Hasta La Gadget!

Apple’s done a pretty good job convincing the old media that the iPad will save their industry, so we’ve taken our time trying out the launch titles in the App Store — it’s plain to see that different publishers have radically different ideas about how you’re supposed to buy and consume their content, and everything from pricing to UI is currently up in the air. But while the apps we’ve seen so far are definitely intriguing, we haven’t seen any silver bullets yet — and to be perfectly honest, in several cases we wondered why an app was preferable to an iPad-optimized web site, or even (gasp) a paper subscription. Let’s run down the launch lineup, shall we?

Update: We added in NPR and Zinio by popular request, check ’em out below!

Continue reading iPad apps: news and magazines

iPad apps: news and magazines originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are now over 1,348 approved apps for the iPad. That’s on top of the 150,000 iPad-compatible iPhone programs already available in the App Store. When Apple’s tablet PC launches, just hours from now, it will have a software library greater than that of any handheld in history — not counting the occasional UMPC. That said, the vast majority of even those 1,348 iPad apps are not original. They were designed for the iPhone, a device with a comparatively pokey processor and a tiny screen, and most have just been tweaked slightly, upped in price and given an “HD” suffix — as if that somehow justified the increased cost.

Besides, we’ve seen the amazing potential programs have on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile and webOS when given access to a touchscreen, always-on data connection, GPS, cloud storage and WiFi — but where are the apps that truly define iPad? What will take advantage of its extra headroom, new UI paradigms and multitouch real estate? Caught between netbook and smartphone, what does the iPad do that the iPhone cannot? After spending hours digging through the web and new iPad section of the App Store, we believe we have a number of reasonably compelling answers.

Update: Now includes Wormhole Remote, TweetDeck, SkyGrid, Touchgrind HD, GoToMeeting, SplitBrowser, iDisplay, Geometry Wars and Drawing Pad.

Continue reading iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave

iPad apps: defining experiences from the first wave originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Apr 2010 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple said it expects the iPad to be a “second gold rush” of app development as consumers rush to add content to their new devices, and it looks like Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers agrees: the venture capital firm just announced that it’s expanding the iFund to $200 million to invest in iPad app development. If you’ll recall, the iFund was originally announced alongside the iPhone OS 2.0 SDK, and provided $100 million in total investments to 14 iPhone app developers like Shazam, ngmoco, and Shopkick — companies responsible for 18 apps that have hit the App Store Top 10. Keep in mind that this money was promised before the iPhone App Store was even launched — so given how that bet paid off, it’s not surprising that KPCB’s decided to double down on the iPad, which looks like it’ll have even higher app prices. Along with the announcement, some iFund devs announced the following iPad apps:

• Pinger: Doodle Buddy and Starsmash
• Booyah: MyTown, a popular location-based game
• Shazam: Shazam, optimized for the new screen size,
• ngmoco: Flick Fishing, a new MMO called CastleCraft, Charadium (described as “massively multiplayer Pictionary”), God Finger, We Rule, WarpGate, and one more we missed — anyone catch it?
• GOGII: TextPlus

Nothing too surprising here, but it looks like the heavy hitters are going to be on the iPad bandwagon from day one — and pushing hard for this thing to be a success.

Kleiner Perkins iFund doubles to $200m, investing in iPad apps from Shazam, ngmoco and more originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We already knew that the iPad would be getting a few pieces of software that haven’t shown up on its tinier, phone counterpart — but now that a few screenshots of forthcoming apps for the device have reared their head, we’re getting a clearer picture of just what this thing will feel like. If these shots of the new Yahoo! Entertainment, Bento, OmniGraffle, and Brushes are any indication, the iPad will be doing a lot more than just zooming up your Facebook profile. There’s definitely an emphasis on content creation, file exporting (if not saving), and syncing with desktop versions of some of these apps, and Yahoo!’s work (alongside Brushes’) shows that we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of what interfaces will be like on this device. We’re sure the next week will be filled with all sorts of these kinds of leaks, but for now you can cherish the moment when you first laid eyes on your new way to check a TV schedule. A few more shots after the break, and lots more at the sources.

Continue reading New screenshots of iPad apps start to make this thing seem less like a giant iPhone

New screenshots of iPad apps start to make this thing seem less like a giant iPhone originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Mar 2010 21:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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