November 2, 2009
With the announcement of the technology that was going to revolutionise the mobile phone, media player and PDA , Apple changed the way we use these technologies by launching their most anticipated product to date. The iphone, according to Apple has simply ‘redefined what a mobile phone can do’.
As of March this year, 30 million iphones had been sold proving that Apple are certainly the leaders in mobile technology. The hype surrounding the initial launch focussed on just how entertaining and convenient this technology was going to be.
In order to watch Pirates of the Caribbean and order calamari, the iphone employs an application system to enhance how users interact with the phone. Not only have iphones become the most popular mobile technology, Apple has also figured out an ingenious way to keep the customer paying. If you don’t actually own an iphone, an application or ‘App’ can be quite the foreign concept. Are they games, are they programs or are they media files, it doesn’t really matter because as of April 2009, 1 billion applications had been downloaded from the official Apple ‘app store’ and that number will only continue to rise. From games such as Crash Bandicoot to Texas Holdem and cooking aids such as Fromage a pocket guide to over 380 types of cheese, the app caters to every interest group imaginable.
The Mac book is a staple for most designers for it’s advanced operating system and the iphone has become a smaller more portable extension of it and with this of course comes the design focused app. Amongst them are; Airdesign Chair that calculates the size and square footage of any room and iBlueSky a brainstorming platform to help organise ideas into an emailable PDF document. No designer however will dispute the importance of the PANTONE colour library, which is now conveniently available as an application. Despite the disclaimer stating ‘colours displayed here may not match PANTONE identified standards’, the application is a very useful tool. Pallets can be created and shared and colours can be extracted from a photo and matched to the closest PANTONE colour.
Whilst the PANTONE application is a useful resource, there are certain apps that are just for fun.Type Drawing is an application that lets you draw with letters to create typographic art works. By selecting a font size, type and opacity, the user can build a picture from a simple concept.
Though most applications are really just a chance to waste time, there are some valuable guides to help navigate around they city you live in or travel to. Dexigner is a website and now application that connects a user to the latest design news, exhibitions, conferences and competitions. One of the more impressive aspects of the app is Near Me an extension of the online version Around Me, which calculates the users location and provides a complete list and distances to design related events or centres near by.
Apple are renowned for usability and this convenience is now portable and small enough to fit in your pocket. With the help of such an array of unique applications, users are encouraged to be more productive, stay entertained and turn their phone into whatever they want it to be.
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