Regarding Office on the MAS:
A Lion version, likely available via the Mac App Store, is widely expected.
This makes the “How do I install Office on my shiny new MacBook Air” question pretty simple. So long, optical drive.
That’s some usage.
Sat Apr 17 19:11:47 Dan-Leehrs-iPad MobileStorageMounter[16] <Notice>: (0x38168f48) handle_attached_media: The attached media object is a disk image. Dropping like it’s hot.
I love that every iPad review contains the phrase “just a big iPod touch”. When the iPod touch launched, it was just an iPhone that didn’t make calls. Now it has enough identity for iPad comparisons.
Mark my words, the next product will be just a _____ iPad.
I’ll believe it when I see it, but there are a lot of rumors floating around that iPhone OS 4.0 will support multitasking for 3rd-party apps. My guess on the implementation — It’ll work like Dock Expose on Snow Leopard:
The first time I saw this feature, it seemed very iPhone-inspired. It’s modal, doesn’t really require a cursor, and it’s a very direct metaphor for switching, like the WebOS cards.
Edit: OK so the press-and-hold is already taken for VoiceOver. Still could happen on the iPad or maybe press-and-hold the status bar? I stand by the dock-expose idea though.
There’s been a lot of speculation on whether or not there will be large-format iPad apps on Day One. My guess is no — it’ll be when the 3G model ships — Day Thirty-One.
Somewhat stimulated by iPhone-to-iPad development: How’s the timing going to work out?, I’ve formed my own opinions on this developer-panic-inducing question.
We’re two weeks into working the first iPad SDK, there’s a lot that’s not finished. If iPad apps are to be available at launch, we’ve burned through 25% of that time. Frankly I can’t name of one new feature in this SDK that’s fully implemented, which means the next 45 days would have to be pretty intense.
SDK issues aside, there’s the user and developer experiences.
As a user, I wouldn’t want to use any iPad or iPhone software that wasn’t tested on Real Hardware. As an iPhone developer, I’m not confident you can put together a decent experience without it. The simulator is a great prototyping tool, but you don’t get the same feel, behavior, performance, etc. Publishing an App without testing on real hardware is a sure-fire way to make it suck.
I’d bet Apple is mindful of these philosophies regarding App Store Apps, butapps are but one piece of the iPuzzle. I’m sure their main priority is that they don’t want the Day One experience of the iPad to suck.
On the iPad page, the only App Store promise made for Day One is availability of 140,000 iPhone apps (the 320x480 versions). I won’t be surprised if iWork is there, and maybe some of these high-profile developers, but I don’t see any way to have a flood of 1024x768 apps on Day One that don’t suck.
Instead, I think the WiFi version is also our Dev Hardware in disguise. On Day One, we (developers) get the final SDK and hardware we can buy. Apple starts allowing App submissions for release on Day Thirty-One (when the 3G version ships).
Early adopters get their hot new hardware but only a handful of 1024x768 apps. Apple will make sure those users have a great experience with everything. Makes sense, right?
One final thought. Towards the end of the Jan 27th keynote, Steve concluded the store talk with “…we are at scale and we are ready for the iPad”. He is not going to abide another July 11, 2008.
That’s when they launched the 3G, iPhone OS 2.0, App Store, and MobileMe. None of those launches scaled to meet the demand and Apple won’t repeat that. Email went down for loyal .mac users. New 3G customers were waiting in stagnant lines for hours when the activation system went down. Original iPhone users who upgraded their OS couldn’t re-activate either. Their phones were unusable, and the retail stores where they normally get great service were effectively closed.
I started with some baseless speculation, just trying to read the tea leaves. Apple never said iPad apps would be out day one, but it seemed like an inevitability. Ultimately though, I remain convinced they want to encourage the best experience possible, and that means they can’t afford to launch an iPad App Store on Day One.
I know I’ll be prepping Downloader for a Day Thirty-One release, and maybe another app by then.
Just did some screen recordings in QuickTime X. Final Cut Pro 6 can’t open them, but Premiere Pro CS4 can. Guess this is one of Apple’s ways to force me to upgrade. I use this so little, it’s hard to even justify having one of these production suites, let alone 2.
-Fringe FCS user
