iPad for Business
Posted by elpabl0 on 1st June 2010
Apple’s sleek, silver-backed iPad will be officially hitting European shores sometime towards the end of May. So where does the wonder-pad sit in the workplace, or to ask a more important question: how can you convince your boss that the iPad is a necessary business purchase?
Let’s first consider the OS. Since launch of Apple’s original iPhone, the iPhone OS has been extended to 2 further generations of the iPhone, 3 generations of the iPod Touch and now the iPad. Version 4.0 will be landing sometime this summer, alongside the recently leaked iPhone 4. With each update to the hardware lineup and OS we’ve seen enhancements aimed squarely at the enterprise user, including:
- Support for Activesync and Exchange (mail, calendars and contacts)
- VPN support
- Remote wipe (in case of loss/theft)
- Enterprise program (for company-wide configuration and distribution of apps)
So Apple clearly has enterprise in mind for these devices and the support team here at the pebble.it office frequently and confidently recommend the iPhone to business users - many of whom are very keen to dump their ageing BlackBerry in favour of a shiny new 3GS.
Developers are also supporting the platform with vigour, all keen for a piece of the App Store pie, despite Apple’s much criticised application approval process. Sifting through the almost 200,000 apps available for your iDevice you will find a few gems (but plenty of turkeys too).
There’s a few SIP clients available - extending the reach of your office VOIP telephone system. Most are buggy, but Acrobits Softphone is worthy of note. 37 Signals nails Highrise intergration with their official app.
Most significantly, the larger screen real estate of the iPad has allowed developers such as Omni to bring their fantastic range of productivity tools to the device, sitting comfortably alongside Apple’s iWork suite and the additional Apple AV Kit for hooking up to a projector and wowing your colleagues with your magical presenting device.
Finally, the actual design of the device - it’s perfectly portable, so ideal for meetings. Leave your laptop at your desk and use the iPad for note taking, presenting and, if you can get away with it, fire up Plants vs. Zombies for some covert gaming.
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