With the iPad in stores today many business owners will be hearing demands to put the iPad on the supported devices list for their employees. While Online Design Bureau eventually came around and supported the (3rd generation) iPhone as a valuable device that should be supported by your organization, we cannot make the same recommendation for the iPad. Here are 10 of the reasons while we feel that the iPad simply feels short when it comes to delivering for businesses small and large:
The Apple iPad certainly looks cool, but can it do the job for business?
1) The iPad does not run common office productivity tools. Meaning it is not compatible with the software most enterprises already have. You won’t be presenting a PowerPoint with it very easily, unless you are a computer wiz. While it is true you can buy Apple’s iWorks application for $9.99, it would create duplication of work, since the presentation would have to be built both in office and in iWorks.
2) iPad does not run windows, further complicating compatibility.
3) The iPad doesn’t support USB out of the box. File transfer becomes extremely difficult under those circumstances, and again, if if you transfer business documents, there is no office suite to run them.
4) The iPad cannot multi-task. That makes it nothing more than an entertainment device. Users who put together a presentation or sales report will need to be able to go back and forth between your collateral, web pages, etc.
5) The iPad does not have a camera, so video conferencing is dead.
6) To aggravate these problems, a decent enough netbook will cost about half the price and be able to do more. Not only does a netbook not have issues 1-5 to contend with, netbooks, just like PC’s are able to run open software ecosystems increasing choice and facilitating custom development of software that the iPad would not allow.
7) The iPad may look cool, but this wow-factor during a presentation doesn’t justify the cost and ultimately, it is not about how cool the presentation was, but how well it explained the product and / or service. There is no justifiable ROI.
8) The iPad is essentially nothing more than a big iPod touch. You’ll be buying nothing new, just bigger
9) The iPad doesn’t play flash, greatly compounding the problem of viewing websites that run flash applications
10) The iPad is bad for innovation for the very reason that it does not run flash. Buying an iPad is voting with your wallet for the death of flash. If the iPad takes off in a big way, all websites running flash will have to switch to HTML5, a yet not fully actualized platform (many standards are not decided upon, some flash functionality is not yet provided in HTML 5). When Steve Jobs visited the Wall Street Journal promoting his iPad, they concluded:
even assuming the Journal could duplicate its Flash slideshows, infographics and other news apps using iPad-friendly technologies like Javascript, it would take a decidedly nontrivial amount of time and effort to create or acquire such a system, hire staff who understand it as well as Flash, train staff on how to use it, and integrate it into the Journal’s editorial workflow. It might be a great way to advance web standards like HTML5, and a great way to get the Journal on more devices, but it would hardly be ‘trivial’.
Source: The Guardian
Over to you
Don’t agree? Found more reasons? Leave us a comment. We’d love to hear from you.
What’s hot and what’s new? This is a common problem you have when you buy new stuff. I think they undergo studies on how to make software compatible with new stuff. I think it won’t be a good idea to buy it soon, since they are still developing software compatibility with iPad.
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Why release something that can’t be useful? If buying this will give you problem for software then I will wait till they fully develop iPad.
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Germany releases new version that can be race with iPad. It’s called wepad and its total different from iPad since it can be installed and compatible to any software.
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I really think that iPad is very useful in business. It is a multipurpose technology invented by the company and it will help businessmen access to their clients or costumers faster and easier.
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Sherryl, could you share some of the specific ways you would use the iPad to access clients and customers faster and with more ease.
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In what way will this technology help with our business? Does this thing work faster than a computer?
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They release this gadget and yet there is no assurance of its durability. What I am trying to say is that, I have read an article that says, there will be a battery replacement for every iPad purchased by the costumer. They are not sure of the battery of this gadget. And there is a possibility that you will lose your files.
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I better wait for feedback about this iPad. I’m not sure of it’s quality. It does look good but I’m not sure if it works good.
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So the iPad doesn’t work that good considering what I have read on this blog. Thank you for letting us know about this because I was really planning to have one. It doesn’t sound useful to the business and just a waste of money.
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There are lot of tasks that iPad cannot perform and most of it are very useful for our business. Why did they even think of making such gadget that can only provide little job for you and its cost doesn’t fit for such thing.
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