Since the unveiling of the device last week, it seems like everyone is praising or criticizing Apple’s upcoming iPad as a pure media consumption machine. That, or bemoaning the absence of Flash.

As first impressions go, that’s not far off the mark. The iPad’s larger form factor is ideal for consuming and sharing iTune’s vast media library and it appears to be made for that singular purpose.

However, I believe we are all underestimating the productivity potential of the iPad. Here are 5 reasons why I think the iPad is ideal for productivity and not just for media consumption:

1) The IPS LCD panel tech
This allows for a viewing angle of 178 degrees and a ridiculously good image quality. That means any images, diagrams, or documents can be easily readable for anyone near the iPad holder.

2) 1024×768 resolution
This means you can fit a lot more detailed information on the screen. I predict you will see native iPad productivity apps that will take advantage of this additional screen real estate in new and innovative ways. More space means less full page transitions and a better user experience for manipulating complex documents.

3) The 0.5″ thick and 1.5lbs form factor
Big deal, you say, it’s just lighter and smaller, nothing game changing here. Well, think about it this way: when was the last time you tried to pass a laptop around the boardroom/meeting room? If you tried it, you’d find it was bulky, heavy, and unwieldy. Well the iPad’s form factor makes it easy to pass around and the bigger, wide angle viewing screen just makes sharing that much easier.

It’s perfect for collaborative work and small groups without a need for a projector. Better than a laptop because you can’t just lay a laptop screen flat on a table.

4) Multi-touch
Yes, this is not new and it already exists on the iPhone. However, since the iPad is more like a desktop/laptop platform, we will be seeing some really unique user experiences due to the combination of multi-touch with single page app designs (unlike the hierarchical, multipage iPhone apps). In combination with the larger screen, this will allow for productivity apps that are built for collaboration among multiple people on the same device.

5) The blazing fast A4 processor
This processor runs circles around the iPhone and the current crop of netbooks. Heavy processor dependent apps that weren’t possible on the iPhone will now see the light of day on the iPad because of the A4.

Bonus Reason: Apple says so
They’re not releasing the iWork suite of apps for the iPad on a whim. This is to showcase how productive you can be on the iPad. There’s a good reason why they didn’t even attempt to bring these apps over to the iPhone; they were saving them for the platform that will make them shine, the iPad.

Conclusion
As an iPhone developer, I’m obviously going to buy an iPad on day one but the hardware doesn’t nearly excite me as much as the potential of new iPad-only apps. I’m certain there will be some truly innovative productivity tools that may change your life and mine.

We at Endloop are already working on some awesome ideas for iPad apps, so keep your eyes peeled to this blog.

IndieRelief.com is a one day software sale (January 20th, 2010) where over 50 indie Mac and iPhone developers will be donating their sales proceeds to various Haiti relief charities.

Put together by Second Gear and Garrett Murray, Indie Relief showcases how quickly a diverse community like iPhone and Mac developers can get together to do something positive for those in need.

Endloop is proud to be a part of this wonderful community and we will be donating proceeds from ALL of our apps sold tomorrow to Doctors Without Borders.

On Jan. 20th, 2010 (tomorrow!), open your hearts and wallets, and grab some great software knowing you are contributing to desperately needed relief for Haiti.

Visit: IndieRelief.com

Check out our brief gameplay video for our upcoming FREE iPhone game BANKSHOT:

Last Thursday afternoon, we had this crazy idea to try to build an iPhone game over the course of a 3 day weekend.

We had all the ingredients in place:

1) Simple but fun and addictive gameplay concept - CHECK
2) A simple art style that won’t require outside help - CHECK
3) A hard deadline of Monday due to client work commitments - CHECK

And last but not least:

4) Awesome significant others that will put up with this hijacked weekend - CHECK

The reason this is Zero to BETA instead of Zero to Release is that we didn’t quite fully finish. We have a feature complete game but the gameplay still needs more testing and some tweaking before we’re OK with submitting it.

Also, the reason it’s 36 hrs and not 72 hrs is because we are old and we like to sleep. That and we needed to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for today as we had some important client work to start.

Ok, enough with the disclaimers, I’m proud to announce the results of our Weekend GameJam:

Introducing BANKSHOT, a simple physics game where the goal is to score goals using bank shots. It’s a ’streak’ based game where the score is simply the number of goals you can score in a row. A valid bankshot is 1 to 3 banks. We limited it to 3 so we could reduce the wild lucky shots factor.

