Steve Jobs and gang did a phenomenal job introducing the iPad for consumers. Books! Movies! Music! Games!
…but…
The iPad has the potential to make sales and marketing people into legends. Take any sales demo you’ve ever done. Take any presentation you’ve ever done. Now take it on the road. Got a prospect you want to chat things over with in a coffee shop? Bring out your Keynote app (iWork for the iPad) and you’re showing your deck or demo on a glass 10 inch screen without all the hassle of keyboards, mice, remotes, or other crap. Just open your leather binder and show the show.
… and then …
Remember: iPhone apps run on iPad out of the box.
So you swap from your slide deck to your Salesforce.com iPhone app. You take the order right there. You’re done, and you’re on a device that looks as slick as your product or service hopefully is. No Salesforce? Use iWork’s Numbers app and fill in your order spreadsheets, or fire up Safari and complete the lead form on your web site because you’ve got 3G wherever you’ve got good mobile service.
Professional speaker? The Keynote Remote app for the iPhone will run out of the box on the iPad. Instead of squinting at your iPhone while using it as a remote for your Keynote presentations (because your laptop is tethered to the projector), you have a gorgeous way to display your speaker notes and control the show from the podium. Just slap your iPad on the podium and swipe its screen to change slides, see your speaker notes, and not miss a beat. If you’ve ever presented professionally and wished that the venue could provide a speaker’s screen, the iPad is now that screen for you regardless of venue.
Image: Engadget
Yes, you’ll be able to handle all the mundane things that iWork and other iPhone apps can do, but the large, large screen will be perfect for when you’re at trade shows, conferences, and coffee shops as a way of showing your customers and prospects all the goods you have to offer without lugging an entire IT department around with you. Anyone who’s ever hung out with me at a conference knows that I lug a server farm with me – and I probably still will to some degree, but this device certainly will make life easier for the working professional. As a bonus for conference-goers, when the venue Wi-Fi implodes – as it always does – your iPad will feed your data addiction with its 3G connection.
I can’t wait to get my hands on one of these.
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how do you see companies like hulu taking advantage of this?
also do you think augmented reality will be revolutionized with ads and multimedia for hyper local?
It's got all the geolocation of an iPhone, so there's huge augmented reality potential with this, to be sure. For Hulu? Really, it'll depend on the bandwidth available.
Well, and think about the lack of gear we now have to cart around- the Apple Air is over- this will work well and replace that for mobile immediately
Hmm, maybe, “The Keynote Remote app for the iPhone will run out of the box on the iPad”. That's true, but now I'm carrying my laptop (to hook up to the projector), iPhone (because the iPad can't do voice over 3G) _and_ my iPad?
Can definitely see how it could be handy to show off a quick preso one-to-one or fire up an order taking app perhaps but not sure it adds more over a small Sony Vaio / Dell equivalent in this scenario (other than looking way cooler probably!).
What's so different to a windows tablet PC, they're going to suddenly start doing this…
Holy cats. Drag and drop design would make me squee with joy (in very non-technical terms). That and the presentation thing is just making me drool the more I think about it.
Good point, Keith!
how do you see companies like hulu taking advantage of this?
also do you think augmented reality will be revolutionized with ads and multimedia for hyper local?
It’s got all the geolocation of an iPhone, so there’s huge augmented reality potential with this, to be sure. For Hulu? Really, it’ll depend on the bandwidth available.
Chel, I'm wondering if the iPad will have enough horse power to run something like a dreamweaver that's maybe more scaled down but improved for the touch interface. I'm almost going to sit on the fence for a bit to see what apps they come out with because I'm more of a media maker than a media consumer.
How about drag and drop design. i could see blog and website design revolutionized here! make drag and drop additions of photos and video, easy selector tools to tap in new colors. I didn’t see any of the iLife suite yet which was a bit of a disappointment but I’m hoping developers create easy drag and drop apps.
The device seems very tailored to media consumption rather than media creation but I’m hoping that gets handled with new and existing applications.
The pints you bring up for sales presentations and marketing are very good ones. My brain has been tweaking on similar possibilities for months. For those that apreciate design in presentations this will be well worth the starting $499 price tag.
Well, and think about the lack of gear we now have to cart around- the Apple Air is over- this will work well and replace that for mobile immediately
Okay, you sold me. Now I just need to get a job as a salesperson… 😉
Seriously, good write-up. I'm not a fan of the iPad at all (not an Apple hater, quite a fan actually, just not of this) but you've given me a bit of a new perspective on it.
I disagree. I'd take an Air over an iPad any day of the week and twice on Sunday. It's the iPhone OS that's hanging me up… on a device that size, with that kind of horsepower, I want a proper OS.
