After lots of rumors and speculation, Apple finally presented their iPad officially. Hooray! And with all the press coverage it has gathered, absolutely everyone should be aware of it by now… even if he doesn’t want to (but who wouldn’t? everyone loves Apple now!).

As iPhone/iPod developers we were thrilled to know that Apple was expanding the “i” family, but now that we’ve got it here we ask ourselves if it’s really something to get excited about, especially after all the “meh” first impressions that it has caused among the press. Well, since we’re not experts in market analysys and all we care for the iPad are games, we do have quite some interest in this new platform for several reasons:

• SDK: making it cross-compatible between iPhone and iPad means that our framework will be compatible from day 1, making the transition between platforms incredibly easy.
• Compatibility: iPhone games might not look great double scaled to the iPad resolution, but even so our already published  games will be available in a new platform with no extra cost at all.
• App Store: although there are quite a number of things we don’t enjoy about it (submission process, content objections etc.) it has been proved to be a great way to distribute games worldwide for small companies like ours.
• Increased resolution: we discarded some game ideas because of the limited resolution of the iPhone screen, which we might consider again for the iPad. Furthermore, being just over the double of the iPhone’s (480×320 to 1027×768), it will be relatively easy to prepare graphic resources to be compatilbe with both platforms.
• Pricing: expecting it to be priced around the 1000$ mark, it’s  nice to see that Apple has adopted a more aggressive pricing strategy on this one.

Still, as many have pointed out, and even if we only care about games, there are a few questions that we can’t ignore when considering the future and viability of this platform:

• Concept: the iPad is essentially a big iPod Touch, not a replacement for a laptop,  or a console, or a phone, or a music player… not even for a portable eBook reader? Does it really have a target consumer? Moreover, will this consumer be using it regularly after acquiring it?
• Controls: the accelerometers are a nice idea for controlling a small and light handheld device, but we’re not so sure about it when it comes to something bigger and heavier which one has to hold with both hands during a whole game.
• Camera: where has it gone? Not really essential for most of the games, but augmented reality experiments could definitely benefit from a higher screen resolution.
• Pricing: sure it’s cheaper than expected, but it’s still more expensive than a PS3, PSP, Xbox 360 and even a laptop, while some could feel it offers less, if different, features.

Knowing that it comes from Apple, it’s hard to think that the iPad can be a commercial failure, but it’s still possible that it becomes a second line product such as the Apple TV. Only time will tell but, as developers, we can’t afford to ignore it, especially since the big players are already presenting their high budget productions and, as time goes by, it will become harder and harder to get some visibility for independent companies like ours.

So… Hello iPad!

by David | Posted in General, iPad