Chapter 1. Introducing the iPhone and iPad

There is no doubt that Apple has completely altered the mobile computing paradigm with its introduction of the iPhone and iPad. A sleek touchscreen interface almost completely devoid of actual buttons physically changed how we interact with our mobile devices. Fluid and dynamic, this screen can represent almost any two-dimensional interface imaginable. This alone might have blown away several previous generations of clunky, incrementally changing smartphone and netbook interfaces. But Apple’s insight into opening up the iPhone OS early on as a platform for an army of independent developers (just like you), who could quickly produce thousands of apps, allowed consumers to customize and personalize their phones, transforming them into something more transcendent and utilitarian than just a phone with some hasty, ill-conceived, add-on applications. The iPhone became a personal computer you can carry in your pocket.

The iPad, in contrast, is more of an expansion of the iPod Touch than a bigger, sleeker iPhone without the phone. It straddles the market between the iPhone’s handy pocket size and larger, traditional netbooks; and at the same time, it takes aim at more recent ebook readers.

1.1. A bit of history

1.2. All for one and one for all: the iPhone OS platform

1.3. Core hardware specifications

1.4. How the iPhone and iPad are unique

1.5. Understanding iPhone and iPad touch interaction

1.6. Summary