The tech world is still buzzing about Apple’s iPad. As user complaints about Wi-Fi issues and news of jailbreaks are released, business users are exploring the potential of the new tablet device that sold 300,000 units at launch.
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iSuppli predicts early adopters and others attracted to the iPad’s unique touchscreen-based user interface will drive iPad sales in 2010. In 2011 and 2012, the firm said, iPad sales will be driven up by a range of factors, including a flood of new applications, improved functionality, and declining prices.
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But what about business adoption? Mike Disabato, a senior analyst at the Burton Group, a division of Gartner, said the iPad is missing some important enterprise functions.
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The iPad is the world’s first literal 100 percent thin client. Look at the size of that device and you can imagine what an enterprise user could do with it. The downside is that it doesn’t multitask, Disabato said. With that much screen real estate, I need to be able to have an IM open, a VPN open, an e-mail open, and work on a document while I am on a phone call. But where is the camera? Where is the webcam so I can do my Skype video call?
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The Future of iPhone OS
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Apple is offering details on iPhone OS 4.0 on Thursday. The new version of Apple’s mobile operating system is expected to include multitasking. The iPad runs on the same operating system as the iPhone. That would allow users to run multiple applications simultaneously on the iPhone, and the iPad when the OS is updated.
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Even if Apple doesn’t offer a camera, if the iPad gets to the multitasking functions with the new OS update and Apple makes the iPad enterprise-class ready where you can encrypt the content, you actually have enough screen real estate there to…