We will be releasing this game for FREE (ad-supported) once it’s been submitted and approved. We’ll also keep you informed as to the App Store performance of this app via this blog.

Here are some initial screenshots, I’ll be posting a video once we’ve finished our gameplay tweaks (hopefully tonight):

Overall this Weekend GameJam was a blast! We’re definitely into doing it again the next time we have a simple game concept. We’d love to hear your thoughts and comments!

We’re putting up Arcade Solitaire: TriTowers (recently selected as Apple Staff Favourites in App Store!) for the Best Card Game category in the Best App Ever awards.

If you’d like to support us, please nominate here: http://bestappever.com/c/crgm/339038562/nom

Arcade Solitaire iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/arcade-solitaire-tritowers/id339038562?mt=8

Mobile Orchard is one of the judges and they are going to nominate their favourite apps from their readers, read all about it here at Moblie Orchard.

So what makes Arcade Solitaire: TriTowers is worthy of Best Card Game?

• Only card game in the App Store that displays, in real time, your progression through the leaderboard ranks while you play!
• Unique mashup of arcade action (timer, lives, rounds, combos, and rankings) with super addictive TriTowers/TriPeaks solitaire gameplay
• Highly polished graphics (over 30 backgrounds and decks, particle effects), sounds, and extremely fast and responsive touch controls

Here is what other people and review sites think:

★★★★★ “Arcade Solitaire: TriTowers is one seriously addictive game and is easily our top choice for solitaire on the platform.”
– AppAddict.net
http://appaddict.net/2009/11/28/arcade-solitaire-tritowers-who-knew-playing-by-yourself-could-be-this-much-fun/

★★★★★ “This is such a fantastic game… the presentation is absolutely flawless…it’d be a bargain at four times the price.”
– AppGirlReviews.com
http://appgirlreviews.com/arcade-solitaire-tritowers/”

★★★★ “Arcade Solitaire: TriTowers is one of the most addictive games I have encountered for the iPhone.”
– TouchGen.net
http://www.touchgen.net/arcade-solitaire-tritowers-review

★★★★ “One of the most addicting and amusing solitaire games on the App Store.”
– iphoneincanada.ca
http://www.iphoneincanada.ca/reviews/game-review-arcade-solitaire-tritowers-for-iphone/

Thanks for your support!!

Get your copy while it’s hot, only 99c during our special launch sale!

Grab it from the iPhone App Store here: Arcade Solitaire: TriTowers

When the game starts, it asks if you want to create an OpenFeint account, just tap YES so we can compete on the leaderboards

We’re happy and honoured to have been profiled by UnlimitedMagazine.com this month. Shockingly, we’re on the front page! (w00t!)

The article is entitled “Toronto iPhone App Developers get with the program” (weird title but journalists are a wacky bunch ) and can be read here.

Great to see them give some props to Dark Horse Espresso Bar, they still have the best iced latte and butter tarts in town.

So we decided to go ahead and launch TweetCapz ‘officially’. We were going to wait until version 1.1 update hit the App Store but we decided to just go ahead and start announcing it properly.

As you can see in this video, version 1.1 (should be approved soon!) has some kick-ass multi-touch controls for resizing/rotating captions and graphics. Anyways enough of me blabbing, just check out our video and let us know what you think in the comments!

TweetCapz - photo captioning for Facebook and Twitter from Ken Seto on Vimeo.

Here’s the YouTube version:

For those of you following us on Twitter, you’ve probably already heard of TweetCapz. Which is good, since that was the plan.

For everyone else, I’m thrilled to announce our new iPhone application, TweetCapz!

What is TweetCapz?

“Snap. Caption. Share!” is our tagline. It captures the essence of what TweetCapz is about.

Snap. TweetCapz allows you to use the iPhone camera to take a picture or choose one from the your iPhone photo library..

Caption. Once you have your photo, you can now dress it up with our huge selection of labels, LOLCats-style text, speech/thought balloons, emoticons, and graphics. You can drag and drop these elements and arrange them anywhere on the photo…

Share! With your finished masterpiece, you can share them with your friends via Twitter, Facebook, or plain old email. You can also just save it to your photo library for later.

Here’s a sample photo that has been TweetCapz’d (is that a word?):

We are also launching a TweetCapz community site, www.tweetcapz.com, where you can view all the TweetCapz photos that have been tweeted.

That’s TweetCapz in a nutshell! The launch sale price is $0.99 and it should in the App Store in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, join us on our Facebook page Facebook.com/endloop and follow us on Twitter @endloopinc to keep up on the latest developments.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment!

- Ken