Just wanted to add a “me too” to this thread. I use Notebook for my lab notebook and would be great to have it on the iPad, rather than my laptop, to use at the bench.

Sure, me too. I wonder why they don’t say anything about the progress. Can’t really understand why announcing in advance should be disadvantage. I know they’re going to make this thing happen. But why let us wait for announcing. Confused, disappointed, and upset much!

— Last edited 04:55PM, Mar 14, 2010

I absolutely love notebook, but in recent days I have started to explore other options. I won’t say what they are, but if there is going to be no option for the ipad from circus ponies, I am sadly going to have to be moving on… I have several friends I have discussed this with and their feelings are a mirror of my own.

How hard can it be… anybody who could make this GREAT product is capable of doing a wonderful job on a similar one for other devices.

Sadly, without some announcement soon, I’ll be moving all my Notebooks to some other software solution.

Please, Circus Ponies… give us a word!

I am not an Apple developer, but my understanding is that there is a non-disclosure agreement that Apple developers must sign in order to develop software for Apple products. Part of the NDA is that they cannot talk about what they are working on or even the NDA itself.

This is why you are not seeing any announcements about NB on iPad, even if one were being developed.

That you are not hearing “no we are not developing an iPad version” is a good sign . . . . but then again it may not be.

I wonder why they don’t say anything about the progress.

Hello,

Re: the iPad, we have received a lot of inquiries and we’re definitely looking at the platform. We’re still not exactly sure what it would take to create an iPad version of NoteBook (not to mention that we don’t even have a piece of hardware to test on) or when such a product could be available, but we agree that it would be nice for an iPad version of NoteBook to exist.

How hard can it be… anybody who could make this GREAT product is capable of doing a wonderful job on a similar one for other devices.

Thank you :-). Unfortunately, however, it’s not a trivial task. The iPad’s OS is quite primitive compared to Mac OS X, so there is a fair amount of work in moving an app that takes advantage of all that Mac OS X has to offer. Just one example: NoteBook uses the high-level Cocoa Text System on the Mac to edit and lay out text, but there is no comparable text engine on the iPad. Any app that intends to manipulate text as easily as you can on the Mac will need a text system written from scratch. The iPad version of Pages shows what is possible, but not what is easy to accomplish (Pages does not use Cocoa Text and so had a leg up in moving to the iPad, but even so it took them a year to do the port). I’m not saying it would take a year to port NoteBook, but trivial it is not. We will definitely make an announcement at a point where we have something to announce.

Best,

__jayson

I too just sent an email outlining my desire to see Notebook port over to the iPad. I’ve been a customer for years. It’s really the product that finally got me off paper-based notes.

I have been experimenting with an iPhone note-taking product called Awesome Note. Very flexible and customizable, like notebook. Not nearly as advanced. But that’s ok. It’s for iPhone. I also am a user of Evernote for notes I wanted synced versus just notes I want on my iPhone.

I run a group that does new product development, including mobile development (not a development shop, but an internal group) and we’ve looked at iPad development. Seems like the biggest challenges are the graphics ones, as Jayson refers to, and memory management – which has always been the case on the iPhone.

So maybe you guys need to think about an iPad edition which gets back to the basics and then re-extend the product after OS 4.0 for iPhone comes out and you learn more about the system. I mean, look how under-featured Evernote is, yet it’s a great product due to the ease and the syncing. But Evernote is visually BORING, not font friendly, and not a functionally advanced around notes, indices, etc.

Also, think about this: iPhone as mini-notebooks, not fully functional ones. Then have an interface which can organize and keep several mini-notebooks. This way, you can have both iPhone and iPad versions that have distinct and valuable uses. Tie both into a Notebook organizer for the Mac, where you can also keep your Mac-based notebooks, and Voila! Notebook everywhere.

Just some musings. I’m sure you have been discussing this at great length. I just want to see Notebook on the iPad!

Hi Jayson,

Thanks for responding. You know that the mac legal community really loves Notebook. I think it is great and I use it on every single case.

It also works great with dropbox, so I can easily sync notebooks on different machines.

The problem is the lack of on-the-go access. Not being able to access and edit notebooks from an iphone/ipad is the achilles heel of Notebook.

We really need something like evernote or a simplenote/notational velocity combo that allows the complicated/multipage outlining outlining of notebook (this is where those other programs fall down) with portable device access/editing and over-the-air sync.

I am not saying this is easy, but in my opinion, is has to be the direction Notebook goes in.

What are the chances of this happening?

So maybe you guys need to think about an iPad edition which gets back to the basics and then re-extend the product after OS 4.0 for iPhone comes out and you learn more about the system. I mean, look how under-featured Evernote is, yet it’s a great product due to the ease and the syncing. But Evernote is visually BORING, not font friendly, and not a functionally advanced around notes, indices, etc.

Perhaps, but would the result be something that could be called NoteBook? Others have suggested this as NoteBook’s iPhone solution, but I think a NoteBook user would expect a lot more. NoteBooks are very rich, with text, attachments, links, shapes and diagrams, voice annotations, Multidex, etc., etc. I think if you’re a NoteBook user you really want it all.

