iPad Application Development For Dummies, 3rd Edition

Developing with Apple’s Expectations in Mind

Just as the iPad can extend the reach of the user, the device possibilities and the development environment can extend your reach as a developer. To make sure you’re reaching in the right direction, it helps to understand Apple’s perspective on what iPad apps should be — the company clearly has done some serious thinking about it, far longer than anybody else out there, having taken years to bring the iPad to market under a veil of secrecy.

So what does Apple think? Spokespeople often talk about three different application styles:

Productivity applications use and manipulate information. The RoadTrip sample app that I show in this book is an example, and so are Bento and FileMaker Go (FileMaker), and Apple’s iWork apps — Keynote, Pages, and Numbers. Common to all these apps is the use and manipulation of multiple types of information. (I’m not talking about the Productivity category in the App Store — that’s a marketing designation.)

Utility applications perform simple, highly defined tasks. The preinstalled YouTube app is an example — it deals only with the YouTube videos. The Brushes app for painting (by Steve Sprang) is considered a utility, as it performs a simple, highly defined task. (Again, I’m not talking about the Utilities category ...