Discussion 2 – corporate training perspective
I think that there is a market for the IPad in K-12 but I work in the area of corporate training programs and I think that this market is a long way off. One major strike against it is that the IPad is Mac based instead of PC based. This is a disadvantage because the majority of corporations are firmly entrenched with PCs. This means if content is created as part of the training program it won’t translate that well into PC based applications.
I think the other challenge is getting the corporations to fund the IPad. The last companies I worked with actually blocked IPads from their networks. I’m sure this will change but it will take time.
The one application that I can think of for it is some type of remote role play activities for geographically dispersed work teams – making use of the IPad II video features and applications.
Being an adult workplace trainer I don’t have much of an opportunity to use the Ipad in the classroom. However, the more I look into it the more I think there is potential for the future. Some business applications are starting to create mobile versions and making use of the additional interface intelligence of the IPad. Once this gets more advanced it is sure to open more opportunities.
I also just wanted to say that I concur with other posters here. Great Wiki Week 9 Team! I found the Wiki site really easy to follow and informative. I’m an IPad user myself so I’m looking forward to making it through all the material and posts this week.
Posted in: Uncategorized, Week 09: iPad Apps
jenaca 6:13 am on November 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Julie,
I definitely agree with you that changing to iPads will take time, which depends highly on the use of which computer companies are used to: PC or Macs.
i believe the Mac generation is aimed towards younger students, who are mostly trained using
macs, therefore may see a major shift in the future. As for now, most companies are familiar with PC because that’s what they’ve been using for so many years.
I wonder what the shift will look like years from now? PC or Macs?
Jenaca
Julie S 8:54 am on November 2, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
@jenaca – I find your question intriguing – what will be next PCs or MACs? It’s the same question that has been asked since the Mac first came out and focussed so much on the education sector. Exactly your argument – surely the technology of the younger generation will prevail has been used before. But that didn’t happen with the first round of competition for the workplace desktop marketplace and I’m curious to see what will happen next.
The closed architecture of the Mac is part of the reason they haven’t ended up being adopted as well in business. Quite simply there are far fewer applications designed for the Mac because the system is proprietary and therefore it’s more costly to design for. Right now, in Canada anyway, from a mobile application perspetive, the Blackberry has a stronghold over the Iphone. If this were to change then I think we could see a strong impetus for other changes to follow -including the Ipad, including more Mac desktops/laptops.
One thing to think about is the heavy investment in PC infrastructure across so many companies. The cost of transitioning a whole company’s infrastructure from PC to Mac, and the cost of an interim transition of maintaining and providing support for two architectures, and the staff training that would be required. This is surely to prevent a massive transition from happening for a while. Which is not to say it will never happen. I like both platforms for different reasons. Mac is better for design and entertainment and the PC is better for business. Which one is better for learning? Personally, I think Mac wins hands down, particularly with the invention of the IPad and it’s potential. I’m not sure Mac will ever want or need to go into the business specfic market. Interesting thoughts to contemplate.
Jay 5:43 pm on November 1, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Julie,
Thanks for touching on a perspective that we didn’t give all that much attention to; the corporate sector. The fact that so many companies are entrenched in PCs really disadvantages the iPad in moving into this market. The cost and time to make the switch may outweigh the actual benefits if what the iPad has to offer is not that much more than what can be done now current devices.
You mentioned some companies actually blocking iPads from the network. I wonder if this is due to the perception of the iPad as still a media consumption device so companies are trying to discourage iPad network use for gaming, video and music downloads?
As you mentioned, with more businesses creating mobile applications this may open the market and create a shift to the iPad but as other tablet devices compete closely, companies may decide to go with android device to avoid the shift from PC to apple OS.
Julie S 9:03 am on November 2, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
@Jay. Good question – why were they blocking the IPad. I had a chance to ask a bit about this question and in one case the answer was the additional load on the corporate network. IT didn’t want the network to slow down for the business applications. This implies as you suggested, that the employees would be using it for non business purposes. In the second case the IT department wasn’t ready to support these devices. They were testing and doing analysis on them and it would only be a matter of time before they eventually added them to the ‘acceptable and suppported’ device list. I found it interesting that it was even physically possible to blog a connection to the internet based on the type of device.
I think you’re right that the increasing applications for mobility and non traditional interfaces (finger vs. mouse), motion sensing and the like may speed up advances in technologies like Android devices and provide options to the IPad. It sometimes seems to me that the IPad is the only ‘game’ in town because I own one and am so intrigued by it. It will be great if the IPad drives further innovation in the Android market.