I have to be perfectly honest, I was an iPad skeptic.  I wasn’t skeptical about the device itself – it has the inherent coolness of all the Apple products – but I was skeptical of its usefulness to me and to my business.  I have and heavily use (and adore) my iPhone and I have one of the smallest and lightest full featured notebook computers on the market.  What would be the benefit of adding a new device to the mix?

In the months since the iPad came out, however, I’ve looked at my business and other businesses with a new eye for iPad opportunities.  Frankly, I’ve been surprised at how many I have found.

Retail

A retail establishment could use the iPad instead of a clipboard for inventory.  They could use it instead of a TV and DVD or VCR for product demos.  They could also use it for customer loyalty club sign-ups.  Of course, they’d probably want to bolt it down or tether it for the latter two tasks.

Any industry – Mobile Sales

Wow, any sales person that is out traveling about would find the iPad useful.  The biggest benefit would be the ability to show a customer or client fabulous online demos, videos, etc. with out using a projection device or having an unwieldy computer between them and the prospect.   Once the impressive demo was over the iPad would be great for creating real-time sales orders.

Any industry – Mobile Service Technicians

Cable people, electricians, plumbers, any sort of home maintenance or repair person – these could all use an iPad.  Service orders could be dispatched to the technicals, notes written up, and invoices created.  Service manuals would be available at the flick of a finger.  Estimates could be created and presented to customers on site.  The time lag between service performance and billing would be almost zero.

Medical

Medical histories could be taken, xrays or other test results shown, records updated – all on a small, inconspicuous device the size of a notebook.

Real Estate

What if you were driving a prospective buyer around town and they wanted to see more homes than you prepared for?  In a flash you could search other listings, show the buyer photos and videos, get directions to other homes.  You could do these on a smartphone but the visual experience would be unappealing and a laptop would be large and unwieldy.

Creatives

Designers of all sorts, craftsmen, architects and other creatives could use the iPad as a portable portfolio.  They could also use it to take notes, show design changes and options during customer consultations.

So where does it leave me?  I don’t fall into these categories as a provider of professional services.  Yet I can see using the iPad to show case studies, websites of interests or videos.  I’ve about talked myself into buying an iPad for the ease of doing email and web searching alone.  Consuming content of any sort is the greatest strength of the iPad.  I’ll still want to use my notebook computer for creating content – such as writing blog posts like this.

I still haven’t bought one yet but I think I see an iPad as my year end bonus to myself.  What other ideas for uses of iPad’s in business do you see?