I was at the Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility’s legislative reception the other day and nearly every one of the senators and representatives I spoke with had questions about the iPad. I have talked before about our project to outfit one of the committees with iPads, well the rest of the legislators are jealous and many are just buying their own iPads. Vermont has a citizen legislator and except for the Governor, the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate, none of the legislators have offices. The committee rooms are always cramped, tiny and crowded, so using a laptop computer is nearly impossible. The iPad makes a much better “meeting” computer because it is much more unobtrusive than a laptop – it looks like a piece of paper on the desk.
The real secret story of the iPad though is its acceptance in business. There are literally thousands of useful applications and everyone from lawyers to bakers and bankers are using the iPad now in their work. My attorney, Brian Dunkiel, gave all the lawyers in his firm iPads a few months ago and called me from the road a few days later to tell me that his firm was the first to use an iPad during a trial in Vermont.
Apple has recognized the business acceptance of the iPad and has made a lot of resources available for those considering the iPad in their work. We will be putting on some seminars at our retail stores about how to use the iPad in business, and there are on-line resources as well.
A good place to start is the iPad in Business site that Apple has created. Here you will find a bunch of information on how to integrate the iPad into your work life, including apps that make your work life easier, tips for seamless integration into your work flow and profiles of businesses that are using the iPad right now in their work. The other resource to discover what you can do on the iPad for your work is to check out the wide range of business apps on the iTunes App Store. Search the Business, Finance, Productivity and Reference section to get an idea of the myriad of options available to you. Once you have taken a look there, the next step is to completely ignore Apple’s pleas to “buy now from Apple,” and come over to Small Dog to get that iPad!