Devs Race To Get iPad Apps Ready For Release, Amazon Included
We're just around two weeks out from seeing a deluge of iPad news (given that it ships on April 3rd), and already companies are racing one another to get iPad-specific apps out on the App Store. A New York Ties report on the sprint has a few notable entries, and if companies really do put in the time and effort needed to create iPad apps that are more than just pixel-doubled versions of the same apps already on the iPhone, the product might just have a chance at being more "than just a big iPod touch."
Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble have both announced that they'll be working on apps for buying and reading e-books, which is certainly interesting considering that Apple will also be installed an iBookstore app on the iPad right out of the box. Will Apple allow competing apps in this space? They certainly have canned e-mail and web browsing clients, but it sounds like they won't be as harsh when it comes to books. That's probably to avoid the horrible PR; can you imagine the backlash if Apple's e-reader (yes, the iPad) were only able to buy books from Apple's store, even with other companies having apps at the ready?
We've been told that the Kindle app for the iPad allows readers to turn pages by swiping their finger across the display, and it even brings a pair of new ways for users to view their entire e-book collection--user interface options that won't be foreign to existing Apple users. If you don't think that book sellers are taking the iPad seriously, check this out: the B&N offices in New York have housed 14 developers since the start of 2010, all hoping to punch out a killer iPad app by the time it launches. And this is coming from a company that already sells their very own e-reader (the Nook)!
Needless to say, it looks like competition is heating up in the iPad app market, and we can't say that we were entirely confident that would happen when the device was launched. Does Apple have the momentum to pull off yet another A-list product? If the early app buzz is any indication, it just might. If only the device could multi-task, though.
Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble have both announced that they'll be working on apps for buying and reading e-books, which is certainly interesting considering that Apple will also be installed an iBookstore app on the iPad right out of the box. Will Apple allow competing apps in this space? They certainly have canned e-mail and web browsing clients, but it sounds like they won't be as harsh when it comes to books. That's probably to avoid the horrible PR; can you imagine the backlash if Apple's e-reader (yes, the iPad) were only able to buy books from Apple's store, even with other companies having apps at the ready?
Ian Freed, vice president for Kindle at Amazon, had this to say about the future application: “We have actually developed a tablet-based interface that redesigns the core screen and the reading experience. Our team had some fun with it."
We've been told that the Kindle app for the iPad allows readers to turn pages by swiping their finger across the display, and it even brings a pair of new ways for users to view their entire e-book collection--user interface options that won't be foreign to existing Apple users. If you don't think that book sellers are taking the iPad seriously, check this out: the B&N offices in New York have housed 14 developers since the start of 2010, all hoping to punch out a killer iPad app by the time it launches. And this is coming from a company that already sells their very own e-reader (the Nook)!
Needless to say, it looks like competition is heating up in the iPad app market, and we can't say that we were entirely confident that would happen when the device was launched. Does Apple have the momentum to pull off yet another A-list product? If the early app buzz is any indication, it just might. If only the device could multi-task, though.
