Steve Jobs reveals the iPad

Apple announced the iPad today, and at first I have to say I was underwhelmed, though just hearing the chatter regarding the launch on Gizmodo, Twitter, Ars Technica and other tech news sites at the time.

This evening I took some time to watch the keynote video posted by Apple, reviewing the whole 1+ hour love-in of Apple’s ‘Latest Creation’. Afterwards I had a few new takeways and a few more positive thoughts about the device, its potential, and where BraveNewCode might fit in with its impact.

Though I still remain a little skeptical about the net worth of a device like this in my own life, I think for a good many others this might be something that really helps push computing to a new level in their lives, and brings great web content to that many more people.

Capabilities

It sure seemed to me that the full breadth of the device’s power and ‘Magic’ won’t be understood or known until it’s held in the hands, much like the iPhone for many people. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve handed my iPhone over to who, in just a few minutes start grasping what all the chatter is about. I think the same will hold true for this device, and over time as more 3rd party apps are built that harness its potential its wow factor will increase in multitudes.

mobile(BIG)Safari

Safari is touted as ‘the world’s best browser’ by Apple, and in testing for things like the Acid 3 test, it does indeed stack up as such. So what would the best browser in the world feel like on a large, crisp touch display? I’d have to think it’d be pretty nice, and the demos given by Jobs surely do give the impression that that’s the case.

So while it dwarfs the power of mobileSafari on the iPhone and really does put the power of the internet in your hands (minus, of course, Flash) I was left thinking about whether something like WPtouch would be at all desirable on a device like this.

WPtouch Possibilities

There are no doubt many who will think that the attention given to mobile website customizations and solutions (of which WPtouch belongs) do not or need not apply on a device such as this. I think they’re wrong, or at least, not thinking about it as creatively as they could.

Just as there’ll be revolutions for iPad apps created by iPhone app developers that are already making great apps for the iPhone and iPod touch (cough, Loren Brichter) I strongly think there’s a whole new breed of touch browsing customizations that can be brought to websites which not only enhance the the experience of browsing a website, but also improve upon it, taking advantage of the intuitive input method that is touch. A great example of this occurred during Phil Shiller’s demonstration during the keynote of the touch-specific gestures and capabilities built into Apple’s new iWork suite on the iPad. The way that a user is able to perform certain tasks on the iPad are far more intuitive, simple, powerful and fast when compared to the mouse/keyboard input paradigm.

There are of course things that are more difficult on a device like the iPad, or iPhone. In these cases thoughtful consideration about how to reduce or eliminate these barriers will enhance and improve a user’s experience of a website or web application, and minimize the barriers to e-commerce, great content, and so forth.

So with these ruminations in mind I think that BraveNewCode is ideally positioned to look at what these kinds of improvements and advantages might look and feel like. Because we love WordPress so much (just like you probably do, too) we think that adding unique and powerful support for this new breed of web browsing and publishing devices is a must for the active community of WordPress users who will likely be iPadding in the near future.

The Waiting Game

But for now, we’ll all just have to wait a few months before we can get our hands on one, or settle for dabbling with the latest SDK.