Cambridge Council denies iPad plan Cambridge City Council has said press reports that it is planning to buy a batch of Apple iPads are incorrect. The council has issued a statement saying that the touchscreen computers, which were released by Apple in the US just last month, are not being considered as an option in its plan to reduce the volume of paper, …
...that you didn't use the revolting "NuLabour" that I see here all the time.
But what your individual Labour council did is really bugger all to do with anything. I bet there are just as many Tory councils who have chosen to spend money on themselves rather than the ratepayers too.
It would be nice if you could leave your knee-jerk political posturing at home.
I've been telling anyone who'll listen (it's getting boring) that this is the way forward for tablets at work.
They don't need cameras, games, video, Windows 7, flash or 3G connectivity.
They need to be about A5 sized and replace the daybook / notepad that everyone carries around the office.
Seriously, a stylus, document reader, handwriting recognition, a USB socket and maybe a calendar. That's it. Basic, cheap and easy. Use it to sketch out ideas, read and write minutes and then sync it to your office laptop. You'd never lose meeting minutes scribbled on a scrap of paper again.
Hang on, isn't that pretty much a bigger, modernised Palm Pilot? They were brilliant. Somebody will make an app that does the same, but you'll still need nearly a grand's worth of Apple iPad to run it.
I want one! Now who'll build me one..?
iPads would be useless anyway unless they would be prepared to jailbreak it, as any custom apps one might need to use in the running of a council are likely to not be approved unless it has a nice icon that Sir Steve approves of. I don't know if custom apps would be needed, probably not but no doubt they would come up with something.
Want to rig a local election? There's an app for that!
Just not true...
You can develop (or have developed/buy in) and distribute your own app's to apple devices ipod/iphone without necessarily putting the app's on the App Store... Or jailbreaking. Go and Look into the apple developer connection and get back to me when you have a little knowledge on the topic. Thxbye.
Assuming that the iPad is just a big iPhone that is, any secure data kept on an iPad could be stolen in minutes, at least if you had a full operating system on a tablet PC you could run one of the hundreds of proper disk encryption software out there bitlocker/truecrypt/pointsec etc. etc. etc.
No business in their right mind would hold important data on an iAnything (well maybe the iTablet, but only because that's a real computer, if somewhat pretend)
I think it is fair to summarise previous posts as saying something like:
+ small devices that can connect to the web and dedicated services are okay
+ some prefer iPad some prefer others
Yet the humble iPAQ did do very well (add gps realistic gps, route planning, gps logging, ... office compatibility without online-ness (unless one sacrificed a slot and paid a lot more dosh) but I think the public were not too ready or appreciative of such technology at the time.
Who knows?
Multiple calendars synced across devices accessible online with opportunity to publish online on a small(ish) device might just capture decision makers attention.
My own take is that I see no reason for Apple's way of doing things not favouring large organisations such as government and government bodies. Does one really need to employ a person to re-input data for the umpteenth time and then to attempt with greater or lesser degree of success (avoiding double and triplicate entries of the same events?) and making it so unpredictable when there is an easy solution so readily available?
I'd guess that there are good grounds for at least one UK local authority to pilot Mac and Apple way of doing things as doing no other will forever keep them blind to the obvious.
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