It's coming!! IPad

Just because....we need yet another iPad review.  Whether you like it or not Apple has created yet another device that doesn't easily fit established categories.  The historical IT approach is to ignore it until the users create a stink or simply start using the device in great numbers.  Remember the iPhone, lots of pundits said that it was not enterprise ready.  Well there are 2 million units purchased by enterprises and an additional 5 million that users have put in use in the enterprise.

It is not a PC (or Mac), true.  However, much of what we "knowledge" workers do is consume information and this is a great device for consuming while being mobile.  It is an enabler for mobile access to "your" cloud.  Think about doctors, during each visit they consume information about your heath history in far greater volume than they create about you.  

The iPad conceivably could be enticing to enterprise IT. This isn't a huge leap; the vast majority of personal computers are lap tops.  Heck there was much conversation about tablet PC's, many enterprise's were abuzz with the idea of a computer that could be used like a clipboard, more conveniently in the course of normal business. Alas, the tablet PC was still too clunky to fill the role envisioned everywhere from doctor's offices to factory floors, but the iPad, with it's speed, form factor, and intuitive interface might not be. Is it more suited to business than consumers?  

Well, there are rumors that the folks at Apple have a few business features that will emerge over the next few months.  But before that, think about the iWork application.  While they gave it a multitouch upgrade, it is still an Office-compatible productivity suite.  In the fine print, you can learn that it is a nice presentation tool, it supports VGA output for driving a projector, users can market up slides and point with a virtual laser pointer during the presentation.  The rumors say that there will be direct printing network printing iPad applications and support for dealing with a local file server

For the reseller or vendor, this signals a need to get ahead of the curve on iPads.  Get ready and become the expert for your customers.  Help them in assessing their business uses before users start bringing them in.  Whether you are a reseller, software developer or SaaS provider.  Enterprises will need to support them and as important secure them.  I can see the headlines now, as an iPad "walks away" with a million social security numbers on the disk.  Save your customer, help the CIO's drive their bus, they may get to keep some control if they get ahead of their users. Otherwise there may not be a seat. 

Time for my pet peeves:

     1) Why does my iPhone change "iPad" to "Olaf", did Microsoft slip code into the iPhone as a joke?

     2) Of the many iPad comments, the jokes have been pretty funny, but one pundit went all politically correct and argued that the name "iPad" showed that there weren't enough women in high tech.  I guess she never used a "pad" of paper.  I am waiting for someone to complain that it is code for corporal punishment for kids, iPad(dle) and file suit.