Secrecy hasn’t reduced interest in building iPad apps

New York Times
Two of Apple’s primary competitors for the e-book market are building digital store fronts for the iPad, but neither has received early access to the tablet device for development of their apps. According to The New York Times, both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble have created iPad apps, even though Apple’s tablet is a direct competitor to Amazon’s Kindle e-reader and Barnes & Noble’s Nook. Neither bookseller is planning to have its app available for the iPad launch on April 3, preferring to test their software on an actual device before offering it for sale in the iTunes store. The tight security surrounding the iPad has required most developers to test their apps on a software simulator version of the device. The Times spoke about this challenge to an executive at Panelfly, creators of a digital comic-book reader. “There are real-world factors that may go undetected with a simulator, like the weight of the device and how people hold it. To compensate, engineers have been printing out sample pages and pasting them onto magazines, ‘to get a feel for holding it in our hands,’ said Stephen Lynch, chief technologist at the company.”
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