Omnigroup Commits to Bring Five Productivity Apps to iPad

[Arnia]

One of the problems I have with calling the iPad a "computer" and one that stares me in the face when I see programs like this and iWork- is there anyway to print from the iPad? What about just e-mail files created as an attachment? How are files saved and accessed without any sort of file directory or "Finder" system?

Not sure how reliable this rumour is but:

"Sources who talked to Apple’s business unit also say the company is working on some additional features that haven’t been publicly announced yet. These include support for direct network printing from iPad apps, as well as support for accessing shared files from a local file server."
— http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2010/01/29/apple-to-target-ipad-at-business-users-with-added-features/

 

[kirky29]

These apps will help to make the iPad great! I'd love to see a 'full' Filemaker app too! That would make it fantastic.

I can't wait to get my hands on to one!

 

[Eidorian]

It's not my fault if all YOU do is lurk around internet forums. I get out a lot and I hear people talking about the iPad, plus I watch a few tech shows weekly and they talk about it a lot. I don't hear them talking about other announced released Tablets from CES. Wonder why?

No one seems to know it exists outside of here. It's rather bothersome to be honest.

No one talks about it unless I bring it up. Otherwise the usual post-keynote podcasts and tech shows are the same thing different day.

 

[DanielSw]

I'm glad Apple has people working for them that are more imaginative than folks that make this kind of comment. Otherwise our "laptops" would be Apple II's shoved in giant backpacks that we'd wear while lugging around our suitcases of floppy disks.

Please. Wanting a non-crippled OS is hardly non-forward-thinking. If anything, I'm being more progressive minded than than you and all of the other Steve Jobs fanboys that just love the fact that companies will have to make their applications twice in order to make them work on the iPad.

You know what would be a much more impressive news post on the front page of MacRumors than "*insert one company* is developing for the iPad!"?? How about: "ALL Mac OSX programs work on the iPad!"

This kind of fixed idea of yours makes you a dinosaur. It's like you're not hearing anything that Apple is saying here. They've developed a whole new computing paradigm based on multi-touch which will fundamentally change how many of us think of and use a computer.

You're also not hearing what OmniGroup is "saying" by making major commitments to this new device--even at the possible expense of delaying Mac development. Why would they do that if they thought that the iPad OS was at all crippled? No. Quite the contrary. They see its promise like many of the rest of us.

The iPad is going to sell like crazy--like no other Apple product before it.

View the iPad event video on at apple.com. Steve diagrammed out the gap that the iPad filled between the iPhone and the Mac. It's not a mere netbook.

They've never wanted to make a netbook. But they did realize that there was a demand for them. Why? Because netbook customers need only a fraction of the power and function of a laptop and didn't want to or couldn't pay the high price.

So Apple figured out a better solution in the form of the iPad. A touch interface is better than tiny keyboards and mice on net books. Multi-touch is clever already, but it stands to be improved continuously with experience and customer feedback and feature requests.

Its form factor alone is going to encourage large numbers of existing computer owners, and even larger numbers of prospective computer owners who have been waiting for something that better suited their needs to finally make their move and buy an iPad.

 

[Peace]

No one seems to know it exists outside of here. It's rather bothersome to be honest.

No one talks about it unless I bring it up. Otherwise the usual post-keynote podcasts and tech shows are the same thing different day.

Well these people seem to know about it.

“I thought it was really cool, and I can’t wait to get my hands on one,” said Monica Ray, senior vice president of strategy for magazine publisher Time Inc.

“It’s definitely like a very big iPod touch, but you kind of want it,” said Sarah Chubb, president of Condé Nast Digital, who braved a “stampede” to score a good seat at the unveiling. She compared the scene to a sold-out Rolling Stones concert.

Condé Nast expects to have an iPad app for GQ (that title also launched a paid iPhone app last year) ready for the launch of the device, Ms. Chubb said. She declined to comment on other titles in the works, but a person familiar with the plans said a digital edition of Vanity Fair and Wired magazines could also be ready for launch.

 

[Eidorian]

Well these people seem to know about it.

“I thought it was really cool, and I can’t wait to get my hands on one,” said Monica Ray, senior vice president of strategy for magazine publisher Time Inc.

“It’s definitely like a very big iPod touch, but you kind of want it,” said Sarah Chubb, president of Condé Nast Digital, who braved a “stampede” to score a good seat at the unveiling. She compared the scene to a sold-out Rolling Stones concert.

