I’m having so much freaking fun with my iPad, I almost forgot to post this week. I started asking my developer friends about it almost as soon as I got mine last Saturday, so I’ve had this post brewing for days now. Then, I’m finally about ready to post it, and Apple goes and holds its “sneak-peek” media event yesterday. So, natch, I had to ask some of them for their reaction to that, too.
Here we go, then — five experienced Minnesota mobile app developers tell me, straight up, what’s up with iPad as relates to them. And, after that, I include some great insights from a couple of them about iPhone OS 4 — coming this summer for the iPhone, and soon after for the iPad. (Bring it on, Uncle Stevie!)
Joe Sriver, Founder, DoApp Inc. Joe, will your company be developing iPad apps?
“Yes, we do have plans for the iPad, first for our real estate product, then our other products. No ‘made for iPad’ apps are in the store from DoApp on day one, though. But I did preorder an iPad for the team.” In a story our friend Julio Ojeda-Zapata wrote in the PioneerPress on April 2, we learned that DoApp was frantically at work on the iPad version of it’s “Home Kenex” app, which is for home buyers and real estate agents. Maps can be positioned alongside lists or photos of homes to make navigation easier and more intuitive than the cramped iPhone screen allows, said the story, facilitating better house comparisons. iPad becomes “a coffee table-type of thing, with people in their agents’ offices cruising for properties on the device,” said the story, quoting DoApp’s Wade Beavers. GPS capability will be added in an upcoming version of the iPad, so home buyers or agents will be able to pull up listings in their vicinity and “drive effortlessly towards them using satellite navigation.”
Bill Heyman, Founder and Lead Developer, CodeMorphic. Bill, what apps are you doing for iPad? Redoing any of your existing ones?
“No existing apps. What we’re doing are new ones for various clients. Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to say what they are. I’m also working on a new game app I’m publishing myself, but I’m not ready to submit it yet. I’ll let you know when it’s getting close.” 
I assume you now have an iPad in your possession? “Yes, I had one delivered to me while on vacation in Arizona this week.”
What are you finding in regard to how well your iPhone apps work on iPad? “They seem to work fine. ”
What about landscape mode? Are you concerned that apps should work either way on iPad? “Apple has basically told developers that they MUST support rotation in their iPad apps. Unfortunately, it can be a major PITA to support it well, but developers are going to have to bite the bullet now. ”
Any other comment? “I think iBooks is the killer feature of the iPad. There’s been talk about the iPad developer gold rush, but no discussion about the author and independent content provider gold rush. It’s going to happen — and I think it could be every bit as exciting as some of the apps.” … [Read More…]
