FEATURE
roll-out strategy (fave.co/2tbLM7Y). To start it all off,
there’s a big comfy chair on stage, something you
never see at Apple keynotes. That chair allowed Jobs
and other presenters to illustrate that the iPad was a
comfortable device meant to be used casually.
After revealing of the iPad itself, Jobs sat down
and spent a very long time walking the audience
through the various bundled apps on the iPad. He
was sending an important message, right from the
start: these were apps that we were familiar with from
the iPhone, but they’re all bigger and better because
they’ve been modified to take advantage of that
larger iPad screen. Safari, of course, but also Calendar,
iBooks and many others.
In the early days of the iPad, the most cutting
criticism of the device was that it was ‘just a big iPhone’.
Apple’s presentation demonstrates that while this
is technically true, it misses the point. The iPad was
a much larger canvas, and apps that grew to fit the
larger canvas were not just bigger, but better.
Prepare for the Gold Rush
In the second part of the presentation, Scott Forstall
(then Apple’s software chief) invoked the App Store,
which had already become wildly successful after less
than two years in operation. It was the App Store’s
Gold Rush era and Forstall’s message was clear: there
was a new Gold Rush coming and it was in iPad apps.
And if developers wanted their apps to be prominently
featured on the App Store for iPad, Forstall pointed
out, those apps would need to be updated to support
it. iPhone-only apps would run, but they’d do so in a
FEATURE
roll-outstrategy(fave.co/2tbLM7Y).Tostartitalloff,
there’sabigcomfychaironstage,somethingyou
neverseeatApplekeynotes.ThatchairallowedJobs
andotherpresenterstoillustratethattheiPadwasa
comfortabledevicemeanttobeusedcasually.
AfterrevealingoftheiPaditself,Jobssatdown
and spentaverylongtimewalkingtheaudience
throughthevariousbundledappsontheiPad.He
was sendinganimportantmessage,rightfromthe
start:thesewereappsthatwewerefamiliarwithfrom
theiPhone,butthey’reallbiggerandbetterbecause
they’vebeenmodifiedtotakeadvantageofthat
largeriPadscreen.Safari,ofcourse,butalsoCalendar,
iBooksandmanyothers.
IntheearlydaysoftheiPad,themostcutting
criticismofthedevicewasthatitwas‘justabigiPhone’.
Apple’spresentationdemonstratesthatwhilethis
istechnicallytrue,itmissesthepoint.TheiPadwas
amuchlargercanvas,andappsthatgrewtofitthe
largercanvaswerenotjustbigger,butbetter.
PreparefortheGoldRush
Inthesecondpartofthepresentation,ScottForstall
(thenApple’ssoftwarechief)invokedtheAppStore,
whichhadalreadybecomewildlysuccessfulafterless
thantwoyearsinoperation.ItwastheAppStore’s
GoldRusheraandForstall’smessagewasclear:there
wasanewGoldRushcominganditwasiniPadapps.
Andifdeveloperswantedtheirappstobeprominently
featuredontheAppStoreforiPad,Forstallpointed
out,thoseappswouldneedtobeupdatedtosupport
it.iPhone-onlyappswouldrun,butthey’ddosoina
