You need to read some real reviews not this tripe from CNN
iPads have no business applications and serious deficiencies of use in a business context. If you are talking about a consumer market with little if any need for this then they provide an alternative but I could link many studies that show it is more sizzle than steak.
Also, Jobs has moved from Mr. Anti-big brother to a controlling megalomaniac obsessed with himself and Apple vis a vis Larry Ellison at Oracle.
A place for everything and everything in it’s place, this will fade over time and reach equilibrium and they will move to the next toy
The usability of my iPad has improved significantly since I installed iOS 4.2. I lugged a 7.5 pound Fujitsu LIfebook (Windows) laptop to Cancun, Mexico, in April and it picked up a virus that wiped the hard drive despite having MCafee anti-virus. After getting it repaired, I gave it away to my step daughter and bought the iPad, which makes a much better vacation computer: lightweight, convenient and TSA doesn’t require me to take it out of my bag.
Windows 8 - January 2011 at CES
This thing has only been around for a year. It's just a matter of time before there will be tons of business apps.
No business applications? I know a couple of engineers (one a FReeper) running AutoCAD WS on their iDevices; the app store has numerous medical applications. Recent story posted here talked about doctors using them in ER to pull up all sorts of imaging to use as reference while conducting surgery. The Apple iWork productivity suit is available. There are point of sale apps, complete with credit card readers for stores. Apple uses them in their stores, no checkout line. Just find an available employee and swip bang, you’re outta there. Very efficient.
Those are just a few examples.
Just because you can’t see the utility of the device in business, doesn’t mean others haven’t. And it’s growing.
RIGHT, sure.
Citrix, and it's client base strongly disagrees with you:
07 Dec 2010 10:26 PM EST
46% of iPad Users Say They Are Now More Productive
The survey is in, this time we had 4,951 responses vs. a similar survey we ran in June with 558 replies. Again the answer is people want to use their iPads for work. The continued interest is not surprising given the increasing number of apps as well as the Citrix solution that IT can safely support. The number of people depending on the iPad and using it daily ( 46% ) is remarkable given it's only been on the market for 7 months. In fact 13% ( 180 ) say the iPad is mission critical for their job. If a business can increase employee productivity and respond faster to customers, the payback can be significant.
Note that this informal survey ( but with significant numbers ) was primarily answered by Citrix Customers who may also be interested in the iPad. That means they understand the capability to securely enable access to company resources including employees that bring their own iPad to work. The IT support for iPads at businesses that are not Citrix customers is likely much lower.
You claim you can link to contrary reviews about the iPad in enterprise. Do it. Prove your claim.
I'm an institutional equities trader. I just spoke to two of the largest institutional brokerage firms last week. Both are releasing iPad trading apps in 2011.
Thompson Reuters came to my office and installed several apps on my iPad
And, my firm gave out iPads to the entire marketing staff.
This is the first iteration of the iPad. So, surely things are moving in that direction.
Very far from the truth. My company will (hopefully) soon be rolling them out to all our field technicians. They are testing them now and they have surpassed all expectations. The employees will be able to perform all facets of their job with them, from closing out their service tickets, accessing instantly any service manual, bulletin, parts catalog, etc., to mapping their next service call (with GPS).
I said earlier this year that Apple will eventually sell over one billion iPads. My prediction will almost certainly come true. Over 13 million units sold in less than 8 months and we are only on version 1.0.
With respect to tablet technology, the product is only in its infancy. It is about where the personal computer was in 1982 or where the World Wide Web was in 1993. Anybody owning Apple stock is about to go on a rocket ride.
You mean like Exchange-integrated email, SAP Business Objects, Dragon Dictation, MobileIron Sentry and hundreds of others?