WRITTEN BY: Roger Barlow
Thursday, 3 June 2010 

On a recent trip to the USA, I took the opportunity to pick up an iPad—once we walked into the Apple store it was always going to be tough to leave without one (or at least order one!).  I was curious to really understand what the fuss is about.  Mr Jobs seemed to think it was another game changer from Apple, others say it’s just for consuming content, the media were split.  So, I thought I would share my thoughts, not just on the device but on how it will change the way we work or, more likely, the way future generations will work.

I won't go into the pros and cons of the device itself—you can read that all over the press.  Suffice to say it is, on the whole, pretty amazing.  But is it a PC/Mac replacement?

The big change (or ‘revolution’ in Apple speak) is that I haven't used a pen and paper since I got it. Really!  All my notes are now electronic.  I can tap away in meetings directly into whatever application I choose (for me it's Evernote).  Being a touch screen, colleagues aren't distracted by the tap, tap, tap of a keyboard. Being flat, it means I’m not hiding behind the tilted screen of a laptop: everyone can see I am taking notes, not doing my emails! And there isn’t the physical barrier that a screen creates between me and other meeting participants.

It brings the cloud to the forefront.  The notion of having a local file store is gone.  I've taken to using Dropbox to access documents as required.  And it all syncs up to the cloud for consumption/action on either my PC (home or work) or iPhone or iPad or whatever device I want to work on, wherever I want to work.  The device really brings the cloud much closer to reality for the mass market.  At Frame, we already use SalesForce.com—a great cloud software-as-a-service application—so all my sales forecast and contact/account information is always available from the iPad.

One issue—and it is a big one—is working on Microsoft Office documents, especially spreadsheets.  While iWorks Numbers is a pretty good application, you cannot export to Excel. Office² seems to have this licked and hopefully the stability will improve with time.  The issue with Flash is a minor pain, but not one that bothers me too much.

Reading ebooks on the iPad is a new experience for me.  In fact, I have taken to Kindle rather than Apple's iBooks, as it offers a greater range of books.  Also, I love the fact that I can sync my books and bookmarks across all my devices.  So, if I'm reading a book at home on the iPad, I can read the same book on my iPhone while on the bus and know exactly where I left off.  But, more importantly, the consumption model is a winner. I can buy an ebook at what I consider a great price and read it on whatever device I want.  As a guide, the first ebook I bought was to replace the paperback I was reading and it was 60% cheaper, and I could do it from home!

So is the iPad a magical and revolutionary product?  Yes I think it is.  It’s a game changer. It will change the way we work, play and communicate.  And I can’t wait for the eco-system to add more choice and innovation via applications, add-ons and alternative devices.

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Tags: mobility , communication technology , cloud computing

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