Downloading - iLounge
Downloading - iLounge
Downloading - iLounge
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IDESIGN<br />
IPAD 2 BUYERS’ GUIDE<br />
The Future of Productivity<br />
Longtime Apple developer The Omni Group has ported<br />
four Mac apps to the iPad - redefining business touch<br />
interfaces, and challenging App Store pricing norms.<br />
Despite earning billions of dollars for<br />
developers, the App Store’s average<br />
app selling price is around $3,<br />
pressuring companies to sell lots of<br />
units on the cheap - and sometimes cut<br />
corners. That’s not The Omni Group’s<br />
style. Incorporated in 1993, Omni<br />
initially developed software for Steve<br />
Jobs’ NeXT platform, following Jobs<br />
back to Apple with Mac OS X. So it’s<br />
not a surprise that the Seattle company<br />
would quickly convert four of its main<br />
Mac productivity apps to the iPad, too -<br />
the difference is the UI. Take the text<br />
editor and organizer OmniOutliner,<br />
which enables users to create highly<br />
structured documents that are easy<br />
to reorganize at will using touch<br />
gestures. It joins OmniFocus, a<br />
Getting Things Done-style planning<br />
tool that leverages iPad mapping and<br />
media capabilities to manage projects<br />
and daily tasks; OmniGraffle, a graphic<br />
design tool specializing in flow charts<br />
and similarly business-oriented<br />
images; and OmniGraphSketcher,<br />
a graph drawing and data plotting<br />
tool - all at $15-$50 price tags. The<br />
company also released a $20 iPhone<br />
and iPod touch version of OmniFocus<br />
before the iPad was announced. In<br />
each case, the company reinvented<br />
the Mac interfaces for touch screens,<br />
a challenge as formidable as Apple’s<br />
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