ryanapeterson.com » iPad

iPad. Do You?

Ryan — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 08:28:56 +0000

Still trying to decide if you are going to buy an iPad anytime soon? A good friend (thanks, Bryan!) sent the following flow chart my way earlier this week – give it a look…

If you actually went through the chart, you should just do yourself a favor and buy one. If not for yourself, then do it for me and app-masters I work with; they’ve already developed a few beautiful apps, including this one, oh, and this one too!

More to come from me on the iPad, though I must admit that I’m having too much fun using it to actually form any worthwhile opinions.

– RP

iPad, CNN, Steve, and Me?

Ryan — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:43:36 +0000

I can still remember the first time I heard the phrase, “There’s margin in the mystery.” 23-year-old me was sitting at a table with Jeff, a good friend and mentor, at Tully’s Coffee on Main Street in Bellevue, where we still often meet. Literally, I heard Jeff’s words, but at that moment in time I couldn’t perceive ever having enough expertise in a “mystery” to ever be able to create “margin.”

Fortunately for me, the object of my affection – the mobile / social software that we all know and love – has taken center stage for the time being and is causing quite a stir among brands, ad agencies, and consumers. Thanks to Jeff’s generosity with both his time and thoughts, I was prepared for this opportunity to help the world better understand the iPad and see it for the amazing technology that it is… err, will be.

Case in point, I had the opportunity to share a few of my thoughts regarding the the iPad with CNN. If you had ever told me that my name would appear within a few lines of Steve Jobs, I would have never believed you. Still it’s important to keep in mind that the reason I made it into CNN’s iPad article is that someone of greater importance did not return the reporter’s email or phone call – there’s always a bigger fish in a bigger pond. Regardless, this little fish is still pretty excited about his moment in the spotlight of “iPad apps likely to be bigger, pricier“, and just a few lines below Steve at that!

From a technical standpoint, there’s a reason everyone wants to talk to us. At Übermind, we’ve been working with Apple and the iTunes Store since our founding in 1999. Most of the world’s iPhone (and now iPad) developers have been working with the iPhone’s SDK (software development kit) since late 2007 / early 2008 at best, but our developers have been working with the languages that power this platform since before Übermind was even a thought in minds of our founders. In other words, working alongside the experts here at Übermind has really been quite the blessing and ongoing learning experience – I cherish ever day here at our offices along the Ship Canal in Fremont, Seattle’s quirkiest neighborhood.

So, what mysteries can your passions lend you credibility in? Explore this question; it’s been a life changing one for me, and I’m confident it can be for you as well.

Happy Monday!

– RP

iPa… Apple Tablet

Ryan — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:13:25 +0000

I’ve responded to the “What do you think about the iPad?” question so many times I figured it would be worthwhile to collect all my thoughts and rants here.

Pros:

the new form-factor (9.7” screen) is awesome
giving a net-book-sized device iPhone functionality (Accelerometer, Multi-Touch, etc.) is awesome
10 hour battery is awesome
it’s an Apple, so you can probably assume the touch pad will be as good or better than the iPhone’s keyboard, which is… you guessed it, awesome
more iPad features here

Cons:

the name, “iPad” – fail
lack of ability to run third party apps in the background
the fact that I don’t have one yet

Not only will the iPa… Apple tablet work, but it “has” to work. Apple has set the bar too high with the iPhone to come out with a “so-so” tablet product that does not “need” to exist… yet.

5-10 years ago, we all had desktops. Today, laptops are everywhere and are extremely powerful; many of our developers use MacBook Pros. Thus, just as the laptop has replaced the desktop, the tablet will be our day-to-day, emailing / video-watching / e-reading go-to in 2-5 years.

No mouse? No desk space? No problem! The form-factor is great, and, it’s fairly low maintenance compared to a device like my 15” MacBook Pro. With the iPad, you could wake up in the morning to your favorite music, read your preferred news source, Facebook-away as you ride the bus (if you do) to your place of work, easily share work space (making our office space’s footprint smaller in terms of total square feet) thanks to the docking system, and so much more – all from one device.

In addition, some things seem like they will be easier on a tablet; I’m looking forward to utilizing the iPad’s Multi-Touch UI when building my slide decks in Keynote.

Just as it was with the iPhone, once users get through the “learning curve” of accomplishing certain tasks / functions via gestures (shake, rotate, etc.) instead of using conventional methods (e.g. mouse, scroll wheel, etc.), the old, “standard” devices will seem so much less enjoyable.

Great user experiences (UX) are driven by great user interfaces (UI). When great UI is backed by quality product, you have the recipe for success; Apple and its iPhone have been the benefactors of this principle and I foresee them doing it again with the iPad. It’s worth noting that great UI cannot sustain bad product, and only a few products have ever been truly great (or necessary) enough to make it past their near-unforgivable UI.

Last but not least, with regard to apps running in the background, I would LOVE if I could simultaneously run iChat as I check my emails. However, I often wonder if my use of a large monitor in addition to my MacBook Pro’s screen and Spaces – effectively giving me eight screens to work off of – really makes me more efficient, or simply more distracted.

Oh look, a bird!

– RP

Too Much Hype for One Percent?

Ryan — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:41:29 +0000

It’s true, mobile Web consumption (not to be confused with mobile Web site consumption) is up by a 110% in the U.S. and 148% worldwide based on the measurement of pageviews via mobile devices like the iPhone, iPod Touch, Android-based phones, and so on. But here’s the kicker, even with this growth, mobile web consumption only accounts for a mere 1.26% of all Web traffic in the U.S. and a not-so-staggering 0.99% worldwide.

Thrilling, isn’t it? Perhaps this chart showing the mobile share of pageviews by continent from the folks at Quantcast may get your attention:

Mobile Web, 1% of worldwide Web traffic – BFD. Right?

Well, take a moment to consider that in spite of this relatively small piece of the proverbial global Web traffic pie, all the buzz, hype, and a significant amount of marketing dollars seem to be going towards users who create Web traffic via their mobile devices; I bet you’re reading this on your iPhone right now. Every week, brands, ad agencies and entrepreneurs come to us with business plans / proposals / RFPs and are looking to spend invest serious amounts of capital into what they believe is next “killer” app for their industry or vertical.

Guess which platform serves as the foundation for most of these interactions – here, I’ll give you a hint:

Thanks goes out to the mobile metric mavens at AdMob, latest winner of the Google lottery, for the graph above, which breaks down manufacturer share of mobile web traffic by region. Even though there is a lot of blue, it’s important to note that Android is doing a great job at penetrating the market, especially in North America where the Android OS grew throughout the year and ended Q4 2009 with 27% share of mobile web traffic by operating system.

Still scratching your head as to why so many people are spending so much time and money on these devices / device users and their relatively insignificant share of Web traffic? Well, here are my thoughts for your amusement:

We are in the last hours of B.T. (before tablet) and, if the rumors are true, Apple’s new tablet device will run iPhone OS, which will give a major boost to mobile OS Web consumption as long as it’s not on AT&T
Time and money are best spent where they will yield the greatest return – well, only if the way in which they are spent / invested is ethical, moral, and provides a real value-add to others – i.e. people with these devices are the “premium” users, spending the most money and thus providing the greatest return

I’m going to stop there given that the tablet is set to launch within the hour, thus rendering any further speculation on my part totally pointless.

Catch you on the flip side…

– RP