Condé Nast expects to have an iPad app for GQ (that title also launched a paid iPhone app last year) ready for the launch of the device, Ms. Chubb said. She declined to comment on other titles in the works, but a person familiar with the plans said a digital edition of Vanity Fair and Wired magazines could also be ready for launch.

I'm sure these examples count as the unwashed masses.

 

[Peace]

I'm sure these examples count as the unwashed masses.

I'm so sorry you're leaving the future behind. Enjoy that mouse in your hand. I look forward to being mouseless.

 

[Eidorian]

I'm so sorry you're leaving the future behind. Enjoy that mouse in your hand. I look forward to being mouseless.

I'm not that interested in a ModBook right now to be honest.

 

[Stately]

All I know is that an ipad pro or something better eventually come out. Seriously, Omni is big news to people . . ? Sheesh. Aperture, Office, CS4, even Flash is big news. I am seriously disappointed. The UI is great, but what can I really do with this thing? I waited for a tablet this long for this big of a let down, wow. . crickets . .

 

[gibbz]

Omnigroup makes some very awesome software. I can't wait to see what they come up with for the iPad.

The UI is great, but what can I really do with this thing?

Here are a few.

 

[SandynJosh]

Pff. Call me when it runs OSX and it no longer matters what companies want to spend their sweet time developing for yet another platform. Until then, I'll be on my laptop.

Well then, use your d*mn laptop...the iPad isn't supposed to replace a laptop but fill in a gap between a laptop and a iPhone. Didn't you get the memo??

 

[ShiftyPig]

This kind of fixed idea of yours makes you a dinosaur. It's like you're not hearing anything that Apple is saying here. They've developed a whole new computing paradigm based on multi-touch which will fundamentally change how many of us think of and use a computer.

Is this along the same lines as when Jobs said that cities would be built around the Segway? The same Segway that never broke even and was sold off to the Brits at the cost of hundreds of millions of hedge fund dollars?

It's a crippled machine in a crippled form factor. You're honestly going to lay this thing flat on a table to type? Paradigms don't change because people say they do; paradigms change when people create something that genuinely advances some aspect of life, which the iPad does not do. Having the Internet in your hand is not new, nor is the method to achieve it.

Location: Clearwater, FL

Been drinking too much of the Xenu water, eh?

“It’s definitely like a very big iPod touch, but you kind of want it,” said Sarah Chubb, president of Condé Nast Digital, who braved a “stampede” to score a good seat at the unveiling. She compared the scene to a sold-out Rolling Stones concert.

Last time I checked, the Rolling Stones don't play 750-seat venues.

 

[admanimal]

It's a crippled machine in a crippled form factor.

Again for the 10000th time, it's only crippled in the sense that it doesn't do every single thing that a computer with a desktop-class OS can do, which is not its point. It is NOT crippled in the sense that it DOES do almost everything that 80% of the population ever does on their computers, without forcing them to endure the hassles of normal computer use (PC or Mac). This is the whole point of not putting regular OS X on it (that and the fact that normal OS X was in no way meant for a touch device). If anything, normal computers are BLOATED compared to what their users actually need to do with them.

 

[bretm]

The availability of OmniOutliner is enough to sway me to get an iPad over an iPod touch (I was having trouble deciding). With desktop class productivity applications appearing for the iPad, it will really be a [semi-crippled] $500 multi-touch mac.

What about iWork? That's essentially office. And now it's running on a device that plays nice with windows machines and users. They get a bigger taste of apple. More halo effect.

 

[MadDog31]

Everything changed for me as soon as I saw the MLB app. I'm ditching my MacBook for the iPad. 12 games a night at your finger tips with most being in HD.

I completely agree. The app they showed was already incredible, just imagine what MLB will do once they really get rolling on this app. Light years ahead of other sports. I love baseball...haha

 

[admanimal]

Light years ahead of other sports. I love baseball...haha

No kidding...I'm not a baseball fan but if the NHL put out an app like this, I would pay pretty much whatever they wanted for it.

 

[Ropedartman]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)

I use Omni Focus on my Mac and iPhone, I wa hoping they'd jump on this! Can't wait to use it on the iPad.

