EffectiveUI launches our collaboration tool, Ideate, for the iPad

Saturday is a big day for both Apple and EffectiveUI and a bad day for the napkin industry.

I was going to wait to buy my iPad for a few months, but it looks like I’ll be standing in line tomorrow. I’ve just reviewed the final build of our first iPad application, Ideate, which was just approved by Apple to debut with the iPad launch.  It is really cool – allows me to basically use the iPad as a personal whiteboard with templates for specific purposes. You will no longer need to use the back of a napkin to brainstorm you next big idea.

The idea for Ideate was inspired by one of our trade-show giveaways, the EffectiveUI sketchpad:

Ideate has templates for all kinds of uses, and the depth of content in the Ideate templates make this application truly indispensable. The video shows a small set of the tempaltes in action:

The templates have a broad focus:

• Physicians
• Fashion Designers
• Coaches
• Landscape Architects
• Musicians
• UI Designers (of course :)
• Doodlers of all ages and persuasions
• Custom (You can also import photos from your photo album as templates)

Once your brilliant idea is complete, you can share your sketches with others through Flickr

It’s 4 bucks on the App Store.  This is our first application, but we have already received a massive amount of interest from clients for the iPad.  We’re planning many more innovations for this platform that will be coming soon.  Stay tuned.  We’re putting Ideate to good use, and jotting the ideas down now.

more info:

Ideate Website

App Store Link

Ideate on Twitter

Press Release

iPad changing the game sooner than I thought

Just a quick note on something I read today on Gizmodo (linked to Jalopnik). Hyundai has decided to ship their new luxury sedan, the Equus, sans the owners manual. They have decided to include an iPad loaded with a digital version of the manual instead.

http://jalopnik.com/5507349/hyundai-equus-to-ship-with-ipad-ditches-owners-manual

I know this may initially appear to be an expensive gimmick. But if you take a deeper look at how these manuals are produced, this is actually an awesome idea. I once worked for the printing industry for a lithographer who did high end car brochures and manuals. Each cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce and print. The iPad may actually represent an overall savings to auto manufactures for those models that are on smaller runs. I imagine we are going to see a lot more unusual uses for the iPad – with software customized for niche industries…

Examples could be:

Home Automation Control Panels

Yacht  and Private Jet Control Centers

Hotel Personal Concierge

Museum Personal Tourguides

Restaurant Table Ordering and Jukebox control

Real-Estate Model Walkthroughs

High-End Showroom Assistant

Pro-Team Coaching Assistant

Broadcasting “On-Site” Control Centers

… the possibilities are fun to think about, do you have any ideas?