There’s a lot to like about Apple’s new iPad, and I can’t wait to get my hands on one. But what interests me a lot more than all the hoopla surrounding the iPad itself are a number of what I consider more significant aspects of Apple’s iPad introductory event. While the event was, essentially, devoted entirely to the iPad, many related announcements made that day are bound to go underreported.
iWork: It’s not about iWork
Take the announcement and demo of iWork, for instance. Many of my friends have responded to this piece of the event with a dismissive “I don’t use iWork”, as if that mattered in the least.
The fact of the matter is, iWork on the iPad has little to do with iWork. Yes, I do use iWork, and having it on iPad will give me an even bigger excuse to use it even more often. But I think Apple has other motives for developing this product and announcing it on this day.
**1. Desktop-class software**
iWork demonstrates clearly that iPad is anything but “an overgrown iPod Touch” as so many idiots have called it. I know Phil Schiller isn’t exactly the most exciting guy at Apple, but that’s no excuse for tuning out during the most impressive part of the whole event. Running the iPhone Facebook app at double size (or even worse, at normal size with a big black border around it) was fairly underwhelming to me. If Apple had stopped there, you could sure claim that the iPad is just a big iPod Touch.
The improved built-in apps were a step up from that, particularly the calendar, which looks loads better than the iPhone’s calendar. But still, that’s far from groundbreaking.
When Steve brought up that slide with the iWork box, I was immediately psyched. “Finally,” I thought. “Something that I can’t do on my iPhone already.”
Back when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone, he claimed that iPhone had “desktop class” applications in a mobile device, rather than “baby software”. While the iPhone has never had what I consider “baby software”, it’s a bit of a stretch to call the iPhone’s mail client “desktop class.”
iWork is a suite of three full-blown desktop Mac applications. They’re the real deal. It’s not a stretch to call iWork for iPad “desktop class.” I’m sure there are some things that the mobile version can’t do, but probably not many that matter much. iWork proves that the iPhone platform has grown up a bit. Not only with a bigger screen, which makes more multi-touch gestures possible and gives you more room for UI, etc. But with software that is far more mature and powerful. Software that will make you think “I can really create content with this thing, not just consume it.”
While iPad isn’t meant to be a laptop replacement yet, the iWork demo clearly showed that it will be a laptop replacement eventually. As with the A4 chip, Apple is showing us a bit of where it sees the future of tech going.
Specialists are always going to need to have their own user-controlled, hackable, workhorse machines to get their jobs done. But for consumers, the future is all multi-touch appliances.
**2. iWork is Apple’s way of eating its own dog food. **
Apple wants developers to write apps specifically for the iPad, rather than writing to the lowest common denominator of the iPhone and just “upscaling” it. So it needed to lead by example. In classic Apple fashion, iWork for iPad sets the bar pretty high for what you should expect from the App Store in the months to come. If there was going to be any timidity surrounding the development community about whether going through the trouble of writing more powerful apps was worth it, if most developers were thinking prior to this demo that they’d just take a “wait and see if it sells” approach to the iPad, iWork should have immediately squashed that.
**3. iWork is a bit of a wake up call to the “big name” developers. **
While some companies like Adobe have dabbled in simplistic versions of Photoshop, etc. for iPhone, most of the giant software companies that make Mac software have basically let the iPhone app store be dominated by newcomers. By making one of its own signature Mac apps for iPad, Apple is essentially inviting other big companies to either start porting their Mac apps over, or lose the business to a newcomer who will come in and steal their thunder.
I expect more Mac apps from Apple to become iPad apps before the year is out.
**4. Notice the price. **
iPhone apps are free, $.99 or $2.99, for the most part. Some games are $10, but they usually settle down around $6 eventually, once the initial buzz is off. By setting the price of the iWork apps at $9.99 each (which is $30 for the suite, roughly), they are sending a message to both users and developers. *iPad apps cost more, because they’re worth more.* For users, it sets the expectation of investing a little more for more power. For developers, it lets them know that if they develop for iPad, they’re going to make even more money than they already have on the iPhone. It was a brilliant play, and if you listen to the demo again, when Phil announces the pricing, you won’t hear any groans from the audience. Because the software is impressive, and $9.99 is still a reasonable number.
That doesn’t mean that all iPad apps will be more expensive. But it does mean that developers can start thinking about raising the value of their products moving forward.
All of these factors combined make the announcement of iWork extremely exciting, even if you never plan to download and use it.
