The iPad: Magical and Inspirational
by Anders Kierulf
2010-03-11
I’ve been working on user interfaces for the game of Go for 25 years. It was part of my Ph.D. thesis. It’s been my bread and butter for the last 10 years. And now, without ever touching an iPad, that device has changed my view of how to present a Go game to the user. Within six weeks of working on the iPad version of SmartGo, I’ve come up with two significant new concepts.
I could have come up with these ideas before. But it’s a fact that I didn’t, not until the iPad came along. The possibilities and constraints of the iPad — a blank canvas focused on content — inspired these new approaches. And I expect more surprises and inspiration after actually holding an iPad in my hands.
The iPad is meant to be touched. And it has revolutionized my concepts without me ever touching it. That’s powerful magic.
To me, it’s like Apple designed the iPad with Go and SmartGo in mind. If the iPad gets other developers to feel the same way, Apple has already won.