When the iPad was first introduced in 2010, it was hailed as a true game changer for the technology world. In a time when netbooks were the epitome of mobile computing, the iPad brought another, lighter, more aesthetic option for everyone from students to business professionals to take notes, play games and more.
However, four years later, the iPad has grown with its audience and now offers features and functionality that even Steve Jobs may not have seen coming back when the iPad was first released. Here are just two clever professional uses for the iPad today.
A Tool for Musicians and Sound Engineers
With apps like V-Control (first available on the iPad 3) turning Apple’s trademark white tablet into a central command station for the most complex digital audio workstation, there’s little doubt that this mobile computer can achieve great things. V-Control works with multiple audio production suites to allow sound engineers and audio mixers to control fades, auxiliary tracks, panning and more, all in an easy to use and fully functional control interface.
Other apps, like iPad Synth and Guitar Fire, offer aspiring musicians both easily accessed lessons in the craft and a semi-pro level polyphonic synthesizer supporting over 40 instruments. If you’ve ever wanted to take your guitar on the road, the iPad has an app to help it happen.
Other musical opportunities provided by the iPad include:
- An easy to use digital tuner with apps like Cleartune
- Portable digital instruments with apps like DM1 and Garage Band
- The ability to transport thousands of pages of sheet music in a single device
- Apps to help with practice and warm-ups for the vocalist and accompaniment alike
With thousands of apps to help the modern musician, whether at home, recording and mixing a new album or en route to a concert, there’s no doubt that the making sound that sings is one of the best professional uses for any iPad that has the processing power to handle it.
The Ideal Small Business Cash Register
While the iPad offers a plethora of great features for the shoppers of the world from deal-catching apps to up to the minute lists of coupons for top products and retailers, one of the tablet’s most cost-effective uses is actually on the other side of the counter.
Tech Republic reports that small and mid-size businesses are relying on the iPad to serve as a point of sale (POS), or cash register, for their brick and mortar locations; this isn’t only due to the tablet’s innovative apps and features, but also the economics behind it.
At first blush it may seem that an iPad couldn’t possibly be considered and economical choice, with a price tag upwards of $500, but it’s more about the long term cost than the upfront fees. If a traditional cash register suffers from some kind of failure in hardware or software, it takes a contracted specialist familiar with the specific make and model of the unit to get it up and running again, and astronomical costs for the repairs — not including the business lost due to non-functioning equipment.
If an iPad stops working, small business owners can remove it from the stand and carry it into the nearest Apple Store to get it fixed up, and in the meantime a good chunk of employees can offer a temporary replacement from their own personal units.
Using an iPad offers other bonuses as well:
- Limited employee training necessary thanks to the growing use of touch-based smart devices
- Easy system and software updates for the life of the unit
- Variety of apps allow it to be used for other business functions, including tracking inventory and drafting employee schedules
Small business retail solutions like Shopify even design their POS equipment around the assumption that an iPad will serve as the hub, supplying hardware and software that promises to be fully compatible with a variety of iOS apps. Considering the other bonuses having an iPad on-site could offer a small business it should come as no surprise that they’ve become the go-to POS for startups everywhere.
The Sky’s the Limit
An iPad can also be used in digital painting and illustration. BluFAQs reports its use in web development and design, it’s great for writing and journalism, and pretty much any other industry you can think of.
And with CAD apps for engineers and baby monitor apps for daycare centers, there really is no limit to what the iPad can do for small businesses. These two are probably the cleverest uses, or at least the most surprising, to come out of the App Store in recent years, but there’s no telling where the future is heading.
One thing is for sure: the iPad will be the tablet leading the way.