Best,

__jayson

We really need something like evernote or a simplenote/notational velocity combo that allows the complicated/multipage outlining of notebook (this is where those other programs fall down) with portable device access/editing and over-the-air sync.

I am not saying this is easy, but in my opinion, it has to be the direction NoteBook goes in.

Yes, not easy but yes, my thoughts as well.

Best,

__jayson

Yes please! This would be fantastic for me as a high school student as well, because the one issue NoteBook has for me is it isn’t a huge help in my science and math classes. If I could write on the iPad with a Pogo Sketch stylus or the like, I could write formulas, draw graphs, etc.

but I think a NoteBook user would expect a lot more. NoteBooks are very rich, with text, attachments, links, shapes and diagrams, voice annotations, Multidex, etc., etc. I think if you’re a NoteBook user you really want it all. <<<<

Sorry, but you’re somewhat wrong. I’m a writer. What I would like to see is just a mini Notebook on iPhone and/or iPad to take some notes while I’m away from home. You may hand us some primary things. Just text editor and multimedia viewer. Something easier for you and better for us.

For your explanation, I understand you guys more. But please, if you bring us this far, why not further? I happened to find this great application by googling “mac app equal to onenote”. You can still see the result: CP Notebook! Let us see more “nothing compared to Circus Ponies Notebook on Mac” on google more often, please!

I also would like to add my name to the list of people who’d love to see an ipad app for Notebook. I’d like to see mainly the ability to take notes, record matching audio of the meeting, and be able to draw in the screen as well. Any other features would be nice, but these are the main ones I’d really need. Im having to find another app in the mean time to take my notes, and I’d so much rather be using notebook if it were available. Thanks, and i hope you guys come out with something soon!

— Last edited 03:27AM, Apr 07, 2010

I was just doing some reading about EagleFiler and it’s method of putting its output into an iPhone or iPad is to have it exported to a format that can then be accessed via iDisk, Dropbox, and that sort of thing or use AirSharing applications to move the data to the device. Could it be as easy as exporting the Notebook to a format that can be then placed in the iPad [or iPhone] and used there?

The EagleFiler discussion is at
http://c-command.com/eaglefiler/manual-ah/how-can-i-put-my-librar

I did do a test run using Files on my iPhone and part of the issue is the export formats. I was able to Print to PDF and a page came in and an attached pdf did come in ==this is just an initial cursory test and I’ll hope to have more information later today.

I also dream of NoteBook on the iPad. The product feels like it was made for a tablet in the first place. My suggestion is to create a .nbp (NoteBook iPad) filetype. It can start with a basic feature set that will grow over time but be compatible with NoteBook on the Mac and the iPad. On the Mac, you would have an option to start a new .nb or .nbp document depending on what your plans were. .nbp documents or pages could be imported to .nb documents, and .nb documents or pages could be exported to .nbp documents if certain elements are removed or rendered out as uneditable images.

Thx for information vlherring. But exporting to other formats is easy. What we ‘re deeply disappointed is we can’t sync directly. I thought that we would have good news on the day iPad release, but not, nothing at all. Sorry but we usually feel sad much for the one we love much.

For now, I’d be content just to be able to read Notebooks on my iPad.

Using GoodReader, I’ve exported a couple of chapters and synced them. After testing, I settled on .doc format for text-only pages, and PDFs for pages with photos. Neither solution is perfect—too much time renaming pages; PDFs break into cells—but at least I can read selected Notebook entries when traveling without a laptop, or when I want to escape my desk and use the iPad.

I’d happily pay for a read-only syncing App.

Knowing squat about coding, I wonder: Is that possible as an interim measure?

Let me add my voice the chorus preferring a simple solution now to a long wait for a full-featured App.

Me too on this one 100%. Basically much of my note taking is likely to go to the iPad, and I suspect over time we’re likely to see something similar in others. Some will prefer the standard desktop interface, but jotting quick notes (and maybe recording live at the same time) is going to happen on the iPad in a big way. Right now there’s Evernote, and it’s making a big push http://news.softpedia.com/news/Evernote-Is-Going-to-Support-the-Hell-out-of-Apple-s-iPad-134919.shtml Hopefully NoteBook can become dominant.

Jayson, should you decide it fits where you want to take NoteBook, to develop on the iPad you don’t even need hardware. If you buy the iPhone dev subscription $99 you get a SDK for 4.0 (and beta OSes) and most apps on the market were developed this way.

For now, I’d be content just to be able to read Notebooks on my iPad….

I’d happily pay for a read-only syncing App….

Let me add my voice the chorus preferring a simple solution now to a long wait for a full-featured App.

Hello,

There is no such thing as a simple solution that would let you just read Notebooks on an iPad and sync changes from the original. Opening a Notebook and rendering its content is basically the entire NoteBook application (and it does not currently do syncing).