 

[ShiftyPig]

Again for the 10000th time, it's only crippled in the sense that it doesn't do every single thing that a computer with a desktop-class OS can do, which is not its point. It is NOT crippled in the sense that it DOES do almost everything that 80% of the population ever does on their computers, without forcing them to endure the hassles of normal computer use (PC or Mac). This is the whole point of not putting regular OS X on it (that and the fact that normal OS X was in no way meant for a touch device). If anything, normal computers are BLOATED compared to what their users actually need to do with them.

But, along the FB talking point that this some paradigm-shifting product, it IS crippled. I've been surfing the Internet on my couch since 2004. Surfing the Internet isn't groundbreaking.... this is 2010. The FB's say this isn't meant to replace your computer - well, it's going to be competing head-on with netbooks that offer a lot more for a lot less money. But, but.... it isn't a netbook, they say. Well a Segway isn't a scooter, but it couldn't compete against scooters.

The only people who think that this is some great paradigm shift in the history of computing are simpletons who are amazed by a different, inefficient input method.

Everything changed for me as soon as I saw the MLB app. I'm ditching my MacBook for the iPad. 12 games a night at your finger tips with most being in HD.

ProTip: go to MLB.tv. That package is already available for laptops.

If you think MLB is going to let you watch every game for the price of the app, you need help.

 

[admanimal]

But, along the FB talking point that this some paradigm-shifting product, it IS crippled. I've been surfing the Internet on my couch since 2004. Surfing the Internet isn't groundbreaking.... this is 2010. The FB's say this isn't meant to replace your computer - well, it's going to be competing head-on with netbooks that offer a lot more for a lot less money. But, but.... it isn't a netbook, they say.

And people had been using portable MP3 players since 1998...and the iPod has never been the most "feature-packed" or cheapest MP3 player, but....

 

[Don.Key]

I'm so sorry you're leaving the future behind. Enjoy that mouse in your hand. I look forward to being mouseless.

Apples and Oranges,

While end-user / consumer grade devices such as iPad are indeed screaming for multitouch, future of "classical" computers may be mouseless but it will definitively not be controlled by physical user's input all over the presentation space.

Input discussions aside, what I am a bit worried is that Apple might eventually start to "Lock Down" and "DRM Poison" it's desktop OS as well.

The signs are pointing in that direction, once the App Store has large number of desktop grade apps in it, apple could easily let classical OSX to die out and push it's iPhone OS onto the desktop. And this would be hailed as a genius move to save resources of developers (both inside and outside of apple) by 95% of Apple fanboys.

 

[SandynJosh]

I think so too. The Macintosh 128k was a simple machine; no bells and whistles. It gained better hardware and software as it started to mature into the Macs we have now. I see that Apple will do this with their touch-based platform they are setting up.

I'm just wary that history will repeat itself...

History is repeating itself in more ways the you realize... 1984 to 2010, and we're back to a +9" screen, only this time in color. Oh, and no hard disk this time either.

Just like 1984, Apple wrote the first useful apps (MacPaint & MacWrite); this time we got iWork.

Back then, I paid $2500 for the 128K Mac and they threw in the two apps. With the iPad I can buy a lot of apps for the roughly $2000 difference.

 

[ShiftyPig]

And people had been using portable MP3 players since 1998...and the iPod has never been the most "feature-packed" or cheapest MP3 player, but....

The iPod had (and probably still has) the best user interface of any MP3 player.

There is not the slightest hint that suggests a touchscreen tablet is a superior interface to anything already on the market. You hold it with one hand and hunt/peck type with another, inefficient. You lay it flat and stare down at a table, inefficient. You prop it against your knees (God help you if you're 30+ or don't want to put your feet on your furniture) and type at an awkward angle, inefficient.

Notice all the promotional material when the person is typing on the iPad:

When is the last time you sat like that? WTF.... are his legs floating in the air, or up on a table? Or is it a contrived video that masks just how awkward any level of productivity will be on this thing?

Toy? Yes. Paradigm shift? Laughable.

 

[jmadlena]

The iPod had (and probably still has) the best user interface of any MP3 player.

There is not the slightest hint that suggests a touchscreen tablet is a superior interface to anything already on the market. You hold it with one hand and hunt/peck type with another, inefficient. You lay it flat and stare down at a table, inefficient. You prop it against your knees (God help you if you're 30+ or don't want to put your feet on your furniture) and type at an awkward angle, inefficient.

Notice all the promotional material when the person is typing on the iPad:
...

When is the last time you sat like that? WTF.... are his legs floating in the air, or up on a table? Or is it a contrived video that masks just how awkward any level of productivity will be on this thing?

