http://www.theviewatkingplow.com/do/index.html You do everything from ordering your drinks and food to queuing up the restaurant's music with the iPad at your table. Again, I'm betting there are a lot more business applications for tablets/iPads that we're not aware of because we're not in a particular business. These things are being used for a lot more than surfing the innerwebz.
I don't even have a shot glass full of Apple kool-aid, but I do use this mixer http://presonus.com/products/Detail.aspx?ProductId=59 and am lusting after an iPad simply for the ability to mix sound while wandering around the audience, giving me a better feel for what is happening in the actual listening area. So I guess that's pretty industry specific as well, but still cool.
I guess haters gonna hate. It's an application of this still fledgling technology other than intertoobs and playing Angry Birds: Full Metal Jacket. Not unlike the Dr's office or the hospital, you're updating a database and retrieving data with a remote terminal.
No hating, just a different point of view to yours Tablets are simply not business tools. Can they be used for niche aspects of business ? Of course, but will they take over from laptops ? Not a chance. Wonderful tools but they will never be viewed as essential business tools.
It depends on the system. My Ortho doesn't need to lug a laptop around with him from exam room to exam room. The iPad effectively takes the place of a bigger, more expensive piece of equipment. He can even pull up my x-rays on it. It's an "essential business tool" for him. No, tablets in their current form and limitations won't take the place of current laptops, but I do believe their form factor eventually will. The keybord won't become obsolete, it's just so much faster to type, but it I don't think it's going to stay attached to the machine. Convergence is the word of the day. Also, with the continued ubiquitousness of WiFi-type networks, I think "cloud" storage will begin to take the place of onboard storage mediums.
It's a matter of security architecture, for most businesses that actually give a damn. The current breed is simply incapable to the degree necessary for folks to embrace it at the enterprise level w/o concessions.
Oh, yeah. Went to a little art festival a few weeks ago. Bought a fun little fridge magnet. Guess what he used to run my credit card and update his inventory.
Your comments are perfectly valid. My comments are more related to the current tablet OSes and hardware. I think part of the current problem is the vague nature of the digitizers used in the iOS and Android tablets. They are just too vague to replicate the pen and paper experience. I am not a technical person so I can't tell you the reasons why. However, I can't take effective notes on my iPad with the current format. I have tried just about every note taking app and stylus. Does't matter. Too vague. I had an HP Elitebook convertible tablet that I loved. That thing with OneNote was killer. Stone cold reliable. If MSurface can meld the best of iOS/Android and the convertible tablets, I think content creation is possible. Also, to the guy talking about his doctor's office: viewing xrays isn't content creation. It is image viewing. I wouldn't consider completing a pre-designed form to be content creation either. If the form was coded on an iPad, that would be content creation. However, we are getting pedantic at this point.
This sums up my thoughts exactly. I love my iPad but am not closed to other products. When I bought this iPad (first generation) it was the first new technology I had adopted "first", but the minute I saw it I knew it was the right product for me. It actually has features I use at work. I can keep my engineering plan sets on it and call them up during site visits for discussion, for example. Design manuals are saved for fast reference. Maps and google earth are in our toolkit for land development. And so forth. But as a business traveler I also like the movies, long battery life, and 3G plus wifi capabilities. I have had times when my pc laptop would simple not log in for an email session, and the iPad performed flawlessly. It has been a revolutionary product for my life and I never felt it was a mistake. Is it a replacement for a laptop? No, in a business sense it's a complement to it, but that's hardly the point. Repeating the mantra that tablets aren't as good as laptops is trite and all, but users of tablets aren't asking for laptop computing power. I have no pretensions of running a heavy duty engineering simulation on an iPad. But once out in the field, the iPad shines with portability and simplicity. A laptop just cant do it. All this said, Surface looks really cool though, and if it offers something more akin to a laptop than the iPad, while still retaining tablet portability and functionality, I thnk it will be a strong contender. If Microsoft manages to actually take these "toy" arguments and produce a business machine with this level of portability, it will be the next step in my view.
I think this is a major mistake. My iPad is on 3G nearly as often as wifi. The surface will not do well in Europe if there is no 3G version.
You are in the minority. There was a report in the last month or so that estimated only ~10% of tablets sold are 3g, so it's clearly not a deal breaker for the vast majority (says me posting from my wifi only tablet).
We agree...mostly Nobody has found that sweet spot of tablet/laptop convergence. Not sure if this is it but it maybe closer than most. I disagree about the whole cloud thing. Cloud is a marketing term, the whole thing client has been around for decades. I still think the network has to improve before people will accept cloud-based storage - ask Google who's laptops have tanked.
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