With last week’s iPad announcement, Apple hopes to start a technology revolution. Again. They nudged the smartphone market into the future with the release of the iPhone. Just a couple of years later, many of the over 140,000 iPhone applications available for download or purchase have pushed mobile development to new heights.
Now developers have a new platform to test their experiments. But while the iPhone ushered in a wave of applications geared around portability and location, the iPad will likely drive developers to create completely new user experiences.
The iPad offers developers a blank 9.7-inch canvas on which they can develop any interface they choose – with the added benefit of multi-touch, positioning sensors, and more. While tablets are not a new concept, they’ve always been built atop the recognized interface and conventions of a traditional computer. Users expect a certain experience with these sorts of applications; if it doesn’t feel familiar, there’s often resistance.
On a new form factor like the iPad, the resistance to change almost completely disappears. The iPad is a new experience from the start and lacks the complex interface of normal computers, allowing developers to spend less time focusing on what people expect and more time focusing on what is natural.
Developers around the world have a new, intuitive interface for applications. Expect to see some true innovation for the iPad over the next few months.
