When the iPad was announced, cynics scoffed: "It's just a big iPod touch!"
It turns out that a big iPod Touch is exactly what a lot of people are waiting for, and not just so they can admire their achingly trendy reflections in its smudge-resistant glass.
Here are 10 industries that the iPad would be ideal for.
1. Medicine
With a wipe-clean surface and few nooks or crannies for brain matter or bodily fluids to get stuck in, the iPad's form factor is ideal for medical applications.
It's an area Apple is already in with the iPhone, with applications offering everything from reference to patient monitoring, and US doctors are definitely interested in the iPad.
GET WELL: There are already plenty of iPhone apps for medicine, covering everything from patient monitoring to form-filling
2. Music
The iPad may not have the horsepower to offer multi-track recording in its own right, but as a control interface for something like the awesome Ableton Live music program it would be perfect for live work. It could also be a kind of mixing console for controlling studio hardware.
ON STAGE: As a controller for software such as the awesome Ableton Live, iPads could replace the laptops we often see on stage.
3. Education
Putting textbooks on iPads is a no-brainer - but it's capable of more than that. As North Carolina's Herald-Sun reports, educators are excited about other possibilities including "allowing students and researchers to, say, examine photos and maps as they're checking texts" and even delivering a "cloud-based, disaggregated, open educational experience". Whatever that is.
BETTER THAN BOOKS: If the iPad were just a big ebook reader textbooks would make it a big deal in education, but it's capable of much more than that
4. Residential and commercial property
From showing architects' renders while standing in rubble to bringing up house price graphs, reports on local schools or any other relevant data when showing potential buyers a property, the iPad could prove to be a useful tool for estate agents and commercial property firms.
5. Real-world retail
PDAs and smartphones are already used to take orders and payments - Apple's EasyPay Touch turns an iPod into a portable payment processor and mobile checkout - but something slightly larger would fit better on a typical retail counter, bar counter or desk.
6. Ecommerce
Applications such as Next's online shopping app are a nice idea, but smartphones are just too small for serious sofa-based shopping. Something like this mockup, on the other hand, would be brilliant - and better for the environment than all those doorstop-sized catalogues that retailers like so much.
BETTER SHOPPING: Next's iPhone app is all very clever, but the iPhone's too small for serious shopping. iPad brochures could sell shedloads of stuff
7. Sales
By sales we mean Mondeo-driving, service station-stopping sales. The iPad is an excellent presentation platform, and of course it can be used for order processing and staying in touch with the office, too.
8. Project management
When a well-respected productivity software firm such as the Omni Group throws its considerable weight behind the iPad and says the iPad version of its diagramming product is more important than the desktop version, something is definitely afoot. Planning and rejigging priorities tend to happen in face-to-face meetings, an environment the iPad is perfectly suited to.
9. Inspection
Whether you're deciding whether to award a building warrant, carrying out a safety check on a boiler or assessing the performance of a school, inspections produce enormous amounts of paperwork - most of which ends up plugged into a computer anyway. The iPad is much more portable and usable on the move than even the most mobile laptop.
10. Law enforcement
Regular viewers of Cops know that laptops often appear in patrol cars, but tablet PCs are a much better idea for the limited space available in police cruisers - and the iPad's comparatively low price could make it very attractive to cash-strapped police departments. Don't get too excited, though: it's more likely to be used for database access and form-filling than for smacking villains.
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Your comments (15) Click to add a new comment
lilcy
March 26th 2010
15. BE right more or less. we can believe apple, of course not just blindly follow Apple. Just for fun, just enjoy ourselves anyhow.
here i add some more information about Apple iPad tablet, its video & audio formats, review, tips and tutorials, go to this ipad spot: http://www.ifunia.com/ipad-column/index.html
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windymiller
March 7th 2010
14. "My 11 year old son is in primary 7 at school. 28 out of his class of 30 have a Touch. This is in a normal, maybe even borderline downmarket area. The touch/iPhone/ipad technology is becoming the norm for these guys."
Sorry, but I think the term "pants on fire" applies here.
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adda
March 7th 2010
13. Until I got an iPhone thru work I never got the point of macs and apple. I assumed they were all style and fashion with no real substance. Why use something different when 'everyone' uses windows in the real world.
