Jan 28 2010
iPad, a New Innovation
The new Apple tablet unveiled in San Francisco will offer a full set of location technologies with GPS, WiFi and digital compass, as well as assisted GPS for the model integrating a 3G modem.
Besides having a new version of Maps that fills the whole screen, the iPad has access to almost all of the app store content – but nevertheless these applications will need some work if they don’t want to look to pixelated on an Ipad. More importantly, most of the applications built for the pocketable iPhone might simply not be relevant for the tablet.
UI and use case challenge for LBS developers
This new product is going to be an interesting challenge for location-based services developers. There is indeed everything that count to offer great positioning, enough battery life to run for hours and, obviously, a very large display.
However, the use of this product is going to be radically different from a laptop or an iPhone/iPod Touch. Unless you drive a Humvee, you are not going to put it on your dashboard, so exit in-car navigation. Because you don’t have it in your pocket all the time, checking it to find your direction when walking on the street is not going to happen either.
Another point is that many consumers will buy the $499 version that only has Wi-Fi, so the applications developed will have to be able to work without continuous connectivity. That obviously raises the point of the GPS – and GPS antenna – quality in standalone mode: how good it performs will have to be seen, especially when knowing the notoriously bad GPS antenna fitted into the iPhone 3G and 3GS.
The 9.7-inch screen offered by the iPad is probably what will drive the biggest innovation. Unlike in a smartphone today where maps and menus, or text are on different screens, the iPad display has enough size to show both a map and other elements: be it text, pictures or video. The size of the screen also possibly allows to make drawings and to add notes to maps, something that innovative developers could leverage for specific applications.
All in all the future use cases of this device and the potential for new type of user interfaces open a field of possibility, but contemplating these has however a pre-requisite: will the iPad sell?
Source: gpsbusinessnews.com
