Apple’s iPad was released on April 3. Marketers suspect that it will be a game-changer for mobile.

“Apple and Steve Jobs have so much credibility, no one feels safe to ignore them,” said Brennan Hayden, vice president of Wireless Developer Agency, East Lansing, MI. “So, when Apple shines the light on a new product like they have with the iPad, people almost have no choice but to pay attention.
 
“I think it will not match the iPhone craze for one big reason – the iPhone tapped into years of pent-up frustration from users and developers alike for what a cell phone might be able to do if only these amazing devices were truly enabled for innovation,” he said. “Since the first cell-phone browsers in the mid ‘90s, we have all been mercilessly teased by near miraculous devices and networks, only to see them artificially limited by the network operators, usually for justifiable reasons of course.

“That pent-up demand is what created the iPhone craze, and such a dynamic simply does not exist in the market addressed by iPad – in fact, the iPad may look slightly less open and more limited to developers and users than alternatives for the same applications, as compared to the iPhone market. The starter set of apps from iPhone will definitely provide a nice boost for the iPad, but I do not think it will sustain a craze as the iPhone has.”

Here are a few iPad apps that were released:

The New York Times: The New York Times Editors’ Choice application features a selection of the latest news, business and technology news, opinion and features chosen by Times editors. Additionally consumers can view videos and slideshows, download and sync articles and images to the iPad for viewing offline or in airplane mode and email articles to friends and family. The company partnered with Chase Sapphire who is its exclusive launch sponsor

PGA’s Paul Azinger: Apple has partnered with PGA tour professional Paul Azinger to create a universal instructional golf application based on actual golfer’s stats. The Golfplan  application, identifies areas that need improvement in a user’s game and generate individualized practice plans to address those needs. The application addresses five major areas of the gold game including driving, greens in regulation, scrambling and recovery and putting.

The Weather Channel: The Weather Channel application lets consumers customize weather forecasts, extensive maps, severe weather alerts, and a robust video center with forecast videos. Users can also watch full episodes of The Weather Channel’s original programming.

Warner Bros.: Warner Bros. has released the “Sherlock Holmes: Mysteries” game which features 11 3-D environments and 12 unique characters. The company claims that

EA Mobile: EA mobile has introduced several game applications which include: Need for Speed Shift, Tetris, Scrabble, Command and Conquer Red Alert and Mirror’s Edge – which it claims is an iPad exclusive.

Zillow: Zillow has launched an application, which it claims is a photo-driven home shopping experience built specifically for the iPad’s interactive, multi-touch screen. Consumers can search and browse cities and neighborhoods, window shop the neighborhood viewing multiple homes side-by-side, flick through preview photos one home versus another and drag and drop homes into a personal favorites section.

Yahoo Entertainment: The Yahoo Entertainment application features gesture and geo-location technologies and Wi-Fi connectivity. Additionally consumers can view and customize TV listings and get recommendations on the latest new shows. There is also an added entertainment news and book reviews and comics section.

AccuWeather.com: The Cirrus application from AccuWeather.com uses iPad’s accelerometer to facilitate a landscape view. Additionally the application features a 15-day local forecasts, videos including national and regional forecasts, sports weather and breaking weather news, detailed conditions for the user’s current location, weather alarms that warn users of potential high winds, heavy rains, snow, ice and thunderstorms, and GPS location technology letting consumers pinpoint their location.

Loopt: Loopt has debuted its iPad application where consumers can keep up with what is happening around them by providing real-time information various local events including places to eat and drink, music concerts, movies, comedy and theatre shows. In addition, the application features a LooptPulse Map, which has a photo view where consumers can browse information on different places and events around their current location. The service also integrates with Facebook, letting users use their login credentials and share recommendations with friends, as well as RSVP to public Facebook events.

Shotzoom Software: Shotzoom Software had introduces its first instructional baseball application with major league star Jason Giambi. The application provies 15 to 30 second tips and 30 to 60 second drills for baseball players on multi-angle videos. The company claims that the Baseball Gameplan application will help users with the fundamentals such as, hitting, infield, outfield, pitching and catching.

“On the advertiser, publisher and developer side, there are several reasons for the craze,” said Mack McKelvey, senior vice president of marketing, Millennial Media First. “The iPad is a big mobile device, not a stripped down PC – trying to cram the wired Web into smaller, mobile devices just doesn’t work for mobile consumers. 

“Mobile users are more willing to pay for content and are much more responsive to advertising – if done correctly – than Web surfers on the wired Web,” she said. “Publishers and developers see the potential of extending the smartphone ecosystem of pay and advertising- supported applications and mobile Web-based content to a new category of device that is from its inception, inherently mobile.

“It isn’t likely that the iPad will have the tremendous uptake that the iPhone or iPod did in their early days – while the device has better memory, is faster and has a larger keyboard, the device is without true identity.  It’s not a phone; it’s not a computer.  It doesn’t come with a contract, which brings freedom, but at the end of the day, it’s a mobile computing/entertainment/reader device.”