But now that we know what we are actually gonna get and there`s no point in dreaming about an iTablet as powerful as the MacBook, I`m now leaning towards getting this thing. In the last couple of days, I`ve found myself in more than a few situations where iPad would have been so much useful compared to either my Macbook or the iPod touch. I know I`ll be getting it for sure now. Just wish I could get atleast 32GB for the base model.

 

[interestedabit]

You abandoned us, Joe. Nobody cares what you think now.

Us? Speak for yourself, I can't wait to try it out.

 

[harley3k]

There's an article that just appeared in Forbes touting the iPad as the perfect virtual desktop viewer. Why carry a laptop, when you can carry something even lighter than the lightest netbook, and view the desktop of your hot heavy Mac Pro, or octo-core PC workstation?

Enterprises can get rid of most of their laptops and PCs (except for power users, and remote field workers with bad net connections) and virtualize all of this stuff in their server room. Just give all their employees a VM in their private cloud server, fast wifi, an iPad, and a Bluetooth keyboard.

There are already over a dozen VNC and RDP apps in the App store, just waiting to get an iPad large screen update.

Awesome, you could call it something like:

Thin-Client
or
Network Computer

oh wait...no...

 

[mikes70mustang]

Their going to come out with a new version in 6 months called a iPad Pro, its gonna have a .5 MP camera and cost $1000

 

[cmaier]

I'll buy one. But just one. That'll learn 'em.

 

[macfan881]

Great post. It's always nice to see that some people get it...

The MLB app alone is worth buying the iPad. Too many people on this forum doubt the talent and imagination of developers.

I agree the MLB at bat is amazing i almost wonder if this would Finally Convince Hulu or Netflix to make a App now.

 

[SandynJosh]

I don't want to buy a different device in order to enjoy multi-touch apps. I want multi-touch on my Mac which I'm comfortable with and which I'm going to use most of my time anyway.

What if the next iteration of the MacBook Pro included the electronics of iPad including the new A4 chip along with the Intel chip and the usual MBP electronics, so a user could switch between a highly battery-efficient mode and a Intel compatible mode? I'd love to be able to opt to not have a toaster oven on my lap for most of my work, and yet be able to go into that mode for some things that I need to use or exchange files.

The MBP wouldn't need to have a touch screen, just a bigger touch pad that would recognize when I'm using it for a palm rest.

 

[plokoonpma]

I don't want to buy a whole new device in order to enjoy multi-touch apps. I want multi-touch on my Mac which I'm comfortable with and which I'm going to use most of my time anyway.

Apple, please don't invent new devices in order to make us pay more. It's a shame to waste your wonderful technologies by separating them from each other.

What about the rest of the world, you sound like a very selfish person, the world doesn't spin around u and Apple figured out that long time ago.
For the rest of us that in my case there is no point having an iphone cause is too expensive or the data service sucks it will be a very nice product. I still have like 60 apps from the first gen iphone I had years ago!

 

[firewood]

An iPad and a bluetooth keyboard? I'd rather have my laptop.

You're not buying laptops for 1000 employees, and worrying about what happens to your companies data when somebody (at least one) loses a laptop. With a remote desktop viewing app on an iPad, none of your valuable disk drives ever have to leave the building.

 

[batchtaster]

What if the next iteration of the MacBook Pro included the electronics of iPad...

Then it would cost $499 more and everybody would complain. Again.

I find it amusing that not too long ago, people were ooh-ing and aah-ing and getting all moist about Jeff Han's video of multi-touch on a large surface. Then, Apple releases a product that is capable of exactly that (albeit a little more economically sized) and they start calling it iFlop. Apparently people get complacent or forget.

Me, I'm glad the developers get it. The haters will look foolish in a few months time (although they'll conveniently forget it) and with a little luck, through the power of their apps some developers will imbue me with the power of Han-ness.

Moist.

 

[Matthew Yohe]

What if the next iteration of the MacBook Pro included the electronics of iPad including the new A4 chip along with the Intel chip and the usual MBP electronics, so a user could switch between a highly battery-efficient mode and a Intel compatible mode? I'd love to be able to opt to not have a toaster oven on my lap for most of my work, and yet be able to go into that mode for some things that I need to use or exchange files.

The A4 is an ARM instruction set, while the Intel chip is x86-64. So, that wouldn't work exactly how you're thinking.

 

[uraniumwilly]

Excitement about iPad: A Large Screen Multi-Touch Platform

What a great read. Nice to see people thinking creatively about the ipad. Glad to have some solid reasons for enthusiasm.

So nice to see something sane written, as opposed to all the adolescent crackpot dingbats that hangout, write (and ruin) the macrumor's ipad forum.

 

[cmaier]

The A4 is an ARM instruction set, while the Intel chip is x86-64. So, that wouldn't work exactly how you're thinking.

So? You could run 2 os's and access shared data - why boot into mac os just to play your iTunes library, for example.

 

[firewood]

Awesome, you could call it something like:

Thin-Client
or
Network Computer

oh wait...no...

oh wait... yes!

With Apple's consumer prices, consumer volumes and economies of scale, the iPad could succeed where other thin client solutions failed to get traction. A thin client device isn't very useful for anything else after the days work shift is over. (It can't even fart!) With the iPad, your VNC/RDP viewing app is one of 140k other possibilities.

 

[anthonyjr]

I can't stand all the people overly-voicing their negative opinions on the iPad. Did they miss the memo on what this thing is for? Were the black couch and coffee table not visible? This is a pick-me-up-and-get-to-it device, with comfort.

I don't want to have to surf the web / check e-mail from my tiny iPhone screen, by moving to a computer chair, or sitting cramped over a laptop. Why should such simple, down-to-the-grit tasks have such complexities?

The simple, ergonomic computing experience is something I'm really looking for. Yeah, I guess you could bash it for being a "gigantic iPod Touch" - if that's the only part of your brain that you can use. I for one love the gigantic multi-touch screen and can only imagine the possibilities. The majority of its fate really is in the developer's hands.

 

[thehouseofdis]

I would love it if somebody (Jazzmutant) developed apps for the iPad to make it similar to the Lemur. It could be a fantastic interface for laptop djs and musicians and video artists.