Is the Apple iPad good for business?

Date Posted: 11/05/2010

We here at Precision IT always keep up with the latest and greatest toys on the market. We have clients who ask us what the next big thing is on a daily basis. Lately the talk of the town has been the Apple iPad.

Quite frankly, we are somewhat disappointed!

Apple have been talking about a tablet for a number of years now. Steve Jobs came out promising the world with the iPad, but with the lack of features we are concerned about the iPad’s usability in a business environment.

The iPad has the following pitfalls for business users:

NO Support for USB devices.
NO Support for Adobe Flash. Therefore a lot of websites will not be functional.
NO Support for Bluetooth devices like handheld barcode scanners.
NO flash storage card support.
NO camera for video conferencing.
Keyboard is hard to use for anything more than quick emails like the iPhone.
NO Multi-tasking with multiple applications.

We are really questioning if the Apple has even thought about business users at all. The iPhone is actually a very useful tool. Precision IT has standardised our entire staff on Apple iPhones because of how well they enable quick access to email and our company software on the road, but the iPad seems to be just a ‘big iPhone’ not a laptop replacement.

The iPad could be have been used in a business environment similar to what you see in TV shows like 24 with Jack Bauer, where staff not tied to a desk can roam freely around with access to all the information they need. But Apple have clearly missed the point.

Hewlett Packard (HP) are soon to release their iPad killer, the ‘Slate’. The HP Slate is designed to make up the difference by providing everything the iPad doesn’t, it also runs Windows 7. We have seen a few pictures and it looks great! You can see more about the HP Slate by clicking here.

Overall we think the iPad will definitely help in the take-up of tablet type devices, but at this stage whilst it looks great and is selling like hot-cakes, the iPad isn’t a device we are recommending to clients. We say wait for the HP Slate!