Well, I took the plunge and bought an iPad. And when I say I bought it, I should be more honest … work paid. Which is a bit of an experiment and a bit of a risk, as I persuaded my bosses I should trade in my expensive-needing-to-be-replaced, all-in-one laptop in return for the dual combination of cheap(er) desktop and a shiny iPad.
I reasoned thusly … the laptop was under-specced for the office (as it crashes regularly when accessing our CRM database and InDesign publishing package, often grinding to a complete standstill) and over-specced for out of the office (when I usually only want to check email, calendar, web and view/light-edit documents). Better, then, to have a stable desktop PC and a mobile iPad. They bought it. Literally.
So far, I’m pretty impressed. The keypad is easy to use right from the start (not sure I would ever be able to master enough digital dexterity get used to the teeny-tiny iPhone keypad: I’m sticking with my BlackBerry). And for only a handful of pounds I’ve been able to download more than enough apps to be able to sync and edit my work files. With luck, I may even find them again.
Anyway, as I spent most of this eveing taking a crash-course in iPad geekery, here’s some link-love for those sites which I found most helpful as I discovered how best to translate an overpriced etcher-sketch for kidultz into a bona fide, indispensable executive work-tool …
- iPad for Business on DesignerMark’s blog;
- 30 Useful iPad Apps for Business & Presentation at Hongkiat.com;
- Best-Selling Business Apps for the iPad at Bloomberg Businessweek;
- iPad for Business: What I Learned on Day 1 and My iPad for Business 1 Month Update by Jeffrey L. Cohen on Social Media B2B;
- 10 iPad business apps worth loading on TechRepublic’s 10 things; and
- 6 Best iPad Apps for Business Users by Christina Warren on Mashable / Business.
And here’s the result of my searching, scouring, syncing …
12 apps to supplement my iPad’s existing tools. And once my employers have finally (oh god, finally) ditched IBM’s hideous LotusNotes in favour of lovely Microsoft Office I should be able easily to access my work email and calendars as well. At which point my geek-cup truly will runneth over.
Next stop to investigate UK Fundraising’s list of apps for charities …
New post: Training my iPad for work – here's where I've got to … http://bit.ly/ckobFq