Sketchbook (Pro) on the Ipad- is this practical?

Think poor man’s Cintiq.

I was debating with my brother- who is an architect- the possibility of the Ipad eventually having a breakthrough drawing app in (hopefully) the near future. Think about it- it just makes sense. An Ipad version of Painter, or Art Rage could do very, very well, and be an inexpensive creative tool for artist’s like myself, everywhere. While Autodesk has Sketchbook for the iphone/ipod already, an Ipad version could bring about far more possibilities.

Since there is already precedent for a kind of app like this to do well- ala Brushes, Sketches, and others for the iPhone- I think that’s there’s a real opportunity here for the  larger application makers (Autodesk notwithstanding) to extend their brand, and product awareness to the extremely large and growing iPhone/ipod market. Actually, I find that to not have one of these in the the works by the big boy’s is a sign of brain-dead leadership and a lack of forward thinking.  So how about it Corel? Apple? Shareware/Small developers? Even the lazy bums over at Adobe have their mobile Photoshop project- even though they are now using it to spread propaganda about the their ‘unfortunate’ iPhone situation with Apple. Wacom can even make a branded Cintiq drawing app to push the awareness of that specialized product. so many possibilities- but will these companies actually take advantage of it?

I recently checked out some of the videos of Microsoft’s Courier project- and while impressive, I fail to see how any of the drawing aspects of it couldn’t be replicated on the upcoming iPad. Beyond the increasingly ugly war for the mobile market, there may be some ways that these products make our creative work-flows even easier.

Ah, the new Ipad.

Apple has proved once again they can introduce a product that catches everyone looking the wrong way. While most of the tech world was foaming at the mouth wondering what new, highly inventive, competition-destroying device they could come up with, Apple was thinking:

“Ok, so people love their Iphones. Wouldn’t the same audience love it if it was bigger and a bit more capable? Hmm, like a giant Ipod? We can use the same OS, the same control system, yet still knock products like the kindle on their ass. Get on it.(Yes sir!)”

Basically, let’s just leverage what we have done already.

Conventional wisdom should tell you if something has produced extremely polarizing viewpoints, that is on to something. And this is where I think Apple nailed it. If you check out this Engadget post, you will find that many are disappointed with the device, going as far as to wonder why you cant hook up a usb mouse to it(!). Yeah, I thought that was bizarre as well. On the other hand, Ars Technica’s first look at the Ipad received a very different overall reaction. Surprised? Well if you know anything about Apple, you shouldn’t be. Apple very, very rarely tries to push feature sets on their hardware unless they absolutely can’t get around it. The biggest complaints are echoed by basically all the critics/dismayed so far: no usb (without crappy adapter),no standard SD slot (without crappy adapter), no flash (shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone), and no multitasking (it uses the phone OS, this should be a duh). It should be noted that the micro-SIM slot for 3G/GPS function that Apple is using is too new and insignificant to the masses, as no other shipping product uses it for anything. I guess in business speak that means “sell more adapters”.Seem like customers will stuck on AT&T, isn’t that awesome?
Personally, I don’t own an Ipod for several reasons, and I like Apple having some competition- I’m currently eying a future android phone. Since I’m a power user, I like to have folders to just stuff content into without restriction. But I’ll be lying if I didn’t say I love what I have seen of Iphone applications over the last year. But unlike the dreamers and the uber-geeks, I can see the Ipad for what it is-the 3g enabled, Ipod-on-steroids tablet. Thats literally ALL it is, for better or worse. Check out the videos…it’s smooth as silk, has trademark Apple beautiful software, and runs all the iphone software the masses know and love. How can this not be a win? Yes, the technophiles have been “betrayed”, but I think Apple cares much more about 30 million potential customers than your ability to use multiple apps at the same time. Is that really that hard for these guys to figure it out?

So while I can’t say that I feel bad for those dying for HDMI output (what, seriously?), nor video chat (on the USA’s cellular networks? LOL), I will say there is enough of a product- and a sweet design- to warrant a purchase. They nailed it. Not-too-good, not-too-bad, but oh-so-useful. Might wait for rev.b though.

And remember, when this thing get jailbroken, it’s going to be the dream tablet, at least software-wise, that all us geeks dream about…I can’t wait to see what happens next.