I've found this to be a productive setup when using a desktop or notebook workstation. Connected or sitting on a plane, I can get work done. I wondered if I could I also be productive with an Apple iPad. Can it function as a business tool? I decided to give one a try and see if I could leave my laptop at the office. I realize that the iPad is not a laptop, however its small form factor, long battery life and cool interface make it a desirable traveling companion.
I do have a Blue Tooth keyboard to make typing a bit easier, although you can type pretty fast on the screen keyboard once you get used to it. First of all, connecting the iPad to my Exchange account for mail, calendar and contacts was a breeze and works well. The calendar is elegant, I can search the corporate address list, and I like the mail interface. These applications are not integrated as in Outlook, since the iOS is single tasking. You have to switch between applications however tapping on an address in contacts launches mail. I like how an audio notification chimes when ever an email arrives no matter what application you happen to be running.
There are times when I need to access a business application on the corporate network. I found "Jump RDP" which is a decent remote desktop application which lets me connect to a Terminal Server and turn the iPad into a Windows thin client. You can also connect to a PC desktop. It works with the Blue Tooth keyboard and redirects sound to the iPad.
A few months ago, I moved all of my network documents to SharePoint. Someone who responded to one of my earlier blogs, let me know about SharePlus Pro from SouthLabs, an iPad application that lets you access your SharePoint account. This is an excellent tool which also has an offline feature. The drawback is that you need to pre-navigate content which you want to access off line. Version 2.0 of this product, due out any time, will improve the offline capability and allow you to edit documents to be saved back to SharePoint. With SharePlus, you can open documents off the SharePoint server in say Pages for editing. Right now, I just mail the document to myself to save it back to SharePoint when I'm either connected with Jump RDP or when I'm back in the office.
I've not done exhaustive research on all the applications which allow the iPad to function in the enterprise. The tools I have found do enable me to leave my Laptop at the office and still get work down on the road and at the home. I'd like to get an iPad compatible stylus and try our Penultimate for taking notes.
The iPad is a lot of fun to use for entertainment, but I'm sure there are plenty of iPad applications out there that would make the iPad even better as a work tool.
Which ones have you run accross?
