10 killer uses for the iPad
My esteemed colleague Dave Burton, the Head of Innovation, may not be sold on the iPad, but even though it is still a month to the UK release, I am anticipating what could be an extremely useful bit of kit! I admit to being a fan of Apple computers, I use both an iMac and Macbook at home. But although the laptops are great, I have yet to find a truly satisfying, highly portable device for home and the office. I think the iPad may fit the bill.
What about netbooks you may ask. After all they have the small form factor, good battery life (some of them anyway) and are cheap – probably cheaper than an iPad will turn out to be. I did use a netbook for a while (unfortunately one with lousy battery life) and it did have some good features:
- A physical keyboard, although smaller than a standard, it was useful for typing documents.
- Full desktop operating system allowed me to install the apps that I needed.
- Smaller than a laptop, and much lighter.
However I got frustrated with it after a few months and swapped out for a full laptop. The issues I had were:
- Lousy battery life (I think I already mentioned this – and do note than modern netbooks will give 8 hours or more – a full working day).
- The screen was too small. The standard netbook resolution of 1024×600 was slightly too small for productive use. With the menu bar, toolbar and status bar I had a small amount of usable space for writing documents etc. Also, some dialogs on the software I was using were bigger than the screen resolution making them difficult to use.
- It was too slow. I know that netbooks are not full-strength computers (and neither is an iPad), but I found it too slow to be useful. I think this was mainly because it had a full desktop operating system (Windows XP) and allowed the installation of powerful software. It left me with the illusion that it was more capable than it actually was. The OS for the iPad, based on the iPhone OS, is designed for the type of device and works with the limited hardware resources available to get the best performance it can.
I think the iPad will succeed where the netbook has failed. Here are my 10 killer uses for the iPad. I have divided then into two groups of 5, for the office and at home:
In the office
1. My notebook. Not as in computer but as in paper notebook and pen. I must go through three or four in a year, used mainly in meetings for taking notes. With the right application the iPad could replace that. It’s size and shape would mean that it is just as easy to carry around, plus think of all the trees that would be saved!
2. Remote desktop client: This would allow me to remotely access my desktop computer within a meeting and carry out some tasks. There are already remote desktop applications for the iPhone, along with VPN clients – it will be a matter of time before these are updated to allow better use of the iPad’s larger screen.
3. Portable presentation presenter: With the Apple Kerynote application and the VGA adapter it will be possible to run presentations from the iPad without the need for a full-blown laptop.
4. PDF Reader: Let’s face it, most documentation, technical or otherwise, is now supplied electronically. Rather than having to print PDF documentation to read it the iPad would make a very useful device for taking it out and about, saving even more paper (hmm, wonder if I could justify one on the grounds of ISO14001…).
5. Tweaking things on the move: The lack of physical keyboard may limit its usage for creating content (documents, spreadsheets etc.) but will be fine for tweaking and updating content on the move!
In the home
1. Internet consumer: If I want to browse a few websites, write a few emails or tweet something, the iPad will be my first port of call. Why wait for a PC or laptop to boot just to do this. The iPhone has showed how useful it is to pick it up and look at something – the iPad will be the same but with a screen large enough to be usable.
2. Games platform: The iPhone and iPod touch are already giving hand-held consoles a run for their money. The iPad with its bigger screen will do the same I imagine. Not for high-graphic/power games, but great for playing on Chess.com!
3. Portable media player: It’s an iPod and will play video as well from YouTube, the iTunes store or from something like the iPlayer. Who needs a built-in DVD drive?
4. eBook reader: Like the PDF reader above but content I actually enjoy reading!
5. Household handbook: With the thousands of apps available on subjects such as cookery, DIY & shopping, I can see the iPad becoming extremely useful around the house, and for everyone in the family.
3 replies to “10 killer uses for the iPad”
Hello Wayne
I think what you’ve got here are 10 uses for the iPad. I’m finding it hard to accept that any of these are really ‘killer’ uses.
For me most of these points are solved more simply, and more effectively by other tools that are far better suited to the task. Real pens and notebooks will never be replaced. Laptops give you the capabilities and power to do most of this, and can even do several of these things at the same time, and can be a fraction of the cost these days
I think Apple are going for point raised in Home #1, but it will take lower prices to lure people away from using their phones, laptops and TVs. I’m sure it may prove good for casual gaming (Home #2) and there’ll be way too many gaming apps to choose from before we can blink, but it’s not another hard core gaming platform.
For those of us who are not gadget geeks, digital junkies or Apple zealots, I think it’ll be used for watching TV. Brilliant! All this technology, all this innovation and we’re just making it easier to sit around and watch TV.
No doubt you’ll corner me at work and we’ll continue this debate (-;
Heres a nice implementation re: cookbook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq6My3kEqqk
But would you really want your stick mitts all over your uber expensive gadget?!
A recent study seems to show that 44% of US consumers who are planning to buy an iPad have chosen it instead of a netbook or notebook:
http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/05/06/how-the-ipad-gobbles-up-netbook-sales/
The device has also crossed the 1 million sales mark twice as fast as the iPhone did when launched. To be honest the real killer feature of the iPad is the device itself, along with the App Store that comes with it and the iPhone. The iPhone is a great phone and its success is due, in part, to the Apps that were written for it. But the size of the device ultimately is the biggest issue. You can browse the web, but you won’t want to for long. The iPhone usage model is task driven.
The iPad overcomes this – the screen size makes it far more usable for Apps. Dave I know that you can do a lot more with a notebook, and there are many tasks I would not want to use an iPad for! But there are also many that I wouldn’t want to use a notebook for too! I don’t want to drag a notebook from meeting-to-meeting just to take notes or check email. I don’t want to boot up a notebook to browse the internet, watch some videos or read an electronic document. The iPad makes media consumption as easy to access as picking up a book and reading it – just a few touches of the screen and it’s there – instant on. It’s not too heavy or bulky, and it’s not a mini laptop trying to run a full-power desktop operating system or suite of applications.
The right tool for the right job is the key thing here, and I think what we see in the iPad is another paradigm shifting, ground-breaking medium for computing on the move.
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