The Apple iPad should finally have been released outside the US by the time you read this. So could it be of any use to business travellers?
At first thought, the iPad seems to be wholly an entertainment device for the home. It's not impossible, even for non-US residents, who have had to wait several months for the device's global launch, to see the attraction of a slim, sleek oblong of internet — or several such oblongs — that can be left on coffee tables, breakfast bars or bedside tables.
Idly picking up an iPad for a quick reference to something on the internet, to order some goods online or to send a swift email may even be seen by some as more conducive to happy domestic relationships than the unfolding of a laptop in a living room or bedroom. The book-like form of a laptop makes it quite isolating for anyone whose face is not behind it. Referring to an iPad may, then, be perceived as less antisocial.
I have to say, though, that I have yet to understand how an individual or a couple would watch a film or BBC iPlayer content with an iPad, although this may simply be because thus far I've only played briefly with other people's, brought over from the States. A laptop may be a work machine designed for typing, but it is oddly well shaped for passively viewing stuff on the screen.
The iPad as a business traveller's computer, though? How might that work? Wasn't the need for a cut-down, light travel computer amply met by the netbook? The answer has to be not wholly, as there's already great interest in the US in using the iPad for business, supplementing its limited memory by utilising web-based services for storage and leaving the laptop at home.
I do wonder if Apple really envisaged road warriors taking to its new baby as quickly as some have. Maybe it did and somehow manipulated the appearance in the media — suspiciously soon after the iPad's US launch — of the Norwegian prime minister, Jens Stoltenberg, apparently running Norway with his iPad at JFK airport as he was waiting for a flight?
But, possible stunts aside, this is a serious new on-road business option. As one blogger wrote weeks after the launch: "Will never need to open my MacBook Pro in a hotel room or on the road again. Try it before you criticise it. It's easy to use and makes reading/surfing a real pleasure. Written on my iPad."
"Moves the laptop into desktop position... this is the computer you'll take on business trips," wrote another. "Seems like an ideal way to view technical datasheets and research papers which I presently have stored in PDF format on the computer." (He's absolutely right. My first observation of this new genre of gadget is that as a document, magazine, newspaper and book reader, it's absolutely superb. Many newspapers, knowing this, are planning for iPad editions to become a huge new market, perhaps even substantially increasing readership.)
A third enthusiast: "I doubt I'll ever open a laptop on a plane again... I am easily able to type 50 words per minute on the large virtual keyboard. A physical keyboard is a nice add-on when I'm in my office or hotel room, but it works just fine without it, too."
A lot of techie commentators who dismissed the iPad as a toy changed their minds within days of its release, following the appearance of a clutch of businessy iPad apps. One that has caused excitement is a $15 app called OmniGraphSketcher that enables you to finger-sketch colourful and content-packed graphs.
The iPad is significantly lighter at 1.5 pounds than even most netbooks. For the first year or more of its life, it will have a huge cool factor, and it is genuinely fun to use it in presentations. The 3G-connected version, when it comes later in the year, will remove one of the problems of emailing on iPhones and BlackBerrys - the fact that the print is too small to read comfortably.
As for the new device's price, which could be up to triple that of the average netbook — while this may be a problem for students, you can't help feeling that business travellers will somehow find a way.
For more information visit apple.com/uk/ipad
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