Is The iPad Right For Your Business?

At first glance, it looks like a large iPhone, but I can assure you it is not. The Apple iPad is truly a revolutionary product. I have had my iPad for nearly 4.5 weeks and it really does have some great functionality. Let me go through some of the pros and cons that I’ve found. I hope by the end you will make your own decision as to whether the iPad is right for your business.

PROS

1. Email and Calendar are very intuitive. Email has been in the palm of our hands for years with devices such as the iPhone, Blackberry, and Smartphones. However, the iPad takes mobile email to a whole new level. You can scan through previews of each email and select the one you want to read with ease. Another great feature is that when you add applications such as PDF readers, Pages, Quick Office, or iAnnotate, you have the option to open attachments in any of the installed corresponding programs. The Calendar has multiple views, and appointments are color-coded depending upon the type of calendar. For instance, if you have multiple calendars – Personal & Work. Adding an appointment with attendees is simple. Syncing with Microsoft is a no brainer.

2. The ability to take notes with applications called PenUltimate and iAnnotate. I take notes in different digital notebooks and then email the page after the meeting with follow-up, etc. I also like that with the application, iAnnotate, you can actually sign documents without having to print them out. This is critical for someone who needs to sign a lot of contracts or edit/fill out a lot of PDF documents.

4. Ample Battery Life. I got on a plane leaving San Francisco at 7:30AM and got arrived after a layover to Philadelphia at 7:00PM and still had 20% battery life remaining. I would say I worked on the plane, but I mostly played Card Shark.

5. Landscape Feature. The landscape feature makes reading attachments, books, and websites easier.

6. The App Store. Having the App Store readily accessible makes solving problems convenient.

7. Pay for what you need. You are not locked into a contract – you can buy bandwidth as you need it. For example, if you want to go on vacation and you don’t think you will use a lot of cellular that month, you can just stop it. Bandwidth is purchased in Unlimited or 250MB packages.

CONS

1. Flash is unavailable. I realize that this feature was avoided to increase battery life and performance, but I hate that I need to boot up my laptop to surf certain websites.

2. Pages is OKAY. This application is practical for someone who is just creating a basic document. However, if you are trying to edit a word document, it just simply doesn’t work. The document imports with a totally different look and feel.

3. The External USB Keyboard is not efficient. You have to initiate the keyboard every time you want to use it. The feel of the keyboard and the use of it with applications not specifically created by Apple work, but not consistently.

4. A few design frustrations. The glass screen easily displays fingerprints, and the Apple case is durable, but makes it hard to access the side controls.

CONCLUSION

All in all, the iPad is a great tool, but many day-to-day functions leave a lot to be desired.

Rick Crane, President & CEO, GoBeyond IT