Is this what iPad travel apps will be like? Belle Corse!

by Joseph Flaherty on February 8, 2010

The iPad has been called a “Yuppie Content Consumption Machine” and will certainly have difficulties with traditional content creation. The lack of a real keyboard is going to make blogging and email conversations difficult. However, I think new modes of content creation, or at least productivity may be possible.

Take a use case like planning vacation travel. Current sites like Vacation.com or Virgin Vacations are well optimized for the keyboard and mouse, but leave something to be desired in terms of UX. Compare that to the excellent travel guides produced by DK. The content is beautiful and engaging, but static.

The iPad seems to be able to bridge both experiences. The beautiful graphics of the DK guides could be simulated with a CMS and content pulled from sites with CC attribution or created specifically for the app.

A couple could plan a trip organically, passing the device back and forth on a couch, sharing pics, keeping notes of places to visit, compiling a list of “must see” destinations on top of a Google map. You could build an itinerary that updates cost and travel data as you plan. As you travel pictures can be associated with places, shared on Facebook, or printed into books when you arrive home. Translations can be provided as needed.

A laptop could do the same things, but even the best and smallest versions would be an inconvenience. Tablets, the iPad in particular, will be able to fit into special moments the way a camera does.

This travel example is yuppie glamorous and I have a tendency towards tech based Utopian visions. Even so, if you examine your daily routine you can easily start to pick out scenarios where access to the web and all it offers would be valuable even without the benefit of a physical QWERTY keyboard.

I read a great tweet via Erik Price that summed up my feelings on tablets: “The biggest promise of tablets is that they can make people realize they can get the benefit of software without the pain of computers.”