No matter how cool the app or the how awesome the iPad itself, we have to ask ourselves, what is the most important factor? Who was the iPad designed for? People! The iPad and its apps were created for us, so when we consider design, we have to keep in mind that what goes is what people want.
Firstly, ask yourself, who your target audience is. Don't think what people like yourself would want (it is only natural to think of yourself as part of the audience), but rather go beyond your imagination. Name your audience, give them jobs and hobbies and then imagine what would work for them. One of our own iPad developers recently created a game for newbie iPad gamers, only to realize that children were enjoying the game too. So the developer has since made a few changes to suit this group now.
Secondly, ask yourself what your audience does? Do they interact with other techies? Or do they come more in contact with children? Are they mothers who spend a lot of time taking care of their kids? Or are your audience arty people who enjoy drawing and photography? These may seem like unnecessary questions, but let us give you an example. One of our projects was to create a painting app for a contract iPhone developer. We tested the app between ourselves, and we found that while all of us loved art, we didn't like the idea of painting an original piece. But on the other hand, all of us loved templates and patterns that we could paint into instead. So the idea is to think about the audience's lifestyle, and not so much how tech savvy the app is (and also to test the app with a random group first!)
Here are some statements that might inspire you to look outside the box:
"The iPad is so light that I can carry it anywhere."
"It's smaller than a laptop so I can actually use it secretly at the back of a boring conference"
"I can design for work, read books, watch movies and play games all with one device"
"The large screen makes it easy to read, as I don't have to keep scrolling down"
"The Wi-FI and 3G Internet features let me use the iPad on a plane, car or in the subway"
We hope that the points here have shed some light on iPad app development. However, we would still advice new iPad developers to hire some professional help to make sure your app is well designed.
For more information on hiring Austin iPad Developers, iPhone Developers, Android Developers or Blackberry Developers, contact Jinibot Mobile Developers at 888.548.1778 or visit their site at http://jinibot.com/.