iPad Multi-User UI Concept Is Super-Simple And Much Needed

The iPad has already found a place on many coffee tables around the world, but the Apple slate's lack of multi-user support is one glaring omission (and a rare boon Windows 7-based slates have in their favor). BERG Studios has stepped in to suggest one way that Apple could address that, and their "person-in-each-corner" concept is a suitably slick progression of the standard iOS lock-screen.

As well as supporting up to four different users – a limitation of both the four corners and, as designer Matt Jones suggests, "this seems like a very Apple constraint" – the concept would allow for passcode locking of accounts using the usual numeric keypad pop-up. Meanwhile a notification indicator next to each account name could flag up any new updates.

While the iPhone 4 and iPod touch lend themselves to personal use, given their scale, the iPad feels more communal thanks to its bigger screen and generally home-based use; we can't be alone in feeling reluctant to leave our email and Twitter logged in, lest someone accesses them without our knowing, but we'd still like to offer general web access as well as games and the iPad's other multimedia strengths. Hopefully someone at Cupertino is watching.

[via Guardian]