Hmm, maybe, “The Keynote Remote app for the iPhone will run out of the box on the iPad”. That’s true, but now I’m carrying my laptop (to hook up to the projector), iPhone (because the iPad can’t do voice over 3G) _and_ my iPad?
Can definitely see how it could be handy to show off a quick preso one-to-one or fire up an order taking app perhaps but not sure it adds more over a small netbook / Dell equivalent in this scenario (other than looking way cooler probably!).
What’s so different to a windows tablet PC, they’re going to suddenly start doing this…
Holy cats. Drag and drop design would make me squee with joy (in very non-technical terms). That and the presentation thing is just making me drool the more I think about it.
Good point, Keith!
Chel, I’m wondering if the iPad will have enough horse power to run something like a dreamweaver that’s maybe more scaled down but improved for the touch interface. I’m almost going to sit on the fence for a bit to see what apps they come out with because I’m more of a media maker than a media consumer.
Okay, you sold me. Now I just need to get a job as a salesperson… 😉
Seriously, good write-up. I’m not a fan of the iPad at all (not an Apple hater, quite a fan actually, just not of this) but you’ve given me a bit of a new perspective on it.
I disagree. I’d take an Air over an iPad any day of the week and twice on Sunday. It’s the iPhone OS that’s hanging me up… on a device that size, with that kind of horsepower, I want a proper OS.
I don't do Dreamweaver often but I'd give it a shot with a lower end version to see if it's workable. The ability to drag and drop files with my fingers while doing uploads alone makes me happy.
I'm not sure how comfortable it's going to be to actually use in different settings, need to get hands on experience with it before committing.
I agree, presentations will look great on the iPad. But what about signing contracts after your presentation? It sure would be nice to be able to sign a client right there, without faxing papers back and forth.
Absolutely brilliant stuff. A freelance photographer I know (@rovinggirl, actually) immediately saw this as potential gold for presenting clients with photos before development, as well as keeping exceedingly complex calendar dates – a function that just doesn't exist in mobile before this.
A lot of people call this a goofy device, or at least a goofy name. But I totally agree, there's potential here that can only keep building as more mobile professionals adjust their habits to leverage the tools the iPad provides.
I don’t do Dreamweaver often but I’d give it a shot with a lower end version to see if it’s workable. The ability to drag and drop files with my fingers while doing uploads alone makes me happy.
I’m not sure how comfortable it’s going to be to actually use in different settings, need to get hands on experience with it before committing.
Excellent post and while the Ipad will definitely do everything you posted, I also believe that it will create a lot of business opportunities for anyone that can think outside the box and create third party programs that target the ipad alone.
I can't wait to get my hands on one, once again Apple takes the game to a whole new level, for example as a consumer I was thinking about purchasing the Sony Reader Touch to read my ebooks on but now there is no way I will waste the money on the Sony Reader when I can wait a couple of months for the Ipad
I agree, presentations will look great on the iPad. But what about signing contracts after your presentation? It sure would be nice to be able to sign a client right there, without faxing papers back and forth.
Absolutely brilliant stuff. A freelance photographer I know (@rovinggirl, actually) immediately saw this as potential gold for presenting clients with photos before development, as well as keeping exceedingly complex calendar dates – a function that just doesn't exist in mobile before this.
A lot of people call this a goofy device, or at least a goofy name. But I totally agree, there's potential here that can only keep building as more mobile professionals adjust their habits to leverage the tools the iPad provides.
Excellent post and while the Ipad will definitely do everything you posted, I also believe that it will create a lot of business opportunities for anyone that can think outside the box and create third party programs that target the ipad alone.
I can't wait to get my hands on one, once again Apple takes the game to a whole new level, for example as a consumer I was thinking about purchasing the Sony Reader Touch to read my ebooks on but now there is no way I will waste the money on the Sony Reader when I can wait a couple of months for the Ipad
Chris – this is such a great blog post. I can totally see it.
Chris – this is such a great blog post. I can totally see it.
The device seems very tailored to media consumption rather than media creation but I'm hoping that gets handled with new and existing applications
The pints you bring up for sales presentations and marketing are very good ones. My brain has been tweaking on similar possibilities for months. For those that apreciate design in presentations this will be well worth the starting $499 price tag.
The device seems very tailored to media consumption rather than media creation but I'm hoping that gets handled with new and existing applications
The device seems very tailored to media consumption rather than media creation but I'm hoping that gets handled with new and existing applications
The pints you bring up for sales presentations and marketing are very good ones. My brain has been tweaking on similar possibilities for months. For those that apreciate design in presentations this will be well worth the starting $499 price tag.
The pints you bring up for sales presentations and marketing are very good ones. My brain has been tweaking on similar possibilities for months. For those that apreciate design in presentations this will be well worth the starting $499 price tag.