In case you haven't heard, Apple has a new iThingamajig... the iPad. About.com Macs Guide Tom Nelson tells us that Apple's Magical iPad "blurs many lines and effectively creates a new product category." It's sort of a netbook/eReader/iPhone sort of contraption. From a desktop publishing/design perspective, the features and capabilities of primary interest are:
- The iPad can run iPhone apps which includes the various photo editing, photo sharing, color picking, font identification, note-taking, and organizational tools used by many on-the-go designers.
- iWorks for iPad (to be available as separate apps to purchase) isn't exactly desktop publishing software, but it will include Pages (word processor) and Keynote (presentation).
About.com Graphics Software Guide Sue Chastain offers up some thoughts on the iPad's potential appeal to digital artists. While I don't find a lot of the iPhone/iPod Touch apps for creating art as appealing as Sue does, I tend to agree with her assessment of the use of those apps on the smaller iPhone/iPod vs. the larger iPad. It doesn't seem to offer much of an advantage over my iPhone except I'm sort of liking the sound of the eBook reader features. Vote in Sue's poll asking "Will Apple's iPad Appeal to Digital Artists?"
How about you -- what is it about the iPad that makes you want (or not want) one?
Related from About.com:
- Mac: What's Missing: My Four Gripes About the iPad
- Windows: 5 Reasons to Choose Windows Over iPad
- Macs: Apple iPad: Already Too Popular
- Windows: iPad is a Huge Letdown
- iPod: Apple's Jan. 27, 2010 Media Event Announcements
- Home Business: Apple Debuts iPad
- GPS: Apple's New$499 - $829 iPad: GPS, Map, Navigation Features
Retired USDA Editor 1082 (primarily Desktop Publishing). I have an iMac and I subscribe to you. An organization to which I belong is using the Internet
for its newsletter and other announcements. The organization has decided to use white lettering on black for page long communication. I have a copy of “color uses, etc.”, but don’t have anything on this combination and use. What are your rules? (Any references?). Thank you, Lovell
I’m primarily interested to see if it is suitable as a portable art / design computer. (by the looks of things, it won’t be)
Secondarily, as an ebook. I’m ready to get rid of paper forever.
The iPad is a device that is perfect for digital designers in both the 2D DTP and 3D (CG) design areas.
What most traditional PC users and Mac users don’t realize yet is just what the ‘killer app’ of the iPad is. You will be able to see it at http://www.Olympathon.org soon enough, it’s being made as a global charitable Public Source project.
You have to think of your new iPad as ‘an interface’ not just to iPad and iPhone applications but also as an interface device to both your Mac PCs and your Windows and Linux/Unix PCs as well as you SGI box and cluster (if you have one).
iWin(tm) for Windows, AppleWin(tm) for the iPad, ApplePad(tm) for the Mac, and SGIPad(tm) for SGI are the 3 applications bringing this technology to iPad and the respective platforms. All platforms controllable by the iPad touchscreen.
When you see the iPad and it’s Global Olympathon Killer App at http://www.olympathon.org together, you will certainly want an iPad. Even play your favorite games such as World of WarCraft on iPad.
I formerly founded http://www.jboss.org and http://www.jboss.com with Marc Fleury in 1999 and left to start a charity management framework in open source that became Global Olympathon. All developers are welcome for each platform to help develop the software. My email address is available to those who search for it under Ben Darian Buchanan (BNU).
it would be the perfect thing for me, if i could draw with a stylist, edit my photos and well if I could attach it to a printer… it would be a dream….
dose anyone know if any of that is possible?