Apple’s iPad, Old Computing Concepts Need Not Apply

Well its been a while since I’ve been on blogging. Holidays, kids and 60 hour work weeks...... Yep it happens sometimes because when it rains it pours. Over the last few months we’ve seen a lot of business begin to open up for clients. I’ve even been working on helping in the development of some very cool new technology from Microsoft called Natal [1]. A touch free interface for your Xbox, it’s a game changer. 

The iPad, tired of the "i"

Since my life has recently been mostly about new technology I wanted to spend this blogs topic on what I consider to be a very cool new device from Apple, you guessed it, the iPad [2]. I bet by mid year you won’t even laugh at that name, even though I’m so done with every product name with a i at the beginning of it. How about “ iThink companies should have a better brain storming party for product name development” 

When I saw this new tool, and I do think of it as a tool and not a toy, I thought its going to be an amazing business device. I started to chat with my friends and most of them were saying, “so what, its a big iPhone”. YES you got it, but with added features that makes it more like a laptop, but not a laptop. Well they did not get was I was getting, seeing the epiphany of this product I saw.

Why its a ground breaking product

So why do I think it is such a ground breaking product. Well for starters, it is an iphone and runs tons of applications. But more importantly, its easier to read because of the size and more easy to type on. Its so much more portable for a business person than a laptop, that it should make mobile business a much easier process in your day. Process and data access improvement for some businesses can make a huge difference.

Imagine the following, you have a nice app on your iPad that syncs with all your business software on your home computer or work network or cloud (whatever you use) and you never have to take your laptop on your daily business trips again. You can take credit cards on the fly with ease, enter sales and invoices into your online accounting software, search competitor prices online in seconds to help you make a sale, all as if you were using a phone.  You can see and control the screen of your home and office computers, access their files, print on their printers wirelessly on the road.

Sounds like a laptop.... with iPhone connectivity, but without the hassle and danger of taking your computer on the road. DANGER - yep I know some of you never back up your laptop and will be hosed if it’s stolen or gets dropped. Now you can easily skip that danger.

Business device or toy

So while the iPad is a cool toy and partially an entertainment media device, it’s business implications are enormous for refining many business tasks. I for one have nearly every document and all business data synced online in the cloud. I love the safety, the access. If I could sync or access that data on an iPad, leaving my main laptop at home base. I’d be in the clouds too. I’d still make all my heavy data entry and typing on my MacBook, but 70% of the time when I’m with clients and out working, it would be iPad all day.

If your not up to speed on the cloud computing shift which is highly evolving, then you may want to do some research [3]. Every major computer company is transitioning to this model [4], from Microsoft, Google, Apple and even media companies like Comcast. I don’t think everything will live in the cloud, but it will be the holding area of all secure data with a copy of changing data on your computing device.

Some changes may be needed

But before I get in the cloud.

Dear Apple, please put flash compatibility on the iPad so my web browsing does not have holes in the pages, and a CAMERA which is a necessity. I use my MacBook camera all the time for business, shooting pictures of contracts, white boards, documents, it’s been indispensable. 

So while some techie bloggers and news press who are shy on vision may not get the iPad and similar devices, I think a lot of people will. When the business app developers get this, we’re going to see some cool developments. Plus I’m sure I’ll watch a few movies on it and have it connected to my car stereo in no time, did you see that car dyno app, it’ll be perfect toy when driving my Porsche....... what can I say, I still love toys!