| The launch of the Apple iPad this spring sees the | | | | The iPad is going to hit the ground running in that it |
| birth of a whole new breed of 'must have' | | | | will run all the existing iPhone apps, but the fun will |
| gadgetology that will be enormously enticing to a | | | | really begin when developers bring out purpose built |
| broad range of customers. The most obvious appeal | | | | iPad apps. A small survey of developers indicated |
| is to the beslippered home user who will wander | | | | that they see the iPad as a much more business and |
| around the house happily surfing the net, checking | | | | productivity oriented machine than the iPhone. |
| email, sharing photos with the family, or who will be | | | | Surprisingly, they see the potential in this field as |
| found sitting in bed on a Sunday morning watching a | | | | greater than in social networking or even games. |
| film or even reading an e-book. | | | | Finance, education and medicine were cited as having |
| But what about our poor business folk? Surely they | | | | particularly rich potential. So whilst your business life |
| will not want to miss out on the fun, and so will need | | | | may have been transformed by the Salesforce or |
| a good case for making an iPad an essential part of | | | | Bloomberg information on the iPhone in your pocket, |
| their kit. Whilst it's certainly not ideally placed as a | | | | think of the possibilities to come on the iPad. |
| business machine - it can't take advantage of | | | | Whilst it's certainly not a laptop replacement, on the |
| Exchange email and doesn't support business | | | | side, of course, you will be able to do a little creative |
| standards such as Virtual Private Networks, for | | | | work with the revamped iWork suite which enable |
| example - there are still quite a few avenues worth | | | | you to create business standard text documents, |
| exploring. | | | | spreadsheets and presentations. There is support for |
| Most obviously, the sensational look and feel of the | | | | MS Office documents. Possibly the biggest omission in |
| machine and its display point towards a fabulous sales | | | | the first incarnation of the iPad is a camera, as it |
| tool. Sparkling dynamic presentations or sales videos | | | | seems such an obvious video conferencing machine - |
| can be launched with the minimum of fuss in any | | | | Apple will surely have to address this early on! |
| situation. The machine slips out of the slimmest | | | | So whilst initially it could be a bit of a stretch making |
| briefcase, powers up almost instantly, has a | | | | the business case for this new gizmo, the future for |
| purported 10 hr battery life, and can be passed | | | | the iPad in business is looking bright. Once the App |
| around, even comfortably used standing in the pub. | | | | Store starts to fill up with purpose built iPad apps, |
| Another plausible reason for having to buy one is as | | | | and once Apple has added a camera and maybe |
| a research tool. Apart from being a fine web surfer - | | | | Exchange compatibility, they may become as |
| either wirelessly or over 3G if you stretch the budget | | | | ubiquitous as the iPhone or the Blackberry. So get |
| - the iPad can be your mobile reference library, | | | | started on your business case and hopefully it won't |
| enabling easy access any time, anywhere, to | | | | be too long before you join the envied ranks of the |
| shedloads of text books. And then of course there | | | | slippered surfers... strictly out of business hours of |
| are newspapers and magazines, all downloadable for | | | | course. |
| immediate use. | | | | |