The iPad - the ideal device for SAP customers
The perfect device for consumers AND business.
Last week Steve Jobs presented the iPad. The reactions were mixed - I heard a lot of people complain about it: It is closed, you don't have multitasking, you have to go through the App Store, ....
All that is right - if you are looking for a device on which you can open a terminal window to start the GNU C compiler, this is not for you! This is the right type of device for my parents, my 5 year old daughter and for sales men. You may wonder what this people have in common? They are not very experienced with computers (yes, I know, there are sales men who know computers even better than me, but not all of them). I cannot imagine a simpler and more intuitive way of working with a computer - you use your fingers to scroll, switch pages in eBooks and to select the email you want to read. For my daughter it is easy to flip through pictures and for the sales man ... would there be a better way to have the data from your SAP CRM with you?
Yes, there is no multitasking, therefore I think that something like the iPad is the right device for somebody who is only doing one thing with a device. Because if this is primarily used for example for accessing SAP CRM (and maybe for email and calendar) or any other business process, the user does not need to switch between apps very often.
So why have previous tablets failed? Apple didn't invent them (Microsoft did a while ago), but Apple was the first one who did it right! A year ago tablet have been big, fat and heavy - the iPad is exactly the opposite. The hardware is very important and Apple did everything right here. And the OS is a dream - you have great possibilities to create the ultimate user experience for business users - and people who only worked with the SAP GUI or Web DynPro so far will be blown away if they have their SAP content on such a device.
The thing that really surprised me was the price - this thing is very cheap! We from msc mobile just ordered a HP Touchsmart Tablet and that costs more than 1000 US$. This also makes the iPad very attractive for business customers - you save money and you get a better product.
An open question for me is device management and security. As this is based on the iPhone OS, I can imagine that Afaria from Sybase is running on it out of the box. That would be a big plus! In regards to security I would wish that I could do a remote whip without a MobileME account - but as this is not possible, this functionality needs to be built into the applications.
Anyway, we will see how it works once we have one in our own hands - I will get one for myself for sure!
PS: I suggest you read the following blog: http://stevenf.tumblr.com/post/359224392/i-need-to-talk-to-you-about-computers-ive-been - this is the most intelligent blog post about computers and IT I have read in a long time.