iPad for small biz: hot or not?

by ALEXANDRA CAIN
July 5, 2010
 
The new Apple iPad is a curious device. While many small business owners are sceptical about its use in a business context and are still trying to understand why they need yet another piece of technology, others are evangelical about its benefits.


Alex Lee, director of web design and technology business Bean IT, is in the former category. He says he won't be getting an iPad any time soon.
“In my opinion, the iPad is more suited for entertainment purposes rather than business use. iPads have identical functionality to the iPhone, but they are bulkier, and also an extra device to carry around. The iPad also can't make phone calls like the iPhone.”

According to Lee “the only advantage the iPad has over the iPhone for business use is that it has a larger screen and larger keyboard, which makes emailing easier. Other than that, the iPad is more suitable to be used as an eBook reader, for internet browsing and for photo and video viewing.”

“The iPhone dominates over iPad in terms of business use. Business people need to make phone calls, check emails and use the calendar. The more portable iPhone better fulfils their needs. Personally, I think the iPad is a fad.”

Tommy McCubbin, interactive director at Melbourne ad agency Clemenger BBDO, is one businessperson who uses the iPad for work – although he agrees it could be a fad. “It's another screen I can use; I use it mostly for TweetDeck,” he says. This is the Twitter application for iPad, iPhone and desktop.

“It's good for aggregating all the different Twitter feeds, I monitor tweets on our brands, as well as industry leaders, and friends. I also use it to look at Google Analytics for the campaigns I'm running, and also for answering emails. But it's really just another screen to dip into.”

McCubbin says the iPad is not without its frustrations. He says with the iPad “I can't do things at the same speed as I can with my laptop. The Keynote presentations app is also a bit fiddly – it takes half the amount of time to prepare a presentation with a mouse and keypad. Really, where I use it best is at home on the couch; my iTunes bill has tripled because I've been buying so much music and so many shows."

Despite its novelty, McCubbin doesn't use the iPad when making presentations to clients.

“It can take away from the presentation; we can't help but feel we're showing off a bit. I'm not really comfortable flashing it around to clients for now – it can steal the limelight from the content of the presentation we're actually selling.”

But Daniel Bradby, director of jTribe, which creates applications for iPads and iPhones, relies on it as an essential business tool. “We make presentations to clients on an iPad; it's great for showing our multimedia capabilities and screen shots of applications we've developed. It's a relaxed and informal way of presenting. It's a really collaborative device and clients can also use the screen.”

Bradby says the collaborative nature of the iPad also means it's useful when his team develops presentations. “It's great because two people can touch the screen at the same time. It really is a shared control device, and it doesn't have the formality of the mouse and keyboard.”

Bradby and his team use the iPad to undertake research when developing client presentations and also during client meetings. “You can Google something then and there and move on, rather than having to wait until after the meeting to find out a piece of information.”

The key application Bradby uses is Apple's iWorks suite, which includes the Pages word processing program, the Numbers spreadsheet tool and Keynote presentation software. He also consumes content such as newspapers on the iPad.
Although he's an advocate for the iPad Bradby recognises it has potential for improvement. “You can view your calendar but you can't create a meeting invitation from the iPad,” he says.

But unlike Alex Lee and Tommy McCubbin, Bradby doesn't agree it's a fad. “Now I have my iPad I don't take my laptop home as much. I only see myself using it more in the future.”
 
Source: theage.com.au

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Sunday, June 27, 2010 10:39 PM - purchase order confirmed
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 7:53 PM - Tracking no. with DHL shipping received
Thursday, July 1, 2010 10:06 AM - Received delivery at home

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