The iPad: Is This Just a Giant iPhone?

It’s January 2010, and the tech world is divided. Steve Jobs just sat in a comfortable chair on stage and spent an hour browsing the web, reading a digital book, and flicking through photos on a 9.7-inch slate called the iPad.

The "Naysayers" are out in force. "It doesn't have a camera. It doesn't have USB ports. It doesn't run Flash (more on that later). It’s just a big iPod Touch."

But sitting here, watching the demo, I think Apple has just defined a new category of computing.

The End of the Netbook

For the last two years, the industry’s answer to "cheap, portable computing" has been the Netbook-tiny, underpowered laptops with cramped keyboards and terrible screens. The iPad kills the netbook. It’s not a "mini computer"; it’s an "app appliance."

The A4 chip inside is shockingly fast. The responsiveness of the touch interface on that large IPS screen makes a laptop feel like a relic from the 19th century.

Developing for the "Big Screen"

For us developers, the iPad is a whole new canvas. We have to move beyond the single-list view of the iPhone. Apple has introduced new UI paradigms like "Split Views" and "Popovers."

// New iPad-specific UI components
UISplitViewController *splitViewController = [[UISplitViewController alloc] init];
splitViewController.viewControllers = [NSArray arrayWithObjects:masterNav, detailNav, nil];

The challenge will be creating "HD" versions of our apps that actually use the extra space, rather than just stretching out the iPhone UI.

Looking Ahead

The iPad isn't for "creating" (yet). You wouldn't want to write code on it. But for "consuming"-reading, watching, browsing, gaming-it’s perfect. It’s the computer for your grandmother, your kids, and for you when you’re on the couch.

It’s also the final nail in the coffin for the "stylus." This is a purely "finger-driven" device. Apple is betting that the future of computing is more intimate, more direct, and much simpler. I think they’re right.