Apple’s new iPad – Good for Business?
Two weeks ago Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the much rumored Apple iPad to the world. The iPad had been much speculated and its unveiling sent a shockwave through the tech world. Essentially a cross between an iPhone (mobile smart phone) and a MacBook (laptop computer), the sleek looking device is an attempt by Apple to grab a piece of the newly created netbook market. A netbook, for the uninitiated, is a relatively cheap laptop computer meant to run simple applications like email clients and web browsers. The rise in popularity of netbooks and the proliferation of an entirely new market was surely too much for Apple to ignore. Enter the iPad.
The iPad will be released in North America in April and there will surely be throngs of rabid Apple consumers clamoring to get their fingerprints on its multi-touch LED display. But what can it do for small business owners? Is the iPad versatile enough to replace the home office desktop or laptop? Well it certainly appears that the iPad will be marketed toward couch riding web surfers rather than business owners, but these are questions both worth exploring.
Apps
Software is the deal breaker for any new tech product. If developers hadn’t gotten behind the iPhone when it was first released, it wouldn’t have been nearly as big a success as it has been. The same will rule will apply to the iPad, but luckily it’ll hit the ground running with a large database of apps.
From all indications, the iPad will operate on the same OS (operating system) as the iPhone and will be able to run all of the 100,000+ applications already available for the iPhone. Most importantly for business owners this includes Apple’s iWork package, which includes Pages (word processing), Keynote (presentations) and Numbers (spreadsheets). All of these apps are compatible with standard Windows formats, so there’s no cross-platform compatibility issues to worry about with customers or clients.
The ultimate success of the iPad for business owners will come down to developers’ ability to create apps exclusively for it. As it stands now, there are some powerful business apps for the iPhone, but the iPad’s larger screen and more powerful processor establishes a whole new framework in which to build better business apps, exclusively for the iPad. What developers come up with remains to be seen.
Keyboard
The iPad, by virtue of having a much larger screen, provides a superior keyboard to the iPhone. However, it’s uncertain whether most people will be willing to completely abandon traditional keyboards for touch-screen keyboards. Luckily, the iPad features a keyboard dock so users can connect an Apple keyboard if they so prefer.
Ports
One of the biggest criticisms of the iPad is that it features only one port, an iPod dock in addition to a headphone jack. This means that USB, Firewire, VGA, Serial, Parrallel, etc. ports can only be connected through Apple adapters.
This means that in order to connect any camera, phone, storage device, or other non-Apple product to the iPad, you’ll be forced to purchase relatively expensive Apple adapters. Even then, you’ll only be able to connect one at a time.
Screen
Really the iPad is just a screen encased in plastic and aluminum. Of course, this is no regular screen. The iPad features no face buttons, so the entire screen acts as a multi-touch interface. Like an iPhone, users can open, close, select, scroll, type and perform all other tasks by interacting with the iPad’s screen. Forget everything you knew about the computer mouse, touch screen is the way of the future.
Verdict
So is the iPad worth getting for small business owners? The short answer is no, the slightly less short answer is not yet.
The long answer is as follows: the iPad upon its release will have some serious shortcomings when compared to desktops, laptops and even netbooks. It’s up to third-party developers to turn the iPad from a cool web-browser into a fully functioning business tool. Inhibiting this is the fact that it runs on a mobile OS. The iPhone and iPad OS doesn’t allow multiple apps to run at the same time, a serious blow to workplace productivity.
The lack of standardized ports makes it difficult and expensive to use normal everyday peripherals and the touch screen keyboard is still in its infancy. Experts are unsure whether people will fully make the switch from traditional keyboards to touch screen interfaces.
The iPad will not and is not intended to replace your desktop or laptop, so don’t get caught up in the hype and excitement when it launches in your neck of the woods. Maybe one day tablet computers similar to the iPad will replace the more traditional computers we use to run our businesses, but don’t curb your tower, monitor and mouse just yet.
