Dear James, should I buy an iPad?
Before I answer that, I’ll just clarify that this is not an article about whether you should buy an iPad now or wait for the iPad 2 – but rather, whether the iPad will suit you in your role, in your business or line of work. If you’re looking for my opinion on iPad vs iPad 2 I would say that there haven’t been enough significant ‘business’ features announced about the iPad 2 that should sway your opinion toward one or the other – that, coupled with the fact that Apple haven’t actually specified a release date (or even shown us any pictures of) the iPad 2 you may not want to be holding your breath for too long.
No, this article is about whether you should stick to what you know – perhaps you’re accustomed to lugging a laptop on business trips or to presentations and looking to lighten your load – or, maybe you’ve not ventured out of the office with a piece of technology and you think the iPad might free you from your desk.
Whatever your reason,the iPad is very cool and very appealing. Make no mistake – Apple has a somewhat unique ability to build and market a consumer device and throw in a few sexy business features to make it palatable to business owners and their often reluctant IT managers. You only need to take a look at the ads on TV to see that you can Play, Visit a Museum, Learn and Work (work being represented by a finger editable spreadsheet) to know that Apple see you playing slightly more than you work.
The question is, will it work for you in your role and will it replace your laptop? The answer lies in what you really see yourself doing when out of the office. In the 6 or so months I’ve had an iPad I’ve made some big gains on productivity, but I’ve had to learn to cope with some of the things you just can’t do conveniently from the iPad.
The obvious feature is email – many of us like the idea of using a mobile device for email such as the iPhone or Blackberry but, the more time we spend out of the office, the more time you seem to spend tapping out an email on a tiny keyboard and screen. The iPad changes this dynamic significantly by giving you a 9″ screen and keyboard. Reading and writing emails is beautiful. The only downside for me personally is the fact you cant do simple things like underline some text, change your font, use bold and my biggest pet-hate, bullet points. You cant do a bullet point. In IT I get asked everyday “James, can you send us a few bullet points on that” and now I have to say no..
Editing Word (Pages), Excel (Numbers) and Powerpoint (Keynote). If you’re not a Mac user you’re probably more accustomed to the Microsoft line of products and, if you’re receiving documents from people via email you’re likely to come across this format regularly. So can the iPad cope with reading, editing and manipulating documents? Yes, but not out of the box. You can purchase the Mac software from the App store and this is part of their iWork Suite. If you’re just into spreadsheets you can buy Numbers on its own or if you just want to edit documents you might just want to purchase Pages (there are other Apps to do this and all have their own merits worth looking into). I’ve found working with simple documents and spreadsheets is quite easy and simple. Some of the downsides might be if you’re needing to work with a specific template such as your corporate letterhead, you’ll need to invest some energy in getting it to work with iWork, and saving documents ie back to your PC at work can be a bit cumbersome until you get the hang of it. You can always just email them to yourself.
The big question however comes down to what software your company uses. For example, does your role require you to log in to a specific application – perhaps MYOB or ACT? Most, and I mean most applications to date won’t run on an iPad because they were specifically designed to run in a corporate environment. Unless your software eier has an iPad app or is completely web based it’s unlikely you’ll be able to natively work with your software on the road. There are workarounds – for example you might be familiar with Remote Desktop (RDP), PCAnywhere, VNC, Terminal Services, Citrix or GoToMyPC all of which are tools that allow you to access your PC or Server from a computer outside the office. IPad can do that too, kinda.
If your IT is setup to allow remote access you can install an App that will allow you to connect to your PC using one of those methods. The big advantage is that you can do everything you might normally do from your PC at work from anywhere, the downside will be whether you’re accustomed to working with your software on a touchscreen (most applications aren’t designed for touch screens) and whether your iPads Internet connection will be fast and stable enough to support what you’re trying to do. For example, I use Remote Desktop to access I Know IT’s ConnectWise software – which is great if I just want to look at a quick report, but if I want to say , add a new customer into the database it can get pretty darn tedious.
What about Apps? If you’re already using an iPhone or Blackberry you’re probably already accustomed to buying Apps either for fun or productivity. The iPad hasn’t shared the same abundance of apps that we were all hoping for. Don’t get me wrong, there are some brilliant apps on the iPad and, you can use iPhone apps on the iPad – but it definitely has had a slower uptake from developers than it’s tiny predecessor.
IPad has changed the landscape. Not only are companies adopting iPads at an enormous rate, it is forcing them to ask questions like “why can’t my software be more touch screen friendly” and “could we use something different that is more iPad friendly”. This is undoubtedly going to force developers of software to change their design habits but in the meantime we’ll need to work around or, put iPad plans on hold until our software catches up.
There is a happy middle ground, and one that I’ve come to enjoy and that is to accept the iPad for what it can do and don’t try and do too much desk work from the pad. I already used the example of accessing my own system to look at simile reports but not to do a y major data entry. Likewise, using the iPad to check and respond to emails has saved me so many hours in the office chained to the desk (and I’m even writing this article from the iPad of course). If you’re traveling for business and think you’ll just need to check emails, access some documents but not write any major proposals the iPad will suit you just fine.
The best way to make a decision about whether iPad is going to fit with your role is to test it out. If you haven’t got one lying around and you’re an Australian company with more than 5 staff looking to try it out, feel free to give me a call or drop us an email and if it’s logistically convenient for you and I we can get together and I’ll give you a demo.
JV