How wrong was I. The iPhone is the most amazing piece of kit I have every used and has changed how my business runs. The ipad will do the same. My 11 year old son is in primary 7 at school. 28 out of his class of 30 have a Touch. This is in a normal, maybe even borderline downmarket area. The touch/iPhone/ipad technology is becoming the norm for these guys.
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mbb
March 5th 2010
12. @adlysyn66 I've got to disagree with you about Chrome OS being an improvement over the iPad's OS. The iPad OS is a Webkit-based browser in conjunction with plenty of offline storage and over one hundred thousand native applications. Chrome OS is just a Webkit-based browser. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of Chrome, but there's no way it's more capable than the iPad OS.
Also, bear in mind that the iPad OS can multitask, but third party apps can't. MS Office will be accessible as a web app, which is, let's face it, the future of it on any portable device (netbooks included). And if there's really no benefit of a larger screen and more powerful processor over the iPhone, then why does anyone buy anything other than the smallest £200 netbook, ever? Why do people by 15" laptops? Why would anyone even consider a desktop, with an obscene 20+" inches of screen when 3" ideal?
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adlysyn66
March 4th 2010
11. @ lovelid
I agree. You shouldn't blindly follow Apple.
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adlysyn66
March 4th 2010
10. I agree, the iPad won't change anything. Anything the iPad can do the iPhone can do too. I was hoping to see a proper iPad OS: something that is comparable to the Windows XP of Netbooks that it competes with. I wanted a scaled-down, touch optimised OSX; but instead we have something that can't multitask, isn't Flash enabled or can't run applications outside the App Store. Can it run MS Office? Hell no. I just think the humble netbook seems so much more capable.
Because of the closed OS, applications lack functionality and developers are limited. It will not take off in these industries because it is no improvement on the iPhone - a more portable device. I believe Apple have made a BIG mistake by failing to make a more capable OS for the iPad and it will not take off in these industries. It is the closed environment of Apple that has allowed open-source Android to succeed. A Chrome OS or Windows 7 would be more comparable to laptops in terms of functionality.
Apparently HTC are in talks with Google to make a Chrome OS tablet.
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tfawcett
March 4th 2010
9. The whole article is pure fiction. As much as people in these industries might like a pretty gadget to replace paper, it will never happen due to cost of device and insurance.
It's too big for most of the applications mentioned. Property is most likely in terms of projecting a particular image. Having said that, estate agents are rarely at the forefront of technology and certainly not in a position to buy gadgets in the current economic climate.
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lovlid
March 4th 2010
8. @ healydave.
"I think its safe to say awjr is one of those anti-apple brigade that sit in waiting to trash pieces like this."
Like you do with pieces like "Microsoft 'humbled' by 90 million Windows 7 sales" and others.
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mbb
March 4th 2010
7. @awjr I think you're spot on with your assessment of Flash. Does anyone really want it on the iPad/iPhone? No. We want the content Flash allows. The delivery method is academic to end users. And while the app store offers an alternative to flash games, and HTML5/H.264 offers an alternative to Flash video, we're nowhere near making making Flash redundant, if only for (as you pointed out) its platform-neutral nature.
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awjr
March 4th 2010
6. @mbb was unaware of that. I stand corrected. I still think the App store is a commercial risk.
@healeydave:
I'm actually platform neutral, but as a developer, there are better, targeted hardware solutions out there for the above industries. The iPad is interesting, but feel the article is trying to put a square peg into a round hole. You can do it, but it hurts.
@the Ipad
You're ok. Nothing brilliant, but when they give you a cam, allow you to browse the internet as it is now (yes that includes running Flash and maybe even Java apps) then I will buy you.
As a developer looking at return on time invested, I want a platform neutral solution that allows me to deploy to any platform. Unfortunately Flash (10.1) and Flash CS5 (able to compile flash to Iphone apps) seems to be the way to go for app development, if anything, it is backwards compatible with the current web. The next 3-6 months will be very interesting.
Do I like that it's flash? No.
As a developer, do I like that I can deliver one solution across 7 phone OS, plus all current computer OS? Hell yeah.
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healeydave
March 4th 2010
5. I think you will all be surprised at how many places the iPad turns up.
The only valid argument is where a rugged device may be required, but then you missing the inevitable 3rd party case market that will explode onto the market as soon as the device launches!
Its the so-called deficiencies that some users have tried to bash the iPad for that just goes to show how out of touch these people are!!
