webdev You’d have to have been living under a rock for the last 18 months not to be very aware of the proliferation of Apple’s iPad – taking tablet computers from their mid 90’s graves and spinning them into the latest must haves.
iPads and other smart tablets have been designed very much for consuming media on the go. Clearly the main port for viewing media on the iPad is the internet through Safari, Apple’s internet browser. With this in mind – it is essential for the business owner to be very much aware of the iPad users experience of their website generally – and specifically in terms of corporate video
Flash – bad
Now Apple are not very keen on Flash video. There has been a long running dispute between Adobe – the makers of Flash and Apple – with Apple contesting that Flash is unstable and anachronistic. This has led to the late Steve Jobs banning Flash video on the iPhone and iPad platforms, which in turn has made a good percentage of videos currently online unwatchable .
HTML5 – good
The long term view of many is in line with Apple’s, a more flexible, modern video delivery programme called HTML5 is becoming more prevalent and is considered to be the next stage for video online.
This is fair enough – and it might be viewed that having your video exported into Flash (via YouTube or Vimeo) is fine – as the percentage of your traffic viewing via an iPad is very small in comparison with Flash enabled internet browsers like Firefox. However the impressive march of iPad suggests that future proofing to HTML5 would be wise.
This can be done using a custom HTML5 video player playing MP4 or using YouTube’s new HTML5 player.
Demographic of your client
Deciding how much time to dedicate to making your website and videos iPad friendly also depends on your demographic. We would suggest prioritising if your customers are young males, general techies, creatives or older and wealthier.
iPad App
Another consideration when thinking about iPad is the potential for having a video orientated iPad application developed. This has the potential to be a great revenue stream if produced and marketed well. As well as providing great residual marketing for your brand.
Luke
