Business Opportunities for the Apple iPad

Now is the time to cash in on your ideas for accessories or apps which would be ideal for the upcoming Apple iPad.  I’ve already thought of a few and thought it’d be worth sharing them on this blog.  I don’t have the time and funding to invest in any of these ideas – if you have the money, I’m happy to work something out though…  Either way there free for you to ‘steal’ if you like.

1. A photo frame fixture/dock

The Apple iPad will easily double as a digital photo frame on steroids.  Instead of storing your iPad in your desk or on your coffee table, why not show it off and put it up on your wall?  It could have an inbuilt charger in it so any time you store it on your wall you are charging it at the same time.  It could also include some sort of anti-theft device so that you can show off your iPad without having to worry about it going AWOL during a party while you’re out the back refilling the ice tray.

2. Blogpaper (blog reader transformed into a daily newspaper)

How awesome is this idea?  Instead of a boring old blog reader app, why not turn your favourite blogs into a daily newspaper designed for iPad viewing?  Every time your favourite blogs publish new articles they’d be included in that day’s blogpaper which would be specifically designed for you to read on your iPad.  The most viewed articles would be considered major headlines, whereas lesser known blogs would be further on in the newspaper.  The app could even learn your reading preferences so that it could guess each day what you’d consider headline articles to go on the front page or which blog articles would be best suited to go in a less prominent area of the blogpaper.

If you scan through a blogpaper one day but don’t have time to read an article, you could cut it out and paste it into a scrapbook, which would categorize these articles for future reading without having to troul through an archive of old blogpaper editions.  In fact this scrapbook could then be converted into an ebook which you could then name ‘Best blog articles of 2010′ and read it at your liesure when you feel like some nestelgic reading.

You could even take it to the next level and people could share their blogpapers with other iPad users.

3. An easy-on-the-eyes screen guard

Protection screens are pretty much mandatory for iPhones as they keep the screen scratch-free and keep the resale price high (why would you ever want to sell your iPhone though?).  For the iPad a protection screen could go a step further and soften the glare of the back-lit screen.
Yes, Apple screens are a delight on the eyes already, but if you’re planning on sitting and reading a novel for 5 hours on a rainy Sunday afternoon, you want to be as kind on your eyes as possible.  I’m sure staring at a computer screen has affected my eyes so I’m reluctant to switch from paper to screen for reading novels.  If someone could invent a healthier way to read books on an LCD screen I’d definitely be willing to pay.

While we’re at it we should probably make this a fully seal-able waterproof case.  I have a feeling a lot of these will sit on coffee tables…

4. A soft keyboard that doubles as a protective case

If you’re doing any serious typing you’ll want a traditional keyboard.  Writing a 1,500 word blog article on the iPad touch screen just won’t cut it.  However what you don’t want to do is have to carry around a whole lot of accessories everywhere you take your iPad.  What if you could take a standard sized keyboard that could be folded in half to form a carry case for the iPad?  I saw a concept version of this for the Palm Pilot years ago – the keyboard could be wrapped around the Palm Pilot and double as a protective case.  This idea could be brought over to the iPad and as long as it was elegantly designed it’d be a sought after accessory for any blogger.

5. USB/SD Card multi-adapter

It seems crazy to me that Apple didn’t add a USB port or two at the bottom of the iPad (along with the standard Apple charger slot).  An SD slot would have also been extremely useful for travel or just in general when your friend offers to share some photos with you that are on her SD card in her camera.  What they have done is offered accessories but they appear to be rather limited.  An all-in-one adapter would be very convenient, and while we’re at it, if you could figure out a way for the iPad to use an external SD card reader as additional storage, you’d be pretty popular (it would be an easy and cheap way to boost the iPad’s internal memory).

6. A deluxe universal remote control

Turning the iPad into and easy-to-use remote control would be fantastic.  No buttons to push, just touching and sliding your way through Boxee, XBMC or other media center software.  If would give channel surfing a whole new meaning!

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