iPad Developer Explains Why It's 'So Revolutionary'

Since Apple unveiled its new iPad tablet, reactions from the developer community have been pouring in. While some seem genuinely excited, there are many others in the industry who essentially let out a collective "meh" upon seeing the iPad. The most common complaint appears to be that iPad is basically just a big iPhone or iPod Touch. Nintendo's Satoru Iwata was particularly dismissive of it.

Developer Joe Hewitt, however, is a big fan and he explained for TheStreet.com why the iPad is "so revolutionary."

"iPad is exactly the product I've been wishing for ever since I wrapped my mind around the iPhone and its constraints. Although the rumor mill was churning with all kinds of crazy possibilities for the Apple tablet, I mostly rolled my eyes, because I felt strongly that all Apple needed to do to revolutionize computing was simply to make an iPhone with a large screen," he began. "Anyone who feels underwhelmed by that doesn't understand how much of the iPhone's operating system's potential is still untapped."

Hewitt continued, "Of all the platforms I've developed on in my career, from the desktop to the Web, iPhone's OS gave me the greatest sense of empowerment, and had the highest ceiling for raising the art of user-interface design. Except there was one thing keeping me from reaching that ceiling: The screen was too small. ... The bottom line is that many apps which were cute toys on iPhone can become full-featured power tools on the iPad, making you forget about their desktop/laptop predecessors. We just have to invent them."

What really excites Hewitt is that the iPhone OS leverages the Internet and will continue to be improved for iPad. "What people are overlooking is that the Internet is an integral part of the iPhone OS, and it is the part of the OS you can tinker with to your heart's delight," he said. "So, in the end, what it comes down to is that iPad offers new metaphors that will let users engage with their computers with dramatically less friction. That gives me, as a developer, a sense of power and potency and creativity like no other. It makes the software market feel wide open again, like no one's hegemony is safe. How anyone can feel underwhelmed by that is beyond me."