It will be those features that will be appealing to many industries, I'll give some brief examples:
The non-open or full operating system (like a netbook) will allow departments to deploy systems free from end-user contamination of non-legitimate software and also prevent spyware & virus applications. The device can be deployed to do the job in hand without the IT dept spending the majority of its time making sure the devices are secure and still functional.
The lack of physical keyboard makes the device perfect for clean environments or at least much better than the crevices keyboards present.
Many institutional type environments spend a fortune prematurely replacing laptops because users pull keys off etc.
There are many more, but I don't want to make this a long winded reply that only get half read but I am so convinced, I will be happy to take your money if people want to bet with me :-)
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fcnova
March 4th 2010
4. Hi,
I guess I understand what the author is trying to say here, but I believe that there are already many existing devices out there that might be better suited to many of the industries discussed.
Specifically companies like Motion, Panasonic (Toughbook), Getac, and Walkabout, etc already have powerful rugged (or semi-rugged) Tablet PCs specifically built to support the medical, inspection, law enforcement, point of sale and other industries.
Granted most of these existing Tablet PCs are fairly expensive, but they are full fledged portable computers and some include (or can support) such devices as RFID readers, bar code scanners, magnetic stripe readers, smart card readers and digital cameras, and are already built to standards like Mil-Std-810 or have features like Gorilla Glass, View Anywhere displays, and other types of built in ruggedizing.
As such, in medical applications a device like the semi-rugged Motion C5 with all its inherent capabilities would seem to me to be a better match to the needs of that industry and devices like a Toughbook/Hammerhead/RugTab or Motion F5 and J3400 or other similar device will likely be a better match for areas like police work, inspections, residential and commercial property management (as described in the original article), and point of sales type stuff.
With regards to the other areas discussed in the article, the iPad may have some potential, but other existing devices like Netbooks, Lap Tops, eReaders, and Tablet PCs also have their own benefits as well, and I suspect that it will probably be up to personal preference, etc on what different people will decide is best for there needs.
As such,I'm not convinced that any of the 10 industries listed really strike me as being something that the iPad is "perfect' for.
Anyway, just some thoughts.
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healeydave
March 3rd 2010
3. I think its safe to say awjr is one of those anti-apple brigade that sit in waiting to trash pieces like this.
He's taken the time to list out 10 points of refute and yet none of them have much foundation.
Whilst he has the cheek to claim the author has Apple fanboyism, he has just proved he is no better with that PC stuck up his ..........
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mbb
March 3rd 2010
2. @awjr The issue you bring up about not being able to distribute bespoke apps isn't actually an issue. Apple has allowed private distribution since the app store's launch with Enterprise and Ad Hoc distribution, as they call them. Info here: http://bit.ly/3NQb
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awjr
March 3rd 2010
1. Please stop this fanboy ********.
1. Medicine
Battery needs to be hot swappable. 10 hours is not enough. Bespoke medical applications are not allowed on the Ipad unless you are prepared to release them through the app store.
2. Music controller
Connectivity is a major issue. Also releasing such a complex application for the Ipad would crea
3. Education
When you can drop the thing from a height of 1m and know it will survive then you are in a far better situation having a laptop bolted to the desk.
4. Property,
Yes lets show you the latest video on our website of the house you may want to buy. Oh, sorry no flash. Here borrow this netbook or ironically in the next 3 months, any other smartphone running flash 10.1
5/6. Retail
This would be from the same company that banned an app selling bikinis because that was adult material...apparently 50% of the population can't shop for clothes because boobs are way to adult.
7. Sales
You want a dumb water proof touch screen terminal. Not something people can just take away.
8. Project Management
**** me what planet do you live on? You need serious project planning software. Seriously, any PM would get the sack if they came into a meeting carrying a iPad as their 'tool of choice'
9. Inspection
Nothing like bringing your shiny, needs to be cleaned often, iPad into a dank dirty and probably wet environment.
10.Law enforcement
Wow seriously, what planet do you live on? Police need a PC in a car for very very specific jobs.
The real issue here is that the author does not realise the type of bespoke complex apps the above industries need and that due to Apple's store development policy, delivering this type of app would be complete commercial suicide through the iPad. This is extremely poor journalism. Stop worshipping at the altar of Apple.
The iCrap is an intersting idea just that it has a niche, that niche being the home user.
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