When I first was looking into the iPad before it was released, I was relieved to hear that all iPhone apps would work on the device without any modification. At the time, I thought I’d maybe download a few iPad-specific apps as they became available but that I would use iPhone apps for the majority of time.
I was totally mistaken.
iPhone applications look awful on the iPad. They are either too small when at their native resolution or look stretched and out of proportion when magnified to fill the screen. That being said, I now only use iPad apps when using the device.
Here’s a list of some of the apps I’m still waiting for…
- Twitter for iPad. After Twitter decided to purchase Atebits and rebrand Tweetie, there was speculation that an iPad version would be right around the corner. It still isn’t. Twitterrific is okay at best, in my opinion. I’m excited and anxiously waiting to see what Twitter comes up with.
- Facebook. I’m really at a loss as to why this is not already out. Facebook has really been at the front line of introducing mobile applications. There’s whispers that the lack of a native application is because Apple and Facebook are working to integrate Facebook into the iPhone OS. I think that’s crap. I don’t want to have to search through a bunch of different applications to find events, photos, and contact information. It should all be in one place – in one native application. That simple.
- Foursquare. I’m relatively new to the location-based networking game but I’m very happy with Foursquare so far. Gowalla, the other major competitor, was quick to jump on the iPad bandwagon and developed a gorgeous application. While some argue that there is not much need for an iPad app for a largely mobile concept, I think it would be a great way to discover new places, communicate with friends, etc.
- Reeder. There’s hundreds if not thousands of RSS readers available, and the number is even starting to become insane on the iPad. I’v e become accustomed to switching between Google Reader’s web application and The Early Edition, a novel app concept that displays your feeds as part of a newspaper. Reeder was always one of the prettier apps with a lot of useful features. Based on the screenshots on their Twitter, it looks like they are close to having an awesome iPad app ready to be released.
- Remote. Apple’s Remote application is always fun to play with. While it’s not the most necessary thing out there, I could see myself using it more if it was on the iPad. Maybe the integration of a cover flow browsing ability could make it even more useful.
- Tumblr. I’ve been using Tumblr for about two years now and it’s the only blogging platform (besides WordPress) that I haven’t become bored with. A native iPad application could do well, as the WordPress app has shown us.
- Chase. Being one of the larger banks out there, I’d expect Chase to release a mobile banking application, similar to the one available on the iPhone. Larger screen real estate could make it possible for more graphical analysis of your accounts, easier bill paying, etc.
- Google Talk. I’ve only recently started using Google Talk and I love it. They do have a web application, but it sucks. More than just a Google chat application, I’d love to see a chat client that supports AIM, Google Talk, Facebook, etc. protocols but that doesn’t look absolutely hideous.
Originally, it made sense for developers to hold off. They needed to see how the iPad was received in it’s initial days and get some face time with the device to start figuring out how to best utilize it. Now that over two million iPads have been sold around the globe, there’s no more excuses. The iPad is here to stay and if developers want to remain profitable, they better get with it.
