The intended market for the Apple iPad, and just how consumers and business will make use of Apple's latest invention.
What about business...
Now, when it comes to business or education, Apple (or a third party) needs to fill some gaps before the iPad is likely to see wide deployments in the enterprise or in large-scale classroom settings.
The big challenges in either of these types of environments is the need to do mass deployments, enforce security policies, integrate with existing systems and offer options for wide-scale device management as well as for handling security breaches if a device is lost or stolen.
In other words, the things that have kept system admins from fully embracing the iPhone will also hold true for the iPad.
That's the one thing that's been most confusing about the initial burst of information about the iPad.
Apple has been steadily building many of those enterprise-grade deployment, management and security features into the iPhone and iPod touch for the past couple of years. So, the assumption that it can't or won't do so with the iPad seems strange.
And that makes me wonder: Is this potential enterprise-worthy goodness simply not vetted broadly enough yet to announce?
If that's the case, it might make it into a shipping product at launch or via a later update (as happened with the last two iPhone OS releases).
Or it could mean that Apple has an iPad Pro up its sleeve for later introduction, perhaps with additional business features as well as more enterprise-level security and management tools.
One thing's for sure: If the iPhone's growing popularity in the workplace - whether it's officially supported or not - is any indication, you'll be seeing iPads in an office near you soon enough.
NEXT PAGE: ...and education?
Comments
JakeB said: My fellow muppets hey no just kiddingYeah PC people the iPod got a LOT of criticism when it was announced How quickly they forgetSome of you appear to lack the vision to see how this device is going to change our interaction with electronic mediaThe entry model for example is priced the same as a Kindle DX yet has much more functionality So the iPad is an ebook reader books magazines comic books graphic novels professional journals newspapers a music player a TV showmovie viewer in addition to purchase a mail client web browser photo editor notebook Pages presentation device Keynote etcI believe that Steve Jobs has identified a third area between laptops and smartphones one Bill Gates himself recognized but could not exploitIll be lounging on my sofa surfing the web as soon as the second gen comes out
Jenks said: Hoppy I apologise for calling you a muppet but I stand by points that the uninformed attacks you make on a product youve only read about and damned before even touching or seeing or knowing anyone who has seen or touched one standSearch Google for this What people said about the iPod when it was first announcedYou may recognise people like yourself who rushed to laugh at the iPod and how useless and unsuccessful it would be
Procrastinat0r said: I have to agree with hoppy for the most partFor the time being its only going to draw in die hard Apple Fans but with time and upgrades slatespads whatever they will be known as generically are the future Suppose Jobs just wanted to get-in their and put an apple stamp on the idea quick Even if the hardware is lacking vs netbooks and laptops it will soon replace
hoppy said: jenksfirst of all i am not getting into a slagging match with you and if you want to lower yourself to petty name calling then go ahead as it takes a big man to be a keyboard warriorI dont remember a lot of people slagging off the ipod infact most people i know were excited by it myself included hence the reason i bought oneI also didnt slag off the i phone hence the reason i bought oneDo you see what im getting at here both of them were groundbreaking products that served a proper purpose and led the market as a resultBoth were clear in what they did and served a genuine market with genuine competitionGaryIm not Apple bashing and agree with a lot of your comments and bear in mind i own an ipod and iphoneI genuinely think there is no market for this product and it will be a total lemonDo you seriously think this is a quality product fella
Cyteck said: I personally think that if you try hard to examine the IT industry and the computer consumer market for electronic products Apple are NOT the first to try and bring a slate type of computer product to the mass market and non of these products have taken off in a big way Based on this tract record I personally think that the iPad will probably remain a pretty much niche product all be it quite a successful one However I do think the first version iPad may not do as well as second or third or forth editions I do think some of the iPad feature look a wee bit odd such as the sheer screen real estate that the touch sensitive keyboard takes up ie 50 of the screen this puts me off quite a lot thats a negative for me personally Other negatives are things like the difficulty of file formats amp file transfers to other computers or other devices is made pretty difficult by the iPad but if this were to be changed in future I do think it could be much more appealing
Garry said: You might not be a muppet Hoppy but damning products when you havent tried it is pretty childish dont you thinkKissing Apple whatever they turn out is just as dumb as sniggering at everything they do You have to admit that they proved everyone wrong with the iPod and iPhone - and Windows 7 wouldnt be what it is without Mac OS XSo wait till you try out an iPad before po-pooing it
Jenks said: Ha Ha HoppyIt will go down like a lead balloon and in 10yrs time the people that actually bought one will cringe at buying into Steve Jobbs hype sicLook back at what people said about the iPod - exactly the same guff you spew out now with absolutely no experience of the productEnd result 250000000 iPods soldMuppet
hoppy said: JenksI can say it quite easily mate as you dont have to have tried something to know its a lemonIve never driven a sinclair c5 but i know its crapCommon sense and a look at its specs tells you its a non starter and will only further confuse the market from its lack of identity and performanceIf you are happy with an overpriced oversized i phone that wont fit in your pocketwont replace the laptop and wont support flash based web sites then you need helpIm sure there are Apple die hards who will buy it but they are the same people that would buy a c5 if you put an apple badge on itIt doesnt have a keyboard but it has an optional docking keyboard So why would i want to swap it for my laptopSo why would i want to swap for my notebook It will go down like a lead balloon and in 10yrs time the people that actually bought one will cringe at buying into Steve Jobbs hype
Carl said: JenksSorry I cant see a use for it myself either Not Mac bashing - just cant see a use for it To me its like owning a car and someone expecting me to use a golf cart instead
Robbin Kaye said: I have a newspaper subscription which is costing me almost 300 a year once the bugs are ironed out I believe that the IPad will replace this for less than 2yrs SubsNewspapers WatchoutRobbin
Jenks said: HoppyHow can you say that when you havent even seen one let alone tried one out
hoppy said: this has to be the most useless product i have ever seen and surely even the Apple die hards will have to admit that their god Mr Jobs has lost the plot and the ability to wear a beltA product with no clear identity poor performance and limited features is not going to appeal to most peopleIt looks like Jobs was trying to invent a market that doesnt exist and its hardly enhanced Apples reputation as Jobs once said about Microsoft i just think they make really 3rd rate programs i can hear pots shouting at kettles just nowMy computer desk is a bit wobbly so i can think of one use for it