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Charlie Osborne
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iPad: Breeding ground for the next-gen developer

By | June 2, 2010, 4:57am PDT

Summary: The iPad is a breeding ground for the next generation developer; the Generation Y. Two Stanford graduate students proved this by ranking #1 in the iPad App Store in less than a week.

Two Stanford University graduates who are part of their in-house Institute of Design, known colloquially as the ‘d.school’, have created an iPad application which has taken the technology world by storm. In just five short weeks, they released the very sleek, simple and cheap RSS-based news aggregator which will be soon be ported to the iPhone platform.

In the spirit of being young Generation Y developers at a world renown university, social sharing controls are a key part of the application which allows you to post to Twitter, Facebook and email.

All good and well, but I don’t really want to focus on the application itself. It’s the developers that I want to pay homage to, in that they are being publicly shown to be high value Generation Y members, who can apply knowledge, design, aesthetics - and all kinds of other qualities which make them highly employable in the near future.

The New York Times wrote this morning that the $3.99 application which aggregates everything you need to know into one screen is now topping the list of paid applications in the iPad App Store. That’s roughly 15,000 people and $40,000 generated in only a few days, the site reports.

iPad’s aren’t for e-books. They’re a breeding ground for the next-generation developer.

Mobile applications are still rapidly rising, with Neilsen data showing today that music, social networking, news and weather, communications and entertainment categories being the most commonly used smartphone applications. Seeing as so many students nowadays have an iPhone, a BlackBerry or some kind of smartphone, it only makes sense that today’s youth pitch to their own audience and stay within an environment they’re comfortable with?

I can only hope that this project can offer at very least some motivation to do something similar. All it takes is one idea for your entire life and career to change. This wasn’t even a new idea, but it has qualities which make it the best at what it does.

So what’s your next big idea?

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Topics

Apple iPad, Stanford, Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, a criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, Canterbury, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

Disclosure

Zack Whittaker

I worked briefly with Microsoft UK in 2006 but no longer have any connection with the company. Regardless, I remain impartial and unbiased in my views.

I don't hold any stock or shares, investments or industrial secrets in any company, but have signed confidentiality agreements with a number of UK and U.S. organisations, whose names I am not at liberty to disclose.

I was involved with Kent Union, the University of Kent's student union, undertaking voluntary, non-salaried, elected positions between early 2009 and mid-2010.

No other company, body, government department, non-governmental organisation or third sector organisation employs me or pays me a salary in any capacity whatsoever.

As a freelance journalist, whenever expenses are given and taken by a company that is not CBS Interactive, these will be disclosed in each relevant post to ensure transparency.

I currently work with a UK law enforcement unit, but this is an entirely separate position which bears no connection to other work.

(Updated: 23rd October 2011)

Biography

Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

After studying criminology at university, though still in his early-20's, he has already had a series unconventional work and voluntary positions. He has worked with researchers studying neurological illnesses like Tourette's syndrome (which he suffers from), has given lectures on the nature of disabilities in the public community, and occasionally ends up speaking on television and radio discussing the events of the day.

He first had academic work published at the age of 22, then still an undergraduate, and has been cited by a wide range of publications: from the Huffington Post, Business Insider, AllThingsDigital, The Atlantic Wire and CBS News.

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RE: iPad: Breeding ground for the next-gen developer
anono 20th Sep
@hamobu-22333136139518773481685514128812
The device has proven itself to be quite well liked by general consumers. Only the followers of the cult of MS are still thinking it will disappear by next year.

Secondly, the author doesn't even say the software development process is different. Only that new developers have a different focus as to what the look and feel of the application should be.
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What is new about these developers?
hamobu-22333136139518773481685514128812 2nd Jun 2010
iPad is a slightly different concept, but software development is still the same process. Let's not go overboard with iPad cult before the device has even had a chance to prove itself.
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RE: iPad: Breeding ground for the next-gen developer
anono 20th Sep
@hamobu-22333136139518773481685514128812
The device has proven itself to be quite well liked by general consumers. Only the followers of the cult of MS are still thinking it will disappear by next year.

Secondly, the author doesn't even say the software development process is different. Only that new developers have a different focus as to what the look and feel of the application should be.

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