The iPad is yet to be out but the race is on for the first of the iPad apps. Not having an iPad to
touch has not stopped many of the programmers from creating the apps already for the iPad.
In the first months of its release getting the apps onto the iPad will be a challenge while Apple has provided a few iPads to select software companies to test their software before its official release. The rest of the industry has to work with iPad emulators that run on iMac’s to write and test their software. Some companies that recieved an iPad include the Major League Baseball, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
These companies including those that recieved the iPads for testing purposes are bound by a long list of rules from chaining the ipads to having them only in windowless rooms and not having it in public view and the developers of iPad apps are being told not to reveal the apps until the last minute.
Despite Apple’s measures to protect the iPad and to keep its development a secret until the last minute, some companies are opening up and talking about their iPad plans now that the ship date is a couple of weeks away.
Interestingly, Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble are working on apps to counter the Apple iBooks app for buying and reading electronic books. Neither company was given an iPad for testing.
The Kindle app for the iPad is already here which Amazon demonstrated to a reporter last week and allows readers to slowly turn pages with their fingers.
Apple said last week that it was accepting submissions from iPad developers who want to get their apps in the app store before the iPad’s release. Timing is everything for an app to be successful. The earliest apps for the iphone were some of the most successful.
The only issue the developers are facing with now is the chance of an app running fine on the simulator while blowing up on the iPad, leading to bad reviews! We will find out, won’t we.