Just a note: I'm not an Apple "fanboy." I just
thought I'd give my two cents on iPads. That being said, let's get to to the
post.
If you've ever
used an iPad, chances are pretty good you most likely like it. They're
beautiful devices that serve their purpose which is exactly what you want in a consumer-based item.
They're great for games/apps, movie-watching and other media, but let me ask an
important question: who has time to do that all
day long? Surely most "average joes" certainly don't; we work (or
go to school), some have families while others just get bored of watching movie after movie
after movie. Let's look at a few reasons why they're not the best devices to
use in your enterprise (encompassing governments, schools and retail/corporate
environments).
Durability:
These devices aren’t the most durable items in the world. Being made of glass,
something falls on it and it’s most likely going to get broken. There goes (for
a bare-minimum iPad) at the very least $500 USD. That’s a hefty chuck of change
and I don’t think that your IT department is going to like having to shell out
that money for a new one. This brings me to my next point.
Serviceability: Unless you’re a trained Apple technician, you probably won’t have
the ability to fix them in-house (especially if you are managing hundreds of
them), let alone the time. Two options at this point: buy a new one (expensive)
or send it to Apple to be repaired (also expensive). In reality, most
enterprise environments have some sort of IT department. Chances are that they
aren’t working for free or out of the kindness of their hearts. Who wants to
pay an in-house technician and Apple
to fix your devices? That’s pretty much paying for the same thing twice and,
last time I had heard, the point of a business was to make money.
Manageability: iPads aren’t the easiest things to manage. They’re not like PC’s
where, when something goes wrong, it’s pretty easy to fix. Let’s face it folks:
Apple devices most certainly do fail,
despite what Apple tells their customers. There really is only Apple’s software
(Configurator, I believe) to mass-deploy them. Apple lets very few others, if
any, control their devices because they want your money. And to even use the
Configurator, I believe that you need a Mac (correct me if I’m wrong,
please). Ask yourself: do you really want to be that limited?
So in retrospect, why should businesses buy iPads? I really can’t
think of any good, solid, concrete reasons. You’re paying a boatload of money
to buy the device, then to mass-deploy them, then to repair them when the
inevitable happens. iPads (and Macs, for that matter) are made from the same
parts as Windows- and Linux-based devices, so they ultimately will fail and
that’s something you need to count on. Seriously, everything’s all hunkey-dorey
when they work, but a huge part of any massive investment is knowing how to
keep it going for years and years to come. No CEO is going to authorize the
purchase of 10,000 iPads with the hopes that everything will just work forever.
That’s a whopping $5,000,000! That’s more than a lot of IT departments’ entire
budget! Who wants to shell out everything they have with no backup plan?!
Certainly not me.
That’s just my two cents on Apple devices with the main focus
being put on the iPad. If I think of more, I'll post it later, but now I'm hungry (and my head hurts from listening to the Dropkick Murphys on full bass and high volume. Great band, by the way, just very loud!)
Enjoy your weekend!