Toy? Yes. Paradigm shift? Laughable.

Why are some people on this forum completely incapable of understanding that not everyone needs what they need? Not everyone needs to edit HD video, type a novel, or program an application. Most people use computers for a few simple things. The iPad delivers that, and deny it all you want, at a decent price. Plus in a very easy to use, attractive interface.

I couldn't care less what you want to use. If you want a netbook, if it serves your needs, good for you! I have no animosity towards you, yet you seem bent on denying others of something that just may provide a valuable service to them. Why do you care what other people use if they enjoy it and find it useful?

Stop mocking and try listening. For a lot of people, this may make daily computing more accessible, and less confusing. Can't you understand that this is for casual computing? Like when someone might be on the couch, wanting to check baseball scores? Or in the kitchen while cooking dinner looking up a recipe? This can do all of that easily.

It has value to some people. If not, people won't buy it, and Apple will have to reevaluate. But I'm betting it will be successful. We shall see in a few months.

 

[poseidon84]

Apples and Oranges,

While end-user / consumer grade devices such as iPad are indeed screaming for multitouch, future of "classical" computers may be mouseless but it will definitively not be controlled by physical user's input all over the presentation space.

Input discussions aside, what I am a bit worried is that Apple might eventually start to "Lock Down" and "DRM Poison" it's desktop OS as well.

The signs are pointing in that direction, once the App Store has large number of desktop grade apps in it, apple could easily let classical OSX to die out and push it's iPhone OS onto the desktop. And this would be hailed as a genius move to save resources of developers (both inside and outside of apple) by 95% of Apple fanboys.

My take on the future is that apple will use iPhone OSX for iMac-type computers also. And this will lead to a StarTrek-like world where we have multitouch computers. But besides this we will have MacPros which are used for more creatvie and programming tasks. So ordinary people will use iPhone/iPad/iMac for their normal tasks in iPhone OSX and the ones creating stuff for that platform will use MacPro.

 

[X_Entity]

compelling use case

Prior to last Wednesday I wasn't convinced I needed a tablet device in my life.

web browsing on the couch - My Macbook Pro has lived on my coffee table when I'm at home.

Web browsing in bed - Netbook on the bedside table

Ebooks - I have a sony reader I love to bits, thank you very much

mobile browsing - iphone.

media consumption - network streaming blu-ray player/iphone

You see my point, there needed to be a compelling reason for me to even think about buying one. I couldn't even begin to think what that could possibly be there didn't seem, to me, to be a space in my life for such a device.

iWork made the beginnings of a sales case. I envision going to meetings at work with an iPad instead of the giant paper based diary/notepad that I carry everywhere around the building. Keynote makes sense to me as well every meeting room has a projector with vga input on it in my building.

Omni group just made the sale. With project planning and time management and GTD and everything else they're offering, there are no downsides. I have a device that weighs in at not much more than the giant notepad but has far more functionality.

I didn't need another toy in my life and I knew it. I do need a business device. As an added bonus it will play games, surf the net, email etc...

As to the lack of flash, I really couldn't give a cr@p Youtube and Vimeo are already making the switch to HTML5 every other video site that wants to stay relevant will do the same. Mobile porn sites aren't hard to find if that's what floats your boat and as for flash based games... If you can't find an equivalent in the app store I'd be surprised. Flash has been poisoned at dinner and it hasn't kicked in yet. Given another 12 months you'll start to see the first signs of death and a year later the only flash left will be advertising which I can live without.

Lack of a full OS - Seriously ? that's not a downside. It can easily be shown time and again throughout the last 10 years failed tablet after failed tablet after failed UMPC that the problem has always been desktop metaphors don't work in that form factor. Never have, never will, end of. Be it Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 or Axiotron OS X modbook. They all suck. Heavy, expensive, unusable in any real way. So many companies have died trying to do a tablet that way it's almost funny. The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Apple have seen this and are attacking from a different side and not just re-hashing the same thing in an attempt to appear to a limited audience of Doctors on rounds Or the cast of Stargate.

In conclusion. What some see as downsides, I see the future calling. Are there still a couple of things I would like to see in the iPad? of course there are. I would really like to see tethering to my iPhone without having to jailbreak. I'd love to see greater codec support in the video player but neither of these things is a huge deal. The first one means I'll have to wait a bit and pay a touch more for the 3G iPad. The second will likely never happen but there's nothing stopping me from reformatting my content. So I'm sold.