We at Maciverse are constantly in search of ways that you can push your Apple devices to their full potential. Over the past few weeks, the NCAA March Madness On Demand App has given us a little glimpse into the future of how the iPad can radically enhance your experience of being a sports fan.
As Alan has reported about Netflix and Tyler about the MLB.com At Ball 11 App, Apple mobile devices have become the premier way to watch things that we once needed televisions for.
With the NCAA March Madness On Demand App, the NCAA has made it possible to view all games in (slightly delayed) real time for free. Regardless of whether a game was on Tru Tv, TBS, or CBS, you could recline and watch any of your favorite teams or underdogs play. This App does not allow you to escape from the commercials you would see on television, but this seems a small price to pay for its ease and accessibility.
The March Madness App presents a schedule of the entire tournament and allows you to choose which game you wish to watch. Once you select a game and begin watching, you can move easily back and forth between the other games that are happening concurrently. This is especially beneficial because of the volume of games that happen at once. If the game you are watching becomes tiresome and the end result obvious, you can easily switch to what looks like a surprise upset. Unfortunately, there is no picture-in-picture option, but it’s hard to make a legitimate claim when you’re getting so much without having to pay anything.
I watched most of the games on a Wi-fi network, which provided a seamless, uninterrupted experience. No technological meltdowns during a Number 1 seed’s on court meltdown. My trusty iPad was just as reliable as a television.
This App is not just impressive for what it allows but for what it suggests about the future of our viewing experience on the iPad. Increasingly the question becomes: what will become of that classically American device, the TV? With the iPad 2, we can plug right into a television and see the same thing that is on our iPad. Thus, the TV becomes less its own device and more just an extension of the iPad’s potential.
The more innovation on the iPad, the less necessary it becomes to plant ourselves on the couch to watch sports, television shows or movies. With this March Madness App, I pleasantly planted myself at my favorite coffee shop and watched Butler’s absurd and perplexing victory over favored Pitt.
For those who still on the fence about shelling out for an iPad, this should make a compelling argument about the iPad’s potential. Once mocked by tech journalists as just a large iTouch, the iPad is defining itself as a more significant device that can alter the way that we take in information.
Just in time for the Final 4 games, download the NCAA March Madness On Demand App for free at the App Store.
