The size of iPad apps might be larger than the iPhone apps
We were somewhat expecting this and now it's almost sure that it is going to happen. So what are we talking about?
With it's latest announcement, Apple has just proved that its iPad applications will be data hungry. They have announced the upping of the over-the-air 3G app download limit from 10MB to 20MB. Victory for users and developers, but is AT&T panicking?
Applications written for the iPad were always likely to require more storage space than typical iPhone apps, partly because of the larger screen, which demands bigger and more complex graphics. But the iPad itself, by virtue of having a significantly more powerful processor and a larger form factor enables far more sophisticated software like the iPad-tweaked multi-touch versions of the iWorks suite.
However, the larger average size of the apps posed an immediate problem for the whole App Store ecosystem. Apple's size limit was set at 10MB to buffer cell-phone networks from massive traffic moving to iPhones. Clearly many iPad apps would have surpassed this limit, which would quite possibly impact on app sales (often a spontaneous purchase, given their low cost).
So Apple's just raised the barrier to 20MB. This is confirmation that the iPad apps will be more complex than the iPhone apps and that the utility of the iPad itself will probably be much higher.
IPad app developers (and iPhone app writers, too) can expect a small increase in sales as mobile users are now able to buy many of the larger apps during the times they're most likely interacting with their mobile devices. The only group for whom the news will sound terrible is the cell phone networks. AT&T, in particular, with its reliability and reputation already tarnished in the largest U.S. cities, may well be very worried.
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