The world’s largest professional social network just got a wider reach, LinkedIn unveiled its long-awaited iPad application, along with redesigned versions of its Android and iPhone apps. Revamped from the ground up, the iPad version looks nothing like the LinkedIn website; it’s more alike to a social news aggregator.
“This was a chance to go back to the drawing board,” says Mario Sundar, LinkedIn’s social media manager. “To design it for how people use the iPad: morning and night infotainment.”
The app’s main screen is a tidy, simple interface with just three options: inbox. Updates and profile The latter two are self-demonstrative, however it is worth mentioning that the list of people who have viewed your profile — a voyeuristic option hidden deep on the website.
It’s “updates” where the app shines, and turns into a kind of socially-enhanced Flipboard. You can view news your friends have shared, wonderfully laid out, besides such nuggets of news as which of your friends have changed their jobs lastly.(Download it in the app store here.)
The app also pulls in details of the day ahead from your Exchange calendar or Google Calendar . LinkedIn anticipates that you will make use of it over breakfast, when you are torn between news and work, as well as in meetings.
It’s been a long time coming , longer even than the much-delayed iPad app for Facebook. LinkedIn has 150 million users worldwide and the iPad is the fastest growing gadget on the planet. More than 22% of traffic on Linkedin comes from mobile handsets; a year ago, that figure was 8%.
