

The iPad: It's about control systems, not eBook reading - cubicle67
http://lr.posterous.com/the-ipad-its-about-control-systems-not-ebook

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mstevens
I can believe the iPad will do well in this market, but I don't believe apple
gave it more than a tiny amount of thought when designing the thing.

Apple are all about mass consumer markets, it'd be totally out of character
for them to design a system for home automation, or even doctor's offices.

Not that they won't be happy that it'll do well there, but it'll be a pleasant
side effect rather than a goal.

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glhaynes
Yep. I remember a few years back seeing Jobs compare Apple to Chrysler (I
think?) in this respect... something along the lines of: Chrysler makes
minivans for families. They happen to also be really good for businesses that
need to shuttle executives around, and Chrysler is happy to sell to them, but
that's not who Chrysler is thinking about when they design them.

This was obviously a few years ago. :)

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jsz0
It's an interesting idea but I don't see how that would work. Apple is not an
OEM -- you can't call them up and easily order 50,000 iPads to integrate into
your own offerings. You would have no idea when a new iPad is coming out and
what features it may have. The iPhone/iPad platform aren't super manageable.
This is something I'm sure Apple will be working on but right now the idea of
a hospital using the iPad in any large deployment would be really difficult.
You can't even do something as simple as centralized LDAP authentication from
an iPad. As far as I know there's no way to push applications to an iPad or
remotely upgrade it's firmware or all these other small things you would have
to consider. A dumber tablet makes more sense for something like home
automation or control panels for other integrated systems. They might be more
expensive right now but the iPad will definitely drive prices of large
touchscreen tablets down. So if you were building something like a home
automation system would you build an iPad app for it? Sure. Would you design
your entire platform around relying on the iPad? Absolutely not.

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DougBTX
<http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/enterprise/>

And in particular the iPhone Configuration Utility:
<http://support.apple.com/kb/DL926>

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nw
This much seems clear: the iPad will change how mobile workers work. Cops,
postal workers, meter readers, field technicians & scientists, doctors, you
name it.

Furthermore, it will disrupt numerous markets: portable DVD players, GPS
units, PDAs, laptops, industry-specific bespoke mobile platforms (what is that
thingy the UPS guy uses?), control systems, newspapers, magazines, you get the
idea. Anything less would not be worth Apple's time.

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WalterGR
> This much seems clear: the iPad will change how mobile workers work. Cops,
> postal workers, meter readers, field technicians & scientists, doctors, you
> name it.

I'm afraid I haven't been paying attention: is there a brief, cogent argument
for why the iPad will do this whereas the Tablet PC form factor did not?

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stcredzero
I've been using a tablet for a few months now. (HP tc1100, which many feel is
on a par with Apple industrial-design wise, though of a slightly different
philosophy.)

I think styluses are for geeks only. Using handwriting recognition and
gestures is _like_ writing on paper, only it's not really. It's also like
using your desktop PC, but not really. Geeks like us can learn these new
conventions and have fun coping with a stylus. To most people it's a terrible
pain in the *ss.

Taking up a pen tablet also involves taking up the stylus. That's 100% more
overhead than something like the iPad. A paper reference book can be looked
at, browsed, indexed, flipped through just by putting your hands on it.
Install software to allow that on a pen tablet, and you still have to pick up
that stylus in addition to going to the tablet.

In short, it's more immediate. It's immediate enough to reach a mainstream
audience. Pen tablets were not.

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liquidben
Reviewing the discussion here, I think his important point is being missed:
Due to the supply chain Apple has built through iPod then iPhone/iPod Touch,
the iPad is an extremely cost competitive multitouch interface. In fact it's
so cost competitive that you might want to use it _mounted_. Forget carrying
and maybe even rotating. It's a (relatively) cheap multitouch interface with
great usability and a health programming community breeding future
professionals.

Your heart might be crying out that this is not cool or sexy, and therefore
incompatible with Apple, but it's a very interesting proposal. I can foresee a
potential future where 50% of iPad hardware sold gets nailed down and screwed
in.

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nitrogen
^This.

I sure hope someone comes out with a detachable wall mount+charger for the
iPad.

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maxklein
This is what I believe also. I think the iPad will be useful as a mobile touch
panel for a larger device behind it like a home, factory, machine or internet
based thingy.

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stcredzero
I think something like this will be a mobile touch panel for everything that
will have a computer in it, which will be more and more things as time goes
on.

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WorkerBee
It could be good for both eBooks and control systems.

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davidw
Good read; rather than a hand-wavy "things we haven't imagined yet", he spells
out, with details, something that the iPad would be good for.

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axod
The question is though, why will it be better than all the previous tablet
PCs?

Technically, the iPad is still 'meh'. When it has a holographic display or you
can wear it as a watch with a flip out screen, or control it by thought alone,
then I could understand the hype.

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robotron
I just don't understand why it's supposed to better than anything else already
on the market - tablet or not. Am I just getting old? What makes it Special
besides the brand?

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mortenjorck
HP Compaq Tablet PC Tc4200 vs. iPad

• 1.3" thick vs. 0.5" thick

• 4.6 lbs vs. 1.5 lbs

You could duct-tape three iPads together and you'd have roughly the size and
weight of one Windows Tablet PC. This matters a _lot_ carrying one around a
hospital. And this is to say nothing of the fact that all the exposed ports
and vents on the PC prohibits its use in a number of contexts, while the iPad
could easily be fitted with a sealed silicone case.

• Full desktop OS vs. specialized mobile OS

Yes, Apple's platform is tightly controlled. But if you're building a web-
based application, why not deploy it on a low-maintenance, streamlined device
instead of something with enough complexity to run Crysis while spreading
Conficker in the background?

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gabrielroth
This seems to me like an example of a particular kind of myopia: because the
author has been involved in the control-panel industry, he perceives that
industry to be a more important part of the world than it really is.

 _the touch screen on the iPad is remarkably sensitive. Do you really think
they did that just for gaming?_

Well, no, I think they did it for the user experience of the device as a
whole, but even if it _was_ just for gaming: Videogames take in $10 billion a
year. Crestron and AMX together make about $0.7 billion.

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dangrover
I interviewed at Savant once and got an offer. They seemed like a pretty cool
place, but they were way out on Cape Cod and I figured I'd go insane out
there.

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citrik
It is funny to read an article saying the iPad will be about X, when there are
so many X's out there. The iPad represents the refinement of a platform
(tablets) that has a shot at transcending the models of computing we have had
so far. Just look at where the iPhone is at as a platform now with 3 revisions
under it's glassy screen. The iPad a few generations down the road (30 inch,
Multitasking) will change the computing landscape.

In the 1990's (Thanks Jeron) we were all expecting VR to be the next step away
from the 2D windowed computing environment. For some reason that didn't take
off. At the same time there was a lot of academic hype around the idea of
ubiquitous computing. I think the iPhone/iPod Touch was the first tentative
step into this direction, but without the real estate for effective daily
work. I think the iPad will solve a lot of these issues and therefor go way
beyond anyone's expectations.

