Simon Hackett reviews the Apple iPad

Renai LeMay
Tuesday, 08 June 2010 16:00

Your IT - Mobility

I've had an iPad in my hands for a week or two now, and I've been contemplating the various ways that it might be better, or worse, than a desktop machine or a laptop, as a business tool.

In this context, by 'business tool', I mean something to deal with the routine interaction methods that someone like me wants when connected to the Internet in 'work mode' '” both consuming information and also doing a 'light to medium' level of content authorship. For me in particular, my primary form of content authorship involves writing and responding to emails, and writing and responding to text-based online discussions - i.e. writing text.

I expect that if I want to do a lot of creation of new material (textual and/or graphical), that I'm still going to use a laptop or a desktop machine to do it. But the question is '” does the iPad add something new for situations where I'm mobile (travelling on business, and travelling when I'm doing other things '” like going flying in a light aircraft, with a need for access to aviation weather, flight plan lodgement etc)?

My overall impression of this device as a business tool in this sense is that it's a great version 1 '” but that it's in need of 'version 2'² to really sing in this role.