Justifying the iPad Tablet as a Business Expense

A few weeks ago I “had” to justify the purchase of an iPad as a business expense. I’ll admit, rationalizing the purchase of a piece of hardware you haven’t handled, and don’t yet know the apps/capabilities it will have, is not easy.

However, I was able to come up with 10 fairly solid reasons I “need” it for work based on apps I know exist and apps I can reasonably expect to exist very soon:

LogMeIn on the iPad will allow me to exit my sometimes noisy office (for instance, when I need to find a quiet place for a conference call) and still have access to my desktop.
3G will allow me to get work done while on the road, out to lunch, and other situations when I have no wi-fi.
The Wallet or 1Password iPad app will allow me to safely access sensitive information away from my desk. For instance, when I am placing an order on behalf of a client.
At home, the tablet form factor lends itself to a more comfortable, relaxed work style suited to half-work/half-lazy time – creating a presentation while watching movie, for instance. Also, I probably won’t be yelled at for working all the time as the iPad won’t be associated with work.
A dedicated place for task management. When it comes to task management, I am torn between paper and the incredible, feature-rich Mac apps (Omnifocus, Things, The Hit List). Paper is great because it doesn’t get lost in a sea of open window pollution – it sits there on my desk, in plain sight, haunting me. The iPhone apps are great but the screen-size does limit their usefulness to occasional reference and on-the-go additions. By having the Omnifocus iPad app on display at all times, it offers a best of both worlds solution.
Information intake, processing, and storage. Part of being a business owner is staying aware of trends, on top of the latest and greatest in technology, marketing, strategy, and constantly learning. For me, a lot of this takes place on my iPhone, in bed, as I’m falling asleep. I go through my RSS subscriptions, send what appears useful to Instapaper, from there I read through it, and anything worthwhile gets emailed to my inbox for placement in our company wiki the next morning. Inefficient? Very (but it does make me sleepy). With an iPad, this all becomes easier. No longer am I staring at a 5″ x 2.5″ screen (or whatever the dimensions are) which definitely makes reading easier but I fully expect that the additional screen real estate will be leveraged by app developers to make this whole situation easier. For instance, dragging a blog post to a “bin” for Instapaper, email, etc. rather than having to click hold, bring up a menu, select the service I am interested in, etc. A small thing? Yes. But I think we all share the problem of information overload these days and anything that makes sifting through and processing information easier, and faster helps relieve the bottleneck.
By having an iPad and using the apps, I will be in touch with the unique aspects of app design for the iPad making developing our own iPad app that much easier and the end result that much better.
It’s amazing what I remember I didn’t get done but should have – research, sending files, etc. – on the drive to an offsite meeting. Having the iPad there to play last minute catch-up – word processing, presentation tweaks, emailing files, etc. – will be priceless and save precious time over trying to get it done on the iphone. The Dropbox app, which houses all my business files, makes this all possible.
Networking. The iPad has gotten enough buzz and media attention that it’s on most people’s radar. It’s a great conversation piece. When I’m in public using the iPad and someone stops to gawk, it’s inevitable that the conversation will turn to, “What do you do for a living?” at some point.
I just really, really want one… err… it will improve my morale and job satisfaction.

More than anything, after seeing what developers have been able to do with iPhone apps, I am confident that the increased processing power and screen real estate is going to open doors to productivity and business apps I haven’t even imagined. Two days till iPad day (04/03)!!!