Joining Forces

By Brooke Riggio

Thanks, Matthew, for the great welcome, and your willingness to partner in creating the greatest possible iPhone app launcher.

In spite of many negative reactions, I was excited when Apple announced that iPhone apps would be web-based. As a web developer, it was thrilling to see my favorite technologies embraced for such an preeminent device. I started planning my app launcher right away. I have used a number of different launchers on my old Treo 650, so i had plenty of ideas on what it should do.

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Welcome, Brooke Riggio, to the LaunchPad development team.

By Matthew Krivanek

Yes, that’s right ladies and gentleman, LaunchPad has a new team member–Brooke Riggio. That brings the grand total to 2 on the team. And just wait till you see what this dynamic duo will produce!

A week or so ago, when I initially launched the LaunchPad demo, Brooke contacted me and expressed interest in working on the project. We swapped a few emails and I determined Brooke would be a great fit for the project. Brooke has a strong background in PHP, database development, and AJAX. I bring to the table a strong emphasis on usable design/user experience/usability. Seems like a great fit to me. Plus, neither Brooke nor I are looking to become millionaires off LaunchPad. In fact, we’re doing our best to give it away for free!

Brooke and I both share a passion for the web and technology in general. So, we’re teaming up for this project to show everyone out there the true potential of an iPhone web app. We’re confident that we’ll be able to put out a product that is going to “launch” web apps to a new level. (pun intended)

I can’t wait to show you more of what we’ve been working on… we’ll be posting screenshots soon.

Plus, be on the lookout for our upcoming private beta! If your interested in taking part, make sure to fill out your email address on the form to the right and you’ll be the first to know!

Introducing LaunchPad for the Apple iPhone.

By Matthew Krivanek

So, as I stated in my prior post, there exists a need for iPhone users to be able to find and launch web apps that are written for the phone; however, even the use of bookmarks could make saving and launching new apps a very cumbersome process.

Enters LaunchPad.

So here it is–the product of many-a-late night recently. Basically, LaunchPad is an app manager for iPhone web apps. It makes launching and discovering new apps simple and fun.

Please note: Currently, this application has NO backend/database functionality. It will soon. I’ve spent most of my time trying to discover what’s possible UI-wise, mirroring the iPhone UI as closely as possible.

This demo is a sneak peak into what LaunchPad will end up looking like and how it’s UI will function. The backend development is in progress right now.Take a look and give me your comments. http://www.launchpadhq.com