Are Tablets for Real in Corporate America?
February 23, 2011
– Comments (3) |
RELATED TICKERS: ARMH
, NVDA
The market crushed NVDA and ARMH today. It would seem that the love affair with tablets might be a bit overdone. Barron's Tiernan Ray says that the situation is "comical" and that there will be an "epic glut" later this year.
In my workplace, many coworkers are bringing iPads to meetings and replacing their laptops. My customers, often travelling sales people, are addicted to them. The promise is big - lightweight, easy to use, everything at your fingertips, movies, games...
It woud seem that the promise is unstoppable. But I think I might be on the side of Tiernan Gray.
Productivity isn't getting any better, in fact, its worse. Every meeting I am in with an iPad user is just like 3 years ago when everyone started getting the iPhone. Its a cool gadget, but it just doesn't compare to the compact laptop.
A couple of key productivity issues:
1) Taking notes - iPad doesn't do well here, but some of my collegues have the stylus app. That's kinda cool as it replaces your paper notebook. Then again, I can just type the notes into my laptop.
2) Lightweight - Smart phones rule this aspect of checking email. You can't put the iPad in your pocket.
3) All-in-one - this is where tablets can fail. No phone calls (why not bluetooth!). It doesn't replace any of the other gadgets you have except for the laptop. The laptop is an office on the road. The iPad is not.
Final point - Tablets have a huge promise in Corporate America. But it's got to increase productivity. RIM created a huge leap in productivity. Can Tablets do the same? I really think so, but the current technology and foreseeable future doesn't look good.
-- HPEGuy
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