The Sky is Falling! Hell has Frozen Over! Metro is on the iPad!

Ahhhh… The world in coming to an end, human sacrifices, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!  They’ve put our beloved Metro UI on the iPad! Oh the horror! Seriously though Splashtop has just released what they call the Win8 Metro Testbed and it makes no sense to me.  The idea is for Win8 Metro developers to be able to test their apps on the iPad… Here’s a quote: “By using Win8 Metro Testbed, developers can test native Metro UI touch gestures on an iPad as they code and compile new apps on their Windows PC.”

Splashtop Inc., the worldwide leader in cross-device computing, today released “Win8 Metro Testbed – powered by Splashtop,” a remote desktop app that allows software developers and technology enthusiasts to simulate a Windows 8 environment on an iPad. By using Win8 Metro Testbed, developers can test native Metro UI touch gestures on an iPad as they code and compile new apps on their Windows PC.

On March 1, 2012, Microsoft tweeted that its Consumer Preview of Windows 8 was downloaded one million times in just 24 hours, and since then millions more have been downloaded. Now with the “Win8 Metro Testbed – powered by Splashtop,” a Windows 8 app developer who has an iPad can avoid incurring the extra cost of a Windows tablet, which can run upwards of $1,000.

“Since Apple’s App Store generates over 80% of all tablet app revenue, nearly every software developer that writes apps for tablets has an iPad,” noted Mark Lee, Splashtop CEO and co-founder. “With Windows 8 Metro expected to ship on over 400 million new PCs and tablets annually, these developers have high expectations for an enormous new market. Splashtop lets them turn their iPad into a development testbed to evaluate touch gestures and functionality of their app in a Windows 8 environment.”

The Win8 Metro Testbed enables native Windows 8 Metro touch gestures, including the ability to:

•     Swipe from the right to view the Charms menu
•     Swipe from the left to switch apps
•     Swipe left/right in Internet Explorer to move between pages
•     Swipe down to bring up additional menus
•     Swipe down on an item to select it
•     Pull down from the top to close an app
•     Swipe slowly from the left to run two apps side-by-side ("snapping")
•     Swipe from left-and-back to show running apps
•     Pinch to navigate files, folders, apps and data with Semantic Zoom
•     And more

View a short video of Win8 Metro Testbed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwIeWfvcZ_o

Win8 Metro Testbed can be downloaded for a special launch promotion price of $24.99 USD (regular price of $49.99 USD) from the iTunes App Store at http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/win8-metro-testbed-powered/id514878988?ls=1&mt=8