I developed PadPressed without having an iPad | Hacker News Reader

I developed PadPressed without having an iPad

startupinmexico.com

68 pointsarmandososa17 comments

I'll have to admit, that's exactly why I don't find the idea of developing for iOS/webOS/Android very appealing: the necessity of buying corresponding hardware. Maybe even client-side application development in its entirety.

I can work on platform-agnostic web applications from wherever I want - Linux, Mac OS X, even Windows. Sure, there's a testing phase, and I need to deploy on a specific system. But other than that, I don't have to worry about new and expensive hardware revisions et cetera.

If your goal is to make money, then a few hundred dollars to buy into the platform is meaningless. If your goal isn't to make money then why would you develop for a platform that you don't have access to?

author was able to develop without having access to hardware, and the product looks great. I imagine they will make lots of money with it.

Honestly, I don't find appealing the development of cross-platform web sites. In those cases you have to target the lowest common denominator better known as IE6 and you'll be doing practically the same that you've been doing the last 6+ years.

Besides being a good business opportunity, developing for PadPressed was incredibly fun and challenging in a way that no other website ever was. I got to use the latest technologies that a browser has to offer, like CSS3's transitions and animations and HTML5's new webSQL API (or whatever it's called).

You know? just the opportunity to completely ignore Internet Explorer makes it worthwhile. And the iPad is a very nice device even for non-development related stuff.

I do think this is a valid. I am doing this in my spare time, so I develop for the things that give me the best return and are what I want. I started with iPhone and then moved to iPad. I don't really want to buy another phone to develop with or another tablet, so I won't. I would be better served I think to build another app for iOS than to port an app to a store in an ecosystem that I'm not personally active in.

What about emulators?

My experience with Windows Mobile (not Windows Phone 7) emulators is that because of the huge variety of devices, they only give you an idea of whether the software will work on the OS. The issue is, of course, that each family of hardware is different, and Microsoft often allows the vendor to tweak the OS a bit.

It strikes me as an advantage to developers, at least regarding hardware, that Apple controls the whole package. You can develop in an emulator and know how your software will behave on the device.

Apple has simulator. It's conceptually similar to WINE — runs x86 code (not ARM) with Mac OS X-hosted versions of iOS frameworks.

They are close to the real thing. But not quite. Multitouch events, for example, are hard to accomplish.

Is it just me, is the music in the video demo for PadPressed the worst choice of music for any demo video ever produced?!

</hyperbole>

I'll go with: It is just you :) (really, some people do like it)

It's me also. Honestly, I thought it was some terribly advertisement playing in the background. I missed the first half of your video because I was searching for the source of this over-dramatic music. IMO, the music gives the listener a feeling of urgency and dramatic tension that is 180 degrees from the feeling I want when I'm looking at elegant, minimalist software like PadPressed.

I think your software is incredible, and kudos to you for developing it without even having the iPad hardware in hand, but I closed the web page as soon as I discovered where the music was coming from. It was too much of a disconnect for me.

Good story. I had an app out on release day for the iPad and had to do all development without seeing it on a device. Of course so did everyone else, so the users were understanding for a while. Impressive to pull this off now.

I couldn't tell if you are a founder in this venture or working on contract basis. Regardless, great job!

I have no idea why flipboard guys would consider this "uncreative" and crappy. Sounds as if they're afraid of competition.

Armando is a core original member of the founding team. It also includes Andres Barreto (formerly grooveshark cofounder)

We've actually worked together in several other startups and projects, padpressed is the latest one. =)

That demo video has an iPad running 4.2 I'd be careful, that's still in beta.

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