The Apple iPad’s Impact on Business and Markets

When the iPad was first introduced I was skeptical. Don’t get me wrong, I could see its potential, but it was still such a new idea that I wasn’t sure how it would catch on…especially as a business device. StudioNorth got one right away, we were part of the pre-order and got it as soon as the first batch shipped. After several months I can say with complete confidence that they have their place,posted to WP.com: The Apple iPad’s Impact on Business and Markets both at home and in business. StudioNorth now has three employees that use them daily, and I’ve even gotten one for my mom to use at home. We’ve created apps and websites for the device, used them for testing. It’s definitely changed the way we work and meet.

Impacting Markets

You might be aware of this but the iPad has already begun to disrupt many markets. Some big like the netbook market which has already been relegated to “niche”, and some small like the comic book market. The device is a game changer so if you’re not paying attention it’s time to start. As I mentioned before it’s impacting smallish markets in a big way, like the digital comic industry as posted in CNN under iPad boosts appeal of digital comics.

Industry observers say the iPad’s size, portability and color screen make it a good fit for reading comics. Before the tablet computer launched in April, fans could read digital comics in several ways, neither of which were ideal: on a desktop or laptop computer, or via a smartphone’s tiny screen, panel by panel. As for e-readers, which are primarily made for black-and-white text — forget it.

“The iPad is much better suited for comics, and on that platform, comics are expanding very rapidly,” said Milton Griepp, president and publisher of the trend-watching magazine, ICv2, which reported sales of between $500,000 and $1 million in digital comic sales on mobile apps in 2009.

It’s also impacting the way we consume our social networks. I’m a pretty avid social network user and the iPad apps Flipboard and Pulse have radically changed the way I consume the information. Flipboard goes so far as to allow me to read Twitter like I would read a magazine. It loads my followers as “contributors”, and pull the links they tweet into articles ready to read right inside the app. Innovation to the extreme. (See First look at “revolutionary” social news iPad app: Flipboard for more)

There are countless other examples of this ranging from casual gaming to keeping track of daily tasks. So with that being said, let’s get to why any of this really matters anyway.

Business Impact

Recently I had a CIO I know email me asking for help. His boss had purchased an iPad and he was so enamored by it that he wanted to do away with his laptop all together. The CIO was asking for my insight on how to convince his boss otherwise. You see an iPad is really great for content consumption, and OK for light content creation, but for heavy content creation it takes a laptop. Business leaders, as it turns out, tend to create a lot of content.

We had lunch and I shared some insights and he listened while he ate. He’s a smart guy whom I respect a lot so I was feeling kind of self-conscience about how much I was talking and that my plate was still untouched when his meal was already finished. When I had exhausted most of my knowledge I asked him a question. I said, “So what do you think IT needs to do about all these new devices and social networks that employees are bringing to the workplace? How will IT control company information and employee productivity?” and I began to eat furiously. This was my “give me some time to eat” question. This was a question I had heard in countless IT leadership round tables on which I’ve participated over the past few years. It seemed every IT Director and CIO in Chicagoland was trying to figure out what to do about the rogue iPhone employees and the “all throughout the day” Facebook users. They always ended with the same solution, create a company policy against usage…which we all know is like trying to tell a millennial to cut their hands off. What this CIO sitting across from me said next rocked my mind. He was so it was so right on – he said,

“You know Andy, in 3-5 years I don’t think IT will provision any devices to employees. None at all. Employees will be responsible for purchasing their own phones, devices, laptops, tablets, etc. They will bring them to IT and IT will enable their access levels appropriately. My responsibility, he said, will be to keep the information safe on the company side of the firewall. That’s it.”

And there it was. Plain as day. The proverbial “Ah-Ha” moment. The entire technology industry has already shifted right under our very noses. How? The enterprise used to drive the technology industry. People used what IT gave them. IT locked things down to keep the company, and the employees, safe and secure. Now things are different. The consumer is driving technology, not the enterprise. Now the market cap swap between AAPL and MSFT makes all the sense in the world.

Andy leads the interactive offerings and staff engineers at StudioNorth. He consults with clients on strategic technology direction and personally oversees the key phases of the iterative development cycle for many large technology projects. Whether for public web sites, private extranets, or custom applications, Andy uses his rich experience to provide results-driven solutions to our clients. He’s known for being a visionary and for coining the phrase, “conservative wow” in reference to StudioNorth’s ability to create high-impact projects for some of our more conventional audiences. If you want to bring your brand beyond “2.0″, Andy is your connection.

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