10 Must Have Launch Day iPad Apps

I'd wager you won't see the first ones effectively arrive until the 3rd of April. At launch day, expect at least 100 apps straight out the gate, and likely double that.We got a heads up from Carnegie Mellon student Rich Hong this morning: he built a widget dashboard app for the iPad, and it's definitely worth checking out the sneak preview video.

Have you seen other previews of iPad apps that are worth checking out?

Here is the list of Apps that I'm planning to buy on launch day!

Bento

Bento lets you organize notes, photos, calendars, contacts and more for specific projects, groups, classes or assignments. FileMaker's Bento for iPad will reportedly cost $4.99 just like the iPhone version, and will presumably work as a stand-alone application or sync with the Mac version.

iWork Pages



Even before you start writing, your document looks great. With over 180 Apple-designed templates, a professionally polished resume, brochure, school report, or invitation is waiting for you to make it your own. Use the Template Chooser to find the one you like. Add your own words in the text placeholders. Use the Media Browser to drop photos from your iPhoto library directly into graphics placeholders. And there you have it: a beautifully designed, professional-quality document made in minutes.

Tables and charts make data instantly more compelling. You can copy and paste charts from Numbers into your document. The data is linked, so when you change the data in your spreadsheet, you can update your chart in Pages with just a click

iWork Numbers

In Numbers ’09, spreadsheets are built on a flexible, free-form canvas. So you can move tables, charts, graphics, and text anywhere you want on the page. As tables resize, objects automatically adjust to fit around them. Create as many tables as you want. Change fonts, sizes, colors, styles, and borders. With graphics tools, alignment guides, and rulers, spreadsheet-making becomes a surprisingly creative endeavor. And suddenly, spreadsheets make more sense

iWork Keynote

Keynote began as a software program for Apple CEO Steve Jobs to use in creating the presentations for Macworld Conference and Expo and other Apple keynote events.[3] Prior to using Keynote, Jobs had used Concurrence, from Lighthouse Design, a similar product which ran on the NeXTSTEP and OpenStep platforms. The program was first sold publicly as Keynote 1.0 in 2003, competing against existing presentation software, most notably Microsoft PowerPoint. In addition, Keynote features three-dimensional transitions, such as a rotating cube or a simple flip of the slide.


Flight Control HD

It's not clear how much Flight Control HD would cost, but the iPhone version is $1. Firemint, makers of Flight Control, confirmed in late January that Flight Control HD is in development for the iPad.

OmniGraffle



This app will let you create illustrations like mind maps, diagrams and page layout designs. The iPad app will also sync with the Mac version. Omnigraffle for iPad will purportedly cost $49.99, which is quite pricey considering the basic Mac version is $99.95. But take note that if more applications like Omnigraffle show up on iPad launch day, this will make a stronger case for the device as an enterprise tool instead of just a content consumption device.

OmniGraffle uses Mac OS X's graphics layer, known as Quartz, and benefits from on-the-fly antialiasing, smooth scaling, transparent drop shadowing, and other features. OmniGraffle 4 added Bézier shapes and text-based hierarchical chart construction to the range of available tools. OmniGraffle 5 added Bézier connecting lines; previously connecting lines were bent to fit between their points which made them relatively easy to create, but difficult to control with any great precision.

OmniGraffle can output to PDF, TIFF, PNG, JPEG, EPS, HTML image map, SVG, Visio XML, PICT vector, Photoshop and BMP bitmap documents.

Awesome Note

Awesome Notes is beautifully designed, easy to use, and functional. The biggest difference between Bridworks' and Apple’s application is that Awesome Notes actually allows you to organize your notes into folders. Wow, what a concept! You would think after three iPhone system upgrades Apple would have included a simple feature for managing notes. But maybe that’s a good thing, because Awesome Notes does the note taking program the right way.

Awesome Notes features...

Customizable pages and folders with colored folders and unique icons
Backup and Transfer to Google Docs
Password protection for folders
Landscape, list and thumbnail view

The one nifty little Quick Memo feature makes Awesome Notes stand above other similar note taking applications. Quick Memo is for jotting a note outside a folder or existing page. You can later save the note into a folder. When I used the Apple’s Notes, I created a similar quick note page, but Bridworks’s version is based on how we users want to input a quick note.


1Password

If you're an avid Mac user then you've gotta be familiar with 1Password. It's very popular in the Mac community for its ease of use and high quality. 1Password for Mac has won multiple awards from various magazines and tech sites, so it's great to finally have an iPhone version.

Stores private information on your iPhone
Use 1Password to log in to various accounts without having to remember usernames and passwords
Features:
2 layer defense - unlock code and master password
Secure two way sync with Mac computer (need to have 1Password for Mac, sold separately)
Data encryption
Auto website login

Big Oven

This app provides access to all types of information, from buying and handling tips to comments about recipes to random recipe suggestions. This app heavily relies on the related website www.bigoven.com which has been up and running for a pretty long time now. The app accesses most of its information, including recipes and images through this site.

160,000 Recipes—BigOven is almost there. We see tons of potential with this app. It’s incredibly useful if it is connected to the internet. However, while shopping in the grocery store, you may not have a connection or be dealing with a slow connection, which would make the app too painful to be useful. At home or connected to WiFi though, this app is extraordinarily useful, educational and inspiring.

GeoDefense HD

Looking forward to geoDefense 2 or HD or whatever they call it!

geoDefense is a Thinking Man’s Action Tower Defense. Though the controls are familiar, the gameplay is decidedly different: You have to develop a strategy and, at the same time, execute in real-time when things are moving fast.

Think of it like Chess. There is your opening moves, which are setting the stage for how you will win the level. The middle game is where you do your busy work of getting built-up for the final push at the end. The end game is where it gets completely crazy! If you didn’t have a strategy up until this point, no amount of fast fingers will save you.

Instapaper

The developer of this groundbreaking "Read Later" application is so bullish about getting approved for the iPad launch that he wrote in his blog that "an iPad without native Instapaper Pro is not a device I want to own. And I'm buying it on day one."

For good reason. The (currently) $4.99 application, which will be universal across iTunes-enabled portable devices, was seemingly made for the iPad and its 9.7-inch screen. The app integrates feeds from your favorite sources (including traditional and web-based media as well as Twitter feeds), and makes it easy for you to read them when on your own time. Imagine, a magazine-sized device that will have instant and enjoyable access to all that great content. After Saturday, you won't have to.