Apple iPad is a serious device for small business owners, entrepreneurs and startups, owing to the built-in tools and services available on the latest iOS, the iCloud, available small business applications, and real mobility.
I am a small business owner myself, working on my latest startup Ogoing, the fastest growing small business social network (which you can access from your iPad browser). I have been using the iPad since 2010 for both my small business and personal needs. Here are the ten benefits of using the iPad for my small business:
1. Communicating. I have connected both my company emails, and also my personal email through the iPad. iPad allows you to choose several default email providers such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL, Exchange, etc. If you have a company email like me, you can setup by going to Other email. It just takes five minutes to setup your email. Once setup, using emails on the iPad is an absolute delight! It is very easy to send and receive emails, copy and paste images from your iPad, documents or web, and communicate with your contacts just about anywhere! I use emails for my business needs by sending product bug reports using the snapshot feature (just hold down the Power switch and Home button at the same time), getting status on the latest release, sharing important tasks and follow up action items, non-profit business board meetings, marketing my small business, answering support questions from customers, and staying in touch with my family and friends (on my personal email)! It is as easy as 1-2-3 to take a photograph on your iPad 2 or the New iPad, and email that photo to your friends and family directly from the Photo app. You can also share that photo as an iMessage or attach it to your Twitter or social networks update (including Ogoing). iPad email is a critical communication tool for every small business owner!
2. Note taking. Thanks to the iPad, I see myself taking more notes at meetings and conferences, adding more interesting information to review and follow up, jotting down inspiring ideas as they happen, copying and sharing quotes of famous people, writing down past experiences, and even noting things that I may otherwise forget. I love the built-in iPad Notes notes taker which allows you to type notes using the virtual keyboard, and I use it quite frequently. You can write notes in both portrait or landscape mode (I prefer the landscape mode since it allows you to have the keyboard spread out across the whole screen). I also use the small business apps Notability and Penultimate where you can write notes in your own handwriting, and even add photos and cool things to your notes. For instance, I have used Notability to take a screen shot of a product feature, and added my comments to that. And all I have to do next is email that as a PDF doc to my team. It is that easy to take notes, annotate, and share notes with your team or family. Sometimes, I have taken notes while in a meeting about a personal matter that I suddenly thought of. Has the iPad made me smarter and more organized? Definitely (to the more organized part) :) And the new iCloud allows me to share my notes with all my linked iOS devices! No more forgetting where you made that note... It's everywhere!
3. Reading. The iPad contains the addictive iBooks reader for browsing eBooks, articles, PDFs. The latest iBooks reader is interactive! Not only can you read static books, but also experience books that are engaging and interactive with multi-touch! Some of the latest eBooks have immersing simulations, beautiful videos, detailed photos, and even built-in quizzes and tests (for those using eBooks for education). Am I reading more due to my iPad? Absolutely. I have pretty much stopped reading regular newspapers, books and periodicals (except when I am visiting doctors' offices). The readability of the text on the iBooks reader is visually appealing (retina display), and perhaps creates more memory retention. The next time you get an email attachment that is a PDF file, just open it with the iBooks reader (instead of reading it within your email). You will see the difference. Another benefit: By opening this email document in the iBooks reader, you automatically add it to your collection of PDFs. And you can quickly build a selection of PDF documents that you can read later, anytime. When you read eBooks that you buy or download from the iTunes iBookstore (over 700,000 eBooks), you get more features such as highlighting, note taking, sharing, bookmarking, search, dictionary and even voiceover (have the iPad read that book to you). Did you know that the iCloud allows you to share all your eBooks to all your linked iOS devices such as iPhone, iPod touch, and the Macs? So if you buy your new eBook on the iPad, you can read it later on your iPhone as well!
4. Browsing. Whether you have the iPad with 3G or 4G LTE, or just Wi-Fi, you can browse the Internet everywhere using the built-in Safari browser. You can browse any website. One thing I noticed that on the latest iPad, the websites appear visually striking and amazing! Everything appears so clear and concise! It's like you are practically there at the website! Thanks to the retina display, the websites with photos and videos appear dramatically better! What that means is that you enjoy browsing various websites for your work, research and education. Searching and finding that useful nugget of information online is no longer a chore, rather a delight on your new iPad. There is a Reader icon that allows you to simply read the article as is without anything else! The browser is fast, has multiple tabs, remembers your seven day history, and makes pages built for the regular website appear great! Safari browser allows you add bookmarks, add websites to your reading list, add shortcuts to websites on your home screen, email a link to the current page you are browsing, and even Tweet and Print your web page (through AirPrint). What I do often though is copy and paste something I love from a website to my iPad Notes, and then review this later! If you like a photo on a website, you can simply press it down a bit longer, and the iPad allows you to save this photo to your Photos album or copy it! The iCloud allows you to share your Reading list and bookmarks to your linked iOS devices. No more fumbling around and thinking hard about that site that you saw earlier in the day.
5. Writing. The iPad is not just for reading. It is fast becoming a useful tool for writing and creating new documents. There are many apps available for writing and editing documents, presentations, spreadsheets and more! Apple provides its own suite of applications for these called Pages, Keynote and Numbers respectively (which you can purchase from the App store). I have been using Pages on my iPad. First thing I noticed is how easy it is to use Pages! It has the essential features of a word processor, but removes the complexities that you don't need. And Pages launches super fast! Using Pages, I can create great looking documents with visuals, media, tables, charts, shapes and more, open and edit Microsoft Office Word documents, and email my documents in Pages format, Word format or PDF format. I can also print my Pages documents using AirPrint, share documents using iWork.com, iTunes, iDisk and WebDAV. If you have the iCloud enabled, all the documents are automatically backed up on the cloud, and available for use anytime, and any linked iOS device! If you are planning to write serious documents, I recommend buying an external wireless keyboard for your iPad. In essence, the iPad can become your document writer! I bought the keyboard which puts the iPad in Portrait mode for typing, on the built-in stand. So do you really need a separate laptop or desktop for your small business? Perhaps not!
