The Adaptive Marketers Review Of The iPad

Okay, I’ve had an iPad for just about three weeks – and it’s time for a quick review from a “marketing guy’s” perspective.   I say that – because this is distinct from a technology review that you might get on Engadget or Gizmodo (a bit more geeky) and a pure “end-user” review like you might see on the New York Times.  As a marketer, and one that is focused on digital marketing, I tend to want to use the iPad for business purposes as well as recreational.  At least that’s the story I’m sticking with because my wife reads this blog too.

I’m also going to spare you all the details (sizes, data plans, costs, dimensions etc..) as I’ll assume you’ve seen all of that by now.  If you haven’t – check here.

Okay, with all that said – here are my thoughts:

It’s Not Just A Big iPod Touch

Despite what some will say, I don’t find this to be true at all.  I have both devices and the iPad is definitely different.   The screen size is, of course, the biggest differentiator, but it definitely “feels” different than an iPod Touch.  You definitely want to interact much more with an iPad than with the Touch.   I found myself seeking out apps where interactivity was part of the process (e.g. Twitter, Pandora etc.).

Books Are Awesome

Also, the iBooks app is just really nice – and makes reading books just a pleasure.  This will definitely replace my Kindle – and I do not have the same gripes as some have had about the Kindle App.   My experience was really seamless.  It doesn’t have all the fancy page turning and other features – but then again the iBooks store is still pretty bare.  So, until the book store has more in it, I’ll still be utilizing the Amazon Book store for Kindle Books for some time.

Email Management Sucks

So, if you’re thinking about the iPad, primarily for a way to manage your email on a portable device I’d think twice.  This is especially true if you have more than one email account.  The interface for checking and managing email is not wonderful, and you’re doing a lot of pointing and pressing to manage your email.  They promise to fix this with a unified inbox in the next rev of the OS and I may change my mind then.  But until then, I just don’t need yet another place to delete and manage inboxes – so I ended up deleting all but one account from it.  The reason I kept one is because some of the apps (like Penultimate) allow you to email yourself notes and other assets – and you need at least one account activated in order to do that.

Wireless Is As Janky As Reported

I can definitely confirm the Wireless issues that have been widely reported – but they’re only a minor annoyance.   I find that if I’ve set the iPad down for any length of time (enough time for it to go to sleep) about 40% of the time when I pick it back up – I have to turn off my wireless, and renew my connection in order for it to work.  Note:  I changed my wireless settings from a “mixed” network to a “b only” network and that seems to have alleviated some (but not all) of this.    Also, for whatever reason, every single time I come back from sleep mode (e.g. every new session) the iTunes store wants me to log back in.  While (I guess) this is a nice security feature – it gets slightly annoying.

Some Interesting Business Apps – But Still Early

There are some very interesting business apps including Analytics HD – which brings in Google Analytics to the iPad.  I haven’t really had need for this yet – but it does seem like it could be really cool.   The SalesForce mobile app is as good as the previous version for the iPhone, but the choices of Social Networking apps are surprisingly limited.  For example, TweetDeck and Twitterific are really the only two apps (that I recognize anyway) for managing your Twitter stream.  And I’ve never been a big fan of Tweetdeck.    Hootsuite has the iPhone app only, as does Tweetie.   That brings us to this…..

iPhone Apps Look Like Crap

I’ve downloaded a few of the apps I was using on the iPod touch – and maybe there’s a couple that look better – but most of them do not look great.  And, because of the larger screen – there’s  a different navigation paradigm that apps developed specifically for the iPad can take advantage of – which makes switching to an iPhone app hard.  I’ve gotten to the point now where if it’s not available as an iPad app – I don’t bother with it.   If you’re thinking of getting an iPad to take advantage of the bigger screen for all those iPhone apps you love – you should definitely check to see that they have equivalents.

Web Surfing Rocks

Maybe my most favorite aspect of this is just being able to Surf the web and go to my favorite blogs, web sites, and be able to do my normal business – in a much different way.  It definitely feels much more mobile than a netbook or laptop.

And, the Google Apps just rock on the iPad.   It’s a great way to stay connected.

Summing Up

So, overall – I’m loving it – and would highly recommend it.  I’m just starting to utilize it to replace my “pen and paper” notebook – and I’m trying out a few apps for that.  My hope is to become more organized in my note taking….    I’ve been playing with A LOT of apps – and here are my favorites right now:

• Maps (comes with) and it’s really nice.  Even without a GPS system – it’s amazingly accurate.
• New York Times (Editors Choice). Even though it’s just a few stories – it’s great.
• USAToday – really nice app for catching up on the news.
• Instapaper – for turning a bunch of feeds into offline content.  A Great way to catch up.
• Kindle – a must have if you have a whole bunch of books you want to transfer – and the iBooks library is still a bit wanting
• Netflix – streaming movies on your iPad – oh yeah – nuff said.
• Pandora – love Pandora for music.
• Pages – I’m trying out all the Apple office products one at a time – Keynote is next.
• Penultimate – I love this for taking notes.  I bought the Pen that allows you to use the iPad as a sketch pad.  It’s great.
• Dragon Dictation – it really does work and makes for a great way to make quick voice notes to yourself..
• Twitterific – For now it’s my Twitter application on the iPad.  I don’t love it – but it’s the best I’ve found so far.

Hope that’s helpful for you.

What about you – what’s your experience so far with the iPad?