We are working on an iPad version of NoteBook. As far as when it will be released, we are not sure (there are still too many unknowns at this point). Between now and that time, I ask for your patience. NoteBook is not a toy app that could be rushed to market in the two months Apple gave developers to prepare for the iPad. And it’s not a simple note listing app like Evernote and its ilk. It’s a serious, full-featured app, in the same class as Pages. It took Apple a year to port Pages to the iPad.

If you start to get impatient, please know and trust that we are doing exactly what we need to do to make NoteBook for the iPad a reality for you.

Best,

__jayson

Oh, Jayson, I will beg again, that when you do port to iPad, that you will FINALLY make it possible to put it on a website but then use in its full outline form, i.e., with everything, ALL notes from the gitgo being collapsible and expandable in true outline form. That’s the only thing that keeps me from using Notebook as the best, most interesting, interactive “presentation” software. REALLY! It’s got everything you need, simple bullet presentation, but going WAY beyond Powerpoint or Keynote and letting the viewer peruse at his/her whimsy, yet, guiding them through if that’s what they want, via opening up the notes one by one in order down the page and then the subnotes, one by one, etc. I mean we can incorporate diagrams, videos, narration, etc. It would be GREAT for presentation, but we have to be able to start from one entry and then expand and expand!!...which we cannot now do. Mewww.

Jayson—

Thanks for your response and clarification of what’s possible (and not). Makes sense. No impatience here. Just watchful waiting. My eagerness comes from loving Notebook. Now that iPad is shifting the ecology, it’s a drag living without my favorite software.

Long days ahead for you, it sounds like. Give a shout if you run low on Red Bull.

Cheers,

—jk

Jayson,

Thank you for considering and perhaps make Notebook for iPad. I have looked at many notebook apps over the past week. None matches so far what NB does. Notebook really takes to heart the first principle of a Mac app: model real world/work/workflow. I am sure when you do NB for iPad it will raise the bar; however, that depends on Apple and their api on many levels. I would not be surprised it might take more than a year to do it right. But I cheer you on! I rather wait for iPad 2.0 and get Nb for it much later. I want to be productive not fighting with the hardware/software as am seeing with Pages/ibooks.

shalom, Andrew

Hi, Jayson—

Echo everyone’s thoughts. Maybe the new 4.0 OS will have some APIs you/your team can use to get the app closer to what we know and love right now. I agree with you that we users will want something that is as Notebook-like as possible. A ‘lite’ version might be useful in the short term but, I suspect, lots of developers will be making apps that will be equivalent to a lite Notebook…so what’s the point. Quality and functionality are hard work. My 3G iPad doesn’t come until early May, so take your time. ;-)

Yeah! It will be hard to patiently wait, but I am thrilled you decided to take a look at the iPad. Notebook is my go to work tool for organizing ideas and to do lists. Most of my projects live there from start to finish and having a portable version on my new favorite “toy” will go a long way in turning it into the work companion I thought the iPad would be. It will be a relief to stop browsing the app store looking for a round trip replacement and not finding anything suitable.

Looking forward to hearing more and thank you!

Check out School Notes Pro by Sundry Notes (sundrynotes.com). It’s a free note taking app. I would really like to see a notebook app for the eyepad, it’s just SO logical. But until then….

Hi Jayson -

From all the posts I’ve read, I’m sure you don’t need convincing that there is a demand for Notebook for the iPad. I just wanted to let you know that I would be “all over it.” Thanks and I hope you are doing well!

RR

So I got my iPad on Friday. My son sees it as an amazing spiral notebook replacement…if the app had the right options (ability to write in it with a Pogo or other stylus). I told him about Notebook and how it might be coming to the iPad at some point. Until then, he/we looked at and downloaded a few apps:

• PaperDesk
• PenUltimate
• WritePad for iPad

Generally, they all allow you to type, some allow you to draw, others to both draw and type. One (PaperDesk) even has a voice recorder (one of my fave features of Notebook. ) PaperDesk also lets you send your notebook pages via email as a PDF. WritePad actually has handwriting recognition—not so killer in its original iPhone version, but actually very Newton-like and useful on the iPad (especially using a stylus like Pogo).I have also become aware of an app called Notability. It also records and has some other unique features…but I have not downloaded/tested yet.

I think that Jason and the team will need to be clever about how to bring key functionality from Notebook for Mac to the iPad given the lack of a Finder. Only he and his team can tell us if current iPad, OS 3.2 and future OS 4.0 will have enough flexibility and ‘accessible power’ to make it worth the effort of creating a Notebook for iPad. As I said, there are other apps out there already , so only the uniqueness of Notebook brought to the iPad will make it’s presence in that space noteworthy. That’s my take, for what it’s worth.

— Last edited 04:31PM, May 03, 2010

Notebook for iPad and iPhone/iPod touch plus a cloud sync service (read: recurring revenue opportunity) would be awesome. I’m glad that it sounds like we’ll eventually get Notebook for iPad. Thanks!

I think there is finally a Lab notebook for ipad. http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-lab/id449475316?ls=1&mt=8