6. Seeing. Video is everywhere! Websites, YouTube, Hulu, Facebook, and even eBooks! But that is the video you watch on your iPad. This works great on the iPad! However, the iPad 2 and the New iPad have built-in FaceTime Video calling. Now you can show yourself to your co-workers, friends, and family, and talk to them live in real-time. Not only can they hear what you are saying, but also see how you are doing! Using FaceTime, you can also share what you see... perhaps you are showing a new office, a potential home for a new buyer, an outdoors shopping center, or the beautiful nature! FaceTime does require a fast WiFi connection, and both you and the participant need to have an Apple ID. So the next time you are communicating with your co-worker, go FaceTime! And see the difference! You might be surprised how much more effective a video call is versus just a phone call. Video calling for your small business can be a serious business tool. The person receiving the video does not need to have an iPad. They can be on an iPhone, iPod touch with Video, or a Mac. Video calling is great for family use also. Share you and your family with your parents, grand parents, relatives who are far away, or friends! iPad with FaceTime Video makes this possible in a heartbeat.
7. Essentials. No small business is complete without essential tools such as Calendar, Reminders, Contacts, and Messages. You know where I am going here. The iPad includes all these tools for your increased productivity. Calendar to keep up and on time with your meetings, appointments, anniversaries, birthdays, conferences: What I particularly like is the alerts that I can setup multiple alerts to help remind me of upcoming appointments. And since I use the iCloud, if I setup a meeting on my iPad, it is automatically available on my iPhone. Same thing with alerts! iPad Reminders ensures that you don't miss out on your To-Dos, Deadlines, Goals and Tasks! It is a very handy tool. I use it remind me of what's important! Contacts is great since on the one hand all my contacts are synchronized across all my iOS devices; on the other hand, Contacts allows me to add vital info to my contacts such as birthdays, websites, nicknames, etc. It is quite easy to search for your Contacts, and when you are emailing someone, you can simply type in a few characters of your contact's name, and it brings up their complete name instantly! But what about messages? The latest iPad on the latest iOS includes free iMessage. Which means, you can fire away your text messages to anyone who owns an iOS 5 product including an iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. Isn't that cool? No more spending money on your texts. I don't text! But now I use iMessage with my family members and with contacts who use iOS products. Can the iMessage be used for groups? Absolutely! You can send messages to multiple contacts at once! Can the iMessage include photos, videos, contacts, locations? Yes! You can attach them with your iMessage. iMessage is really a multimedia messaging tool which can be essential for your small business!
8. Doing. Is there more? If you are a small business in a particular industry, there are many business apps available to help you do business! For instance, Roambi turns your data into secure mobile dashboards and views up-to-the-minute company information. WebEx for iPad takes mobile web conferencing to the next level. It includes real-time two-way group video on iPad. Thus whoever is speaking takes center stage, and everyone stays on the same page! Meetings and Videos, all in one! Do you like to draw floorplans with your fingers? Check out TOTAL. It is a fully customizable field app for appraisers, and makes data gathering and onsite inspections simple. You can map your subject and sync QuickLists to your computer to eliminate redundant note-taking. Need an app for brainstorming and sharing? How about a whiteboarding app that allows you to share ideas with your co-workers by creating diagrams, process charts, website wireframes using easy multi-touch gestures. Check out OmniGraffle! The truth is that for any industry, there is an iPad app available today! Simply go to the App store, and do a search by category or vertical. There are apps available for education (have you heard of this amazing app, Star Walk? If you just point your iPad skyward, it identifies every star, constellation, planet, and satellite you see!),entertainment (I use Netflix, and it works great! On the latest iPad, the movies look incredible), games (I love Temple Run, Need for Speed, Angry Birds), lifestyle, finance, music (check out the GarageBand which is now available on the iPad. I use Pandora to listen to music while I work), networking, news, productivity, sports, travel, and more! If you are a retail business, there are many apps available to take payments from your customers via your iPad.
9. Learning. No, you don't need a university education to use your iPad. However, on your iPad, you can bring the university and professional education to you! iTunes University allows you, the small business owner and entrepreneur, to review and check out specific business classes, lectures, videos and tutorials to help you build and grow your business. If you lack a particular skill, say on "how to be a great boss", there is a whole video series available on the iTunes U. If you want to be a better businessman, there are videos and workshops for free! There is a lot of free, high quality education available for you on contracting, consulting, economics, entrepreneurship, e-commerce, finance, leadership, management, marketing, and much more to access anytime, anywhere, on your schedule! Using the iTunes University, you can become a smarter small business owner today!
10. Portability. The biggest reason I use the iPad though could be its portability. How easy it is to move it around and move around with it, how much lightweight it is, and and how you can carry it practically everywhere! My iPad can be found on my living room sofa, on the dining table, next to the TV, on the bed, on the side table, on the office desk, on the office chair, in my office bag, in the back seat of the car, in the front passenger seat of the car, in my hands, at my customer's office, in the lobby, at the conference, in my customer's hands, in the plane, on the train, you get the picture! The iPad is so portable, it can be found just about anywhere!
Still not convinced that the iPad can become the must-have Small Business device? Give me a shout, and I would be to happy to show you how you can use your new iPad! Best of all, the iPad is very easy to use!
Connect with me on oGoing here using your new or old iPad! Want to learn how Apple innovates? How Steve Jobs made Apple the best innovator? Check out Apple's Innovation Strategy.
Sanjay Dalal
Small Business Entrepreneur
CEO & Founder, oGoing
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