What the iPad means to us, and the rest of the world

If the idea of a computer that you can bring with you without lugging a laptop bag around with added multitouch goodness isn't enough for you, I don't know what is. Some people rant about the lack of a "Full" OS, and multitasking capabilities in the iPad. This, my friend, is short-sightness about the future.

Features or Usability

Tablet computers are not new in this century, we have all been "excited" about tablet since the origami project from Microsoft, and has been let down ever since the concept is conceived. So what exactly is wrong with the concept?

If Confucius was still around, he would have told us, "Using a bull knife to slice a chicken" which translates to utilizing the wrong tools for the purpose. We all know that a tablet is not a desktop workhorse, it's a portable. And portables requires interfaces designed for portables. Putting a full blown desktop OS is akin to squeezing an elephant into a fridge (ehem).

Watching the Apple Event's video, I can only conclude one thing. The iPhone OS was designed from the start to be a new generation OS that does away with traditional inputs. It is a peek to the future of computing. The multitouch iWork suite literally blew me away.

Developers like us

What would be decent in the iPad? A full XCode suite. Steve, hope you are listening here. We at Terato spend most of our time debugging our applications, clearing warnings and busting lags. The problem with this process is that it takes too much time, and does little to help us deliver the product to the customer as soon as possible.

The main problems with debugging on a real device are:

1. Xcode takes literally MINUTES to upload the executable into the device.
2. Sometimes the executable fails to upload to the device, and we have to "Clean" the project to clear errors.
3. The device always gives unexpected errors, while the simulator runs the app as smooth as a whistle.
4. Certs and PROVISIONING. PRO-VI-SION-ING.

Xcode on the iPad can solve these problems easily, because first of all, it is running the "mobile" processor itself, that means we are literally testing the app in the device itself. Every error that it spurts out is going to be how the iPhone would have reacted to it. And did I mention, there's no need to connect the device and have iPhoto and Itunes pop out every time? Welcome to the mile high club.

One more thing I would like to say is that, testing multitouch on the iPhone simulator is just wrong, wrong. There is literally no way to simulate multitouch events on an iPhone simulator. Qalvinious has TONS of buttons on it, and it is just unnatural to play it with a MOUSE. St. Steve, give us Xcode, Xcode for the iPad. Thanks!

Rest of the world

The rest of you consumers, be very very excited. I don't even know how to begin. You guys have seen the Microsoft Surface right?? Yeah, I know, bloody cool. The iPad is all that, with the addition that it isn't a big ass table, and you can actually fit it in your sling bag.

I don't even know how to begin listing all the cool apps that are coming right to you from the App store. Command and Conquer that actually lives up to it's title's meaning?? I mean, when we talk about commanding armies, are we saying "dragging the mouse and point a soldier to move to a location?" or "pointing at the soldier and telling it where to move to?". I will have you answer that.

And who will bring these to you? That would be us, the developers.