Tag Archives: iPad

The Apple Watch is the New iPhone—and the iPhone is the New iPad

Apple had a plan when they introduced the iPhone. The iPhone was going to be your new pocket computer—easily at hand all the time. No bigger than a handful (and at the time, even a 3.5” screen was considered huge for a phone). It probably would’ve gotten thinner and thinner, until it became like the iPod touch 5th generation. (Have you held one of those recently? Pretty amazing.) iPhone app developers were given tools to carefully craft apps at a fixed screen size.

It’s been said that the iPad was in development even before the iPhone, but the phone was going to be the generate more money because everyone had a phone. So the tablet form factor (the iPad) was going to be an accessory. After being wowed by an iPhone, users would eventually want something that wasn’t so pocketable, but still booted up instantly, was thin & light & touchable, very secure, and ran the same apps as their phone.

That was the plan.

But a funny thing happened along the way:  Continue reading →

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There’s no such thing as an iPad app

After the reviews of the iPad Air 2 and iPad mini 3 trickled out yesterday, the meme on Twitter seemed to be “Apple needs to create better iPad apps.” Nilay Patel of The Verge said it, @Lessian said it, and earlier @Monkbent said it.

While I agree with their intent—that iOS, now running on 64-bit processors, is fully capable of much more than apps do today—phrasing it in terms only of the iPad does a disservice to Apple, to UX designers, to developers, and to businesses.

I’m here to warn you today that there is no such thing as an iPad app. And if you think about it that way (thinking that iPhone and iPad—and even Mac OS X—apps are different things), then you haven’t fully grasped where Apple is moving to in the future.

It’s funny: in the past six months, the argument has completely inverted. Earlier this year, at a mobility conference, I gave a presentation called “You Can’t Ignore the Tablet”. Now, six months later, here I am warning people not to create iPad-only apps.

There are both technical and non-technical reasons why iPad-only apps don’t make sense. Here’s a list of 4 reasons why you don’t want to create an iPad-only app.

Continue reading →

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The Real Reason Microsoft is Porting OneNote to the Mac: An Apple Acquisition

The Verge has reported that Microsoft is planning on releasing OneNote for the Mac. While Evernote is certainly a target, I think there’s more to the story than that.

There are also rumors of iOS 8 containing a note-taking application. How this app differs from the built-in iOS Notes app is not clear, but it may have a lot to do with this acquisition by Apple:  Continue reading →

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A new iPad UI tab+toolbar for iOS 8?

Is Apple preparing us for a new UI control specific to iPads (and a larger iPhone 6?) in iOS 8? Apple just released (finally!) a new iPad-only version of their Apple Store app. Just in time for the holidays.

The really interesting thing about this app is that it sports a unique toolbar at the top of the app that combines features of a navigation bar, a tab bar, and a toolbar.

Up until now,

Continue reading →

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Modern Apps Live! Conference on Enterprise Mobility and Azure

Join us at Modern Apps Live! in Orlando, Florida this week, where we discuss using a single Microsoft Azure back end to power iPad, Android, Windows Phone, and Windows 8 apps. I’ll be discussing how the iPad app was architected and coded, including third party libraries like AFNetworking and Azure Mobile Services.

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Apple’s 7.8 inch iPad and the enterprise

Well if the story leaks from the Wall Street Journal, it’s almost certainly intentional so this news appears to be the real deal. Apple to release 7.8 inch iPad.

(Mockup image from MacRumors.com)
I blogged recently about the potential for Google’s new Nexus 7 tablet to be useful for the enterprise. The problem with that, though, is that the Nexus 7 is subsidized by Google and thus they will not be likely to want to sell in large quantities. The difference here is that Apple will charge a profit-generating amount for its iPad, but I don’t think $299 for a quality tablet with fantastic software will cause Enterprises too much concern.
When thinking about enterprise purchases, be aware that a 7 inch tablet is not a replacement for a 10 inch tablet. A 10 inch tablet is more like a laptop. A 7 inch tablet is more a mobility device that people who are in very mobile jobs such as delivery or field work could use as a large input device–but certainly couldn’t be used as a laptop since the screen is just too small.
Would you buy a 7 inch iPad for your enterprise?

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