The iPad bandwagon — specifically, the growing use of the iPad as a laptop substitute for business travellers — continues to roll, even if this year's launch of the iPad 2 hasn't actually done much either to accelerate or hinder its progress.
But first a word on the iPad 2, and another on the 100 or more alternative tablets that have surged onto the market in its wake. The iPad 2 isn't significantly different from the original, hence its nickname, the iPad 1.5. So not many people will feel the need to throw their iPad 1 away, although plenty I know are giving theirs to their children as an excuse to buy the newer version. Most iPad 1 cases and accessories (not all) fit the 2 as well, which is a relief.
The new pad is a little thinner and lighter, has cameras as expected and has the new Smart Cover (a brilliant design, but I find it fiddly and irritating). If you had never seen an iPad, however, the new version would seem an incredibly futuristic thing — a keyboard-less slice of technology which can be everything from a portable recording studio (try the new GarageBand app, one of the most extraordinary things ever seen on a computer) to a business-ready laptop, via about a thousand other wonderful things.
As for the rest of the tablets, many of them are fine. The Motorola Xoom, and to a lesser extent the BlackBerry PlayBook, for example, do many good things the iPad still can't. But the iPad remains dominant in the sector, the combined competition having taken only a nibble of Apple's market. This is only partly because the global public cleaves to a safe brand. The iPad simply delivers a better user experience.
The business travelling world is split between a growing minority who have abandoned their laptops for iPads (yes, and the others too) and the majority who still don't get on with tablets. My Aussie friend Mike brought the iPad his kids got him for Christmas on a trip to the UK and was cursing it by the time he got to Heathrow. Apple's refusal to give the iPad a USB port so you can move documents to and from the device without emailing them to yourself was his main beef.
But Mike's iPad scepticism is equally explained by him being a Luddite. Oh, and he got talking on the trip to a guy from Microsoft who told him the whole tablet furore is going to be a flash in the pan — I wouldn't discount that, but I wouldn't bet on it.
So, to the question being discussed in airport lounges around the world: what are the best iPad apps for the non-Luddite business traveller? For a concise list, I went to Jerry Ranger, founder of the UK's powertraveller.com, the most evangelical iPad business user I know. (Jerry's company has a range of ways of keeping your iPad and everything else full of life en voyage.)
His iPad currently runs the following apps: iBooks to view PDF files; iThoughts HD to design mindmaps; Numbers for Excel spreadsheets; Keynote and Pages to work on PowerPoint and Word files; GoodReader to store and transfer files of any format; WeatherPro HD for weather information; Jumbo as a calculator; RadioBox to listen to Radio 4 anywhere in the world; Convert Any for converting measures; Dropbox, for storing large amounts of data to later view on the iPad; TouchLCD for time zone checking and alarm clock; Collins Phrasebook for language assistance; Viber for free phone calls where there's WiFi; Skype; Penultimate, for freehand drawings, product ideas and notes; Maps; and Notes, for ideas, points to remember, URLs to look at later and so on.
"The iPad has transformed my briefcase," says Jerry. "But I haven't upgraded to the 2 as a built-in camera and a bit faster is great but I do want to wait until you can add a memory stick with files. Now that would truly revolutionise the iPad!"
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