A lot of early iPad reviews conclude with the statement that it will be really the apps that will make or break the success of the device.
Fine. But which apps?
There are really two approaches to iPad development. The “Economy” path I would describe as the replacement of all graphics with high resolution bitmaps and textures plus some very small adjustments to the UI. While “First Class” I would describe as developing an app specifically for the device, an app that pretty much does not scale down on the smaller screens of iphone and ipods.
(Note that I’m not talking Universal vs. iPad-only here, most iPad-only apps we see at this point are really just high-res versions of the iphone originals and could have well been released as Universals. There are only a few real First Class iPad apps out there, like Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Weatherbug Elite or Warpgate HD)
Browsing through the first apps on my iPad I found that a lot of apps were taking the Economy approach. Interesting enough, for most of them that works just fine. Looking at Chopper for example, which is a universal app containing high-res graphics on the iPad, it looks amazing on the device and plays almost better than on the iPhone because of the natural way the iPad supports tilting.
Now, from a developers perspective, “just” going with high resolution graphics and some minor adjustments, even when throwing in an extra level, is rather minimal effort. The result can equally be packaged up as a Universal version or iPad-only version and should result in a satisfactory customer experience. On top of that it is very likely that with the upcoming iPhone release we will see another high-res device out there, so I can see the broad majority of developers going down that path, providing a constant stream of high-resolution apps for the iPad.
Where it gets more interesting are apps that can, from a design perspective, only really work on the iPad. Those might be apps relying on the faster processing power, but mainly will be apps making great use of that bigger screen. As a developer, designing such an app without having the limitations of a potential iphone spin-off in the back of the head all the time, is pretty risky. Such an apps’ success will be solely tied to the success of the iPad.
In return, the success of the device might be very well tied to those exclusive First Class apps plus the split Appstore might reward those taking the riskier route with higher customer acceptance.
For Windmill, I will release updates for most of my apps using high-res graphics and some changes to the UI. Mainly because they will look (and play) great that way on the iPad and there is no imminent reason to change more. I have some ideas for First Class iPad only apps, but I will monitor the device’s success and market penetration very carefully before going down that path.
What do you think, after playing with the device for a few days, will high-res only versions of apps do the trick for the endusers? As a developer, what path do you consider right now? I am specifically curious what developers will do after the first wave of updating their existing apps, where the Economy path clearly makes most sense.
I think for games the Economy Class can make sense, because game screens normaly scale well to a bigger screen.
But for my app iVocabulary (the best vocabulary trainer for the iPhone) I will choose the First Class because I want to give a nice learning experience to my customers and the tables look ugly on the big screen.
[...] version should be a First Class application not a scaled-up “Economy” app (as mentioned here). There will be many classes that are shared between both applications and therefore I build the [...]