There are many perspectives on the Apple iPad and everyone is still trying figure out if it makes sense. Everyone that is except those that have one.
The bottom line is that for a consumer it only needs to justify itself to that individual. However, a business needs to show that such a device provides some return to the shareholders in the form of new capabilities or improved efficiency.
Tech Republic recently posted a business focused review on one of their blogs. The review is mostly focused on the user as opposed to the IT department but it seems clear that the iPad has very good utility for the user. The latter has always been Apple’s strength.
Lacking in the review were some critical questions that may not keep the users up at night but keep IT staffs wondering. The questions, as with the iPhone, are primarily about security and manageability. Once again, this is not Apple’s strong suit.
The other drawback, which is a strength from the users and consumers perspective, is the Apple ecosystem. This is well documented and I find it hard to believe that Apple is not thinking about this very hard. They need to reach a difficult balance between accessibility and security (an age old IT trade off).
There will be more discussion to come and it will be interesting to watch as the tablet market grows, matures and changes in the coming months.