The iPad is a Glorified Digital Picture Frame, Or Not

by Bill French on 09/04/10 at 5:00 am

Bill French is an information architect specializing in Internet applications. He is also the co-founder of MyST Technology Partners and Senior Editor for iPhoneCTO.

Relatively unknown Bulgarian developer Cramzy answers the question with a new app designed to transform your iPad into the ultimate desktop companion with the launch of “23,000 Great Quotes HD” (ironically presented here in quotes). If you find motivational posters and one-a-day desk calendars boring and totally tired, consider replacing them with your idle iPad.

As we know, the highly anticipated iPad has been called many things including a big iPhone that can’t make calls, iPod Touch Maxi, a dumbed down laptop, a Kindle on steroids, and other epithets. In Steve Jobs own words, iPad sits squarely “at the intersection of technology and liberal arts”. So Cramzy, a Mac and iPhone developer from Sofia, Bulgaria decided to create an iPad app that is more liberal arts and less business.

Ironically, this application cleverly addresses a specific and beneficial use case for anyone who chooses to use iPad in

image The iPad is a Glorified Digital Picture Frame, Or Not

the enterprise. iPad, without question, could easily be mistaken as a digital picture frame. 23,000 Great Quotes transforms your beautiful new baby into the equivalent of $49 desktop picture frame, but instead of displaying pictures (which it is also very qualified to do), it rotates through its collection of great quotations.

This application, while not intended to be business critical or even business oriented, is certainly a useful approach to using technology to soften the hard edges of enterprise life. Entrepreneurs and business executives who use their iPads to display interesting information including non-business content, might be seen as more approachable. Certainly a Dave Barry quote like this would likely inspire conversation and may actually segue into a meaningful discussion — or a fight and someone gets fired – it’ll be one or the other in most cases.

“And of course you have the commercials where savvy businesspeople get ahead by using their Mac computers to create the ultimate American business product: a really sharp looking report.” – Dave Barry

23,000 Great Quotes HD sports not only a huge database of notable quotables from Aaron Burr to Ziggy, but a beautiful interface designed to give you at-a-glance access to date and time as needed. Quotations can be set to rotate on a time interval, and with 23,000 of them – it will be years before you encounter the Greek proverb that cautions you …

“Eat and drink with your relatives; do business with strangers.” – Greek Proverb

23,000 Great Quotes, available for iPhone/iPodTouch and iPad, includes many configuration options including favorites, selected authors, and the ability to share specific quotes by e-mail and into your social networks.