Out of the box the Apple iPad will support more than 150,000 apps designed for the iPhone and iPod touch. But developers have also been spending the last few weeks pumping out hundreds of apps designed specifically for the iPad with its larger 9.7 inch, 1024 x 768 pixel display.
AppAdvice has a pretty decent list, and one of the apps that’s drawing the most attention is is the Netflix app which will not only let subscribers manage their Netflix queue, but also stream movies and TV shows to the iPad. The feature should work with any “watch instantly” video, which is to say not every title available from Netflix can be streamed online. But this is a pretty nifty feature that helps make the case that the iPad is an internet and multimedia powerhouse — even without support for Adobe Flash.
AppAdvice reports that the Netflix app will even let you resume watching a video from the point where you left off watching on your computer.
Engadget also notes that ABC will have an app that lets you watch full TV episodes on the iPad. It’s likely that we’ll see similar apps from other major networks soon.
Another app that looks pretty awesome is the Marvel comic book app, which will reportedly let you find, purchase, and read comic books on the iPad. While comic books have done reasonably well for themselves on the iPhone and Android smartphones, the iPad’s larger screen should make it much easier to read comics — since the screen is close to the size of a typical comic book page.
There’s no way I’m going to buy individual comics when I’ve already purchased the digital subscription. MARVEL – this is a BAD business model to split paths with digital content. Don’t shut out your digital subscribers.
Even if the iPad had Adobe Flash support, you still wouldn’t be able to watch Netflix. You’d need Microsoft Silverlight for that. 😉