One important distinction (at least at the time of this post) however is the number of applications available by developers for each tablet. Apple by far has the greatest number of native applications available for the iPad, and therefore most businesses benefit the most by adopting this device as their standard tablet. There are many applications that security professionals can take advantage of to widen the use of their investment in the iPad. Here are just a few suggestions (many of these categories have more than one application available):
- PDF Expert - An excellent PDF viewing and annotation application that allows you to write over a PDF for markups. Perfect for capturing signatures on PDF documents, drawing sketches over existing PDF's etc.
- AudioNote - Extremely useful application for taking notes during meetings or client visits AND recording the conversation at the same time. Best feature is the audio recording is time-stamped with the notes being entered so that during playback you can tap on any word of your notes and the audio is played back from the exact moment you typed that word. Can email or upload notes and audio to your main system. No longer any disagreements as to what was said or promised.
- Photos (included) - Create a photo gallery of your installations and show them to prospective clients during sales meetings. With the built-in camera on the iPad2, it's now easy to shoot and save to your gallery. Application such as SortShots extends the photo viewer built into the iPad and allows you to categorize photos based upon numerous keywords for easy selection (i.e. home theater installs, security installs, corporate vs residential, etc.)
- SpeedTest - Not so much a productivity application as it is a useful utility to check the speed of your wireless connection. Valuable when diagnosing slow access speeds.
- LogMeIn - One of the most popular remote-access applications to view your desktop computer back in the office. Although using remote-access on a tablet is not the best user experience, it provides valuable access when needed to your office systems.
- TomTom - one of a number of GPS mapping applications
- Apple MobileMe - Ever needed to keep track of where your technicians are at any moment? With an Apple MobileMe subscription, one of it's many features is the ability to find the exact location of an iPad (or iPhone) by viewing it on a map. Also allows the disabling and erasing of a devices content if the device is lost or stolen.
- DropBox - Shares files between your office computer and ipad by simply dragging.
