Tablets?
I’ve been a happy iPAD owner for many months and I can attest to the ease of use and amazing versatility of the Pad, Slate, Tablet, etc. form factor. My kids figured it out with zero instruction and it constantly being used by someone in the family. However I have found myself slowly drifting back to my ancient home PC over the last few months. Is the love affair over? Is it just because I have to fight my family for the “The need Machine.” I don’t think so, it’s much more simple that that. It’s just that I can do everything on the PC as opposed to most things on the tablet.
Which gets me to my real question, is the tablet the right form factor for business? If so, where in the enterprise does it fit? I’ve seen many clients adopt pilot programs or accommodate executives tablet use, but so far the track record is a bit murky. Remote system access from the iPAD works, but isn’t very efficient; tablets in a meeting makes sense because of size, but the input (stylus or typing) is less than stellar and more often the machine becomes a distraction. We are now seeing the beginnings of the onslaught of tablets from all the other tech companies out there, each with a different angle on how the device should work and who should use it. Are we really going to run different tablets for different departments, or are we simply going to revert back to the PC, as I am slowly doing, because it just does everything.
Thoughts?
Jared Tribelhorn, PEI
Great question Jared, and one I have been trying to answer as well.
The ability to replace laptops with a tablet is dependent on the ability of the enterprise to provide access to applications and data. In my capacity in business development and product design/development the applications I use every day are accessible via the internet and when I need access to data it is also available via the web. Ubiquitous access to data and applications coupled with light weight and long battery life have enabled me to almost replace my laptop. If there was a way to hook the tablet to a projector I would recycle the laptop and not look back.
Jeremiah, we appreciate you sharing your thoughts on this blog! Since you are an avid iPad user, what are your thoughts on using a touch screen keyboard opposed to a traditional style keyboard? I know that I constantly have to be looking at the screen on my Droid to insert text, just wondered if that was the same issue with an iPad touch keyboard.