Apple unveiled the iPad, and like the gratuitous, grovelling, subservient little MacBoy I am, here is my dribble-fest of a blog post about it.

I’m hopefully adding something to the conversation by not tackling obvious things here. Obvious things like whether it works as a concept, or whether it will be massively successful, or whether Apple has launched it at such a competitive price that they are clearly aiming to stake out the marketplace for the next 10 years ahead of anyone else.

I’m not even going to mention that this device has the ability to actually do what computers have so far failed to grasp which is that they are far too complex for the vast majority of people outside of work hours and that this singlehandedly will be the benchmark format for the home computer in the next few years. I won’t even discuss how there are a load of big manufacturers now all scrambling to rearrange their current offerings and hardware to create a similar product that delivers their own format (because that really reminds me of how quickly you saw lots of touchscreen devices within months of iPhone announcement).

I insist that I will not speak of the enormous bevel which clearly set some designers’ teeth on edge, but is incredibly necessary considering how you will grasp this item, or even hint in this article about the insanely beautiful way you will be able to interact with a computer like you never have with any device before.

No, I just refuse to stoop so low as to mention any of that stuff.

What I’d like to discuss instead is the potential applications of the iPad. The bigger screen is the key here. Even if you argue it’s just a bigger iPhone, that’s actually probably the most critical observation you can make, because the thing that limits the iPhone clearly is the size of the screen.

Something you can cradle in the crook of your arm sort of starts to get all sci-fi; just like when someone introduced a touch screen phone a few years back. You can monitor stuff from a screen that is that big. The mail app they’ve created, makes the most of all that real-estate and you can look at multiple items and information displays on a single screen. I’m going to throw out some ideas of ways I think we could see this being used, even by us tech-types.

1. The Web Designer/Developer

Many have dismissed the iPad because of the limited specs and abilities. Clearly this isn’t a machine designed for you. Or is it? The fact is you’ll never be able to edit video like a pro on this, but if your a coding sort of person, you probably could work from this device.

I’ve done basic emergency web stuff from my iPhone. I’ve connected to RDC in a pub to run a script on a server at 9pm on a Friday night (cool eh? No? What do you mean?). I’ve used SSH to reboot a machine. I’ve edited HTML documents on the fly. Dropbox, FTP, SSH apps - they already make this possible, but only for minor jobs. The limitation as a workstation is screen size. You just can’t physically interact with it fast enough because switching between tools is a mission.

But I can see space for a Dreamweaver-esque app (or Coda, or whatever) that simply takes all the good bits about the iPad, either utilises the cloud or whatever storage techniques it permits, and you can then manage and edit web content. The fact they demoed Keynote/Pages illustrates that this device allows more serious applications that simply cannot be delivered on a phone platform.

We’re not talking here about running big function server sites, but certainly initial layups, markup and the like is going to be possible. Custom tag keyboards could make it like coding by numbers. With integrated Safari rendering direct in the app too, previewing your work isn’t a problem and all from the comfort of your seat as you whizz down to London on the Cosmic Teleport Train (because that’s coming the in the future too).

I mean, there have even been working demos of developer tools that work straight in the browser as web apps too (I seem to remember something by the chaps at Mozilla a while back). And so all sorts of clever things now become possible.

I think in a way we are a little blinded by the applications of such a tablet when we fail to understand a large number of new bespoke applications will be what bring out the best of it. After all, you could run old DOS games on Windows 95, but without installing some applications on your OS, you simply will get bored with using the bundled Calculator and Minesweeper all day long. I think that’s a pretty good analogy.

2. Server Admin

Okay, okay - yes another very techy one, but imagine not having to have a damn full sized fixed computer terminal to do basic admin tasks on your server. The tools will be made (to make the most of the screen size) and you will be able to glide around the office as freely as a 21st century hostess trolly - bringing all the tools you need to wherever is easiest for you to work from. That is it’s useful until you need to replace a big chunk of server hardware. The beauty of the concept sort of crashes into a wall on that point, although you could use it to beat the server tower as a way to vent your frustration. Always a silver lining.

3. Data Collection

The fact is that I’ve already pimped the idea of data collection via iPhones to some of my clients (do you know you can actually take credit card payments using certain keypad-based applications too?) and they seem pretty positive about the idea seems like this might be a really nifty application. But what if you can scale that up to taking surveys and other data collection activities with in-built validation and ultimate portability (remember this thing weights just a quarter of a normal 13 inch Macbook)? One of the biggest problems my clients face is the accuracy of paper-caught information - firstly in it’s validity and secondly in having to re-enter it into a database. This solves that, and where the iPhone fails to provide a big enough input - this would allow enough space to demonstrate additional content and allow the people being surveyed to provide their own response. Much like handing them the clipboard and pen.

Of course there are implications - cost, theft etc, but in certain environments this could replace traditional techniques and look damned impressive to your audience at the same time.

4. Controlling Your Environment

I have an app called Rowmote Pro on my iPhone which is excellent. It allows me to control applications on my Mac remotely, and if I was mad enough to buy an Apple TV, I could interact with that too.

The fact is the phone’s screen limits you to something similar to that of a trackpad. It would be lovely to VNC in at the same time and fiddle with the applications properly (without some of the restrictions of trying to control an entire iMac, blind, using just a Apple Remote). You then start getting all James Bond with your applications. Things like that car control in Tomorrow Never Dies is theoretically possible using an iPhone, but would be damned fiddly. However, on a bigger screen?

Okay, so now your driving your Aston Martin (which we all will own in the future anyway) using your iPad - but that’s perhaps not it’s real benefit. Having control panel like access to the media devices, perhaps audio, perhaps mechanical aspects of your house (blinds, garage doors, cooker, fridge) isn’t some kind of fantasy. These technologies exist already and can be found in tech-savvy luxury builds. However, the iPad opens things up a little more. The console for these types of systems probably cost thousands and have to be installed at great cost too. What if you could offer products that integrated with this as the core console and provided the same functionality, plus a (what-I-would-guess) as a much better interface, plus all the other benefits too.

I really was half expecting Jobs to wheel out a device that made the Apple TV a more useful product, but I think that will come with time as they move closer into the home/lifestyle market still.

To Wrap Up This Tosh…

I’ve only discussed a smattering of potential ways the iPad platform will allow things that the iPhone never could deliver satisfactorily, but I’ve not even spent time thinking about these. They just are sort of ‘missing links’ - I think they are things that we probably already crave.

I believe there are going to be some very compelling reasons to own an iPad, and I think those reasons are going to be almost entirely down to the software, and I think those pieces of software haven’t even been thought of yet.

Oh, and now you’ve read all that, have a look at the blog post I made about the iPhone in January 2007 after that was unveiled. It’s quite fun this nail-your-colours-to-the-mast type of guess work.

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