One of the most popular productivity apps on the iPhone is finally making the jump to the iPad. Scanner Pro, from the team at Odessa, Ukraine-based Readdle, is now available in the iOS App Store as a universal app. Scanner Pro, which scans and coverts images to PDF files, is a free upgrade for those who already own the iPhone version, but will cost $ 6.99 for new customers who want it for the iPad.
The app was introduced for Apple’s iPhone two years ago, and since then has seen more than 350,000 downloads and a long run at the top of Apple’s business/productivity app charts. So why debut on the iPad now? Apple finally made a tablet with the necessary hardware, says Denis Zhadanov, Readdle’s marketing manager.
“We tried [to test the app] with the iPad 2, but the results were beyond terrible,” said Zhadanov in an interview. “You just couldn’t read anything. The new iPad finally has good camera.”
But the new iPad’s 5 megapixel camera isn’t the only thing that makes this version of Scanner Pro different. Readdle says they took the opportunity to totally revamp the app — “every screen, every tap, every button. Nothing left intact – every idea and every feature had to prove its value for the iPad update.”The app is very simple and straightforward, so it’s no secret why it’s been so popular, even on a small screen. When you want to scan a document, book or magazine page, business card, white board from a meeting, or anything else you want to import or save in digital form, you open the app and hit the camera button. The app scans the image instantly. It will automatically find the right borders of your scan and crop out the stuff you don’t need, though you can manually fix if you need to. After tweaking the contrast and the brightness if necessary, you can save it to your iPad (as a JPEG or PDF) in Photos, iBooks or the Kindle app, send as an email, print, fax or upload it to your Google Docs, Dropbox or Evernote account.
A receipt I scanned with Scanner Pro and marked up with Remarks, both iPad apps from Readdle.
The most noticeable improvement in usability, however, might be its speed: Zhadanov says the reworked app scans 10 times faster than before.
Scanner Pro has added value because it’s not just a standalone app. Not only does it integrate with popular third-party apps and services like Dropbox and Evernote, but also hooks into Readdle’s own cluster of well-regarded iPad-based productivity apps like PDF Expert, Remarks and Printer Pro. Once you’ve got your PDF saved to your iPad through Scanner Pro, you can open it with PDF Expert and if it’s a contract, document or a form, you can sign or fill it out right on the iPad, mark it up in note-taking and annotation app Remarks or print it to any Wi-Fi-connected or networked printer with Printer Pro.
Readdle’s well-executed third-party integration and its own iOS-based ecosystem is yet another strong case for the integration of mobile, hyper-connected devices into work flows: the learning curve and barrier to entry are both incredibly low now. And that this is all coming together on the iPad first reinforces the Apple tablet’s importance in nudging businesses into the post-PC world.
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