Wacom’s Bamboo Paper goes multi-platform

Wacom announces the launch of Bamboo Paper, its digital note-taking app for all current Android, Kindle Fire, and Windows tablets on the market. Hitting Google Play, Amazon Appstore, and Windows Store today, Bamboo Paper is the most popular note-taking application available for all leading mobile operating systems.

Based on Wacom’s legacy of more than 30 years of experience in high-quality digital pen input technologies, Bamboo Paper is a note-taking app that provides a natural writing and drawing experience on mobile devices, with the right balance between simplicity and a full range of features for visual expression and creative thinking.

“We have learned a lot from our customers since we introduced Bamboo Paper for iOS and have implemented these learnings in our new multi-platform release of Bamboo Paper. Now we can offer the best tool for creative thinking on all major and new operating systems”, Mike Gay, Head of Wacom Consumer Business, comments.

Turning tablets into digital paper notebooks

Leaving notes, jotting down remarks and comments in a meeting or just doodling while thinking about some important questions is still natural for most people. Although living in a digital world, using a pen and a sheet of paper still comes naturally to us. This is not a surprise as research shows that handwriting and sketching supports the brain in developing and connecting ideas. Writing with a pen actually helps us to bring our mind up to speed and think not only more creatively, but more efficiently at the same time.

Bamboo Paper for iPad, Android or Windows devices allows people to use their tablets like an ordinary paper notebook. Better still, the multi-platform availability supports storing and sharing of thoughts, plans and ideas digitally. The recently introduced Wacom Ink Layer Language (WILL) plays a major part in achieving Wacom’s typical natural feeling writing experience. WILL also enables the users to share their work between different devices and operating systems on the same high quality level. With Bamboo Paper users can now put their thoughts and ideas down while relaxing at home on the iPad and yet refine these notes, mind maps or sketches on their Windows 8 laptop or desktop computer in the office the next day.

“We consider this a major step for the seamless exchange of ideas and notes across all available hardware or software platforms”, Mike Gay says, referencing to the strategic idea that underlies Wacom activities in this area. For him, Bamboo Paper mirrors the overall Wacom strategy in a very comprehensive way, as the company builds a platform for virtually all computer users to construct and share their ideas digitally. “For a creative world we have to offer solutions that support people expressing, recording and sharing thoughts and ideas”, Mike points out. Bamboo Paper offers an easy to use and powerful digital canvas. WILL opens the door to multi-platform operation and at the same time ensures a very natural feel. Last but not least, the Bamboo Stylus family – and Intuos Creative Stylus – are perfect for supporting the best possible writing and drawing experience.

Free tools for Android and Windows 8

Offering people a full range solution is also the reason for allowing free access to all available Bamboo Paper in-app tools while introducing the app for Android and Windows 8. The time-limited free premium package of drawing and writing tools will be available to everyone downloading the first release. The package includes unlimited notebooks and additional pens and brushes for even more creative expression, reflecting the individual needs and preferences of the consumer. Mike Gay adds: “We want people to enjoy the experience of re-discovering their handwriting on digital devices.”

Bamboo Paper is available for free on Google Play, Amazon Appstore, and Windows Store.

Info-Box: WILL – Wacom Ink Layer Language

WILL offers a new universal standard to free users from technological boundaries. As a computer language it enables people to use inking on any kind of device that has implemented this new standard. It creates the experience of a natural ink input and allows sharing regardless of the operating system. It guarantees best utilization of hard- and software, putting digital inking back into perspective as the most powerful tool of personal expression and creativity. WILL is delivered by Wacom as a Software Developer’s Kit (SDK) to enable everyone to integrate it into their hardware or software, ecosystem or enterprise infrastructure – enabling everyone to speak the same universal inking language. But WILL is more than that. It is an ink engine with a variety of graphical tools and features that runs consistently on most platforms. Its innovative ink data format is an abstract language that describes strokes independent from any particular technology. Part of WILL is a set of development Application Programming Interfaces (API) to make use of hardware features.