The Apple iPad, Ideal for Event Planners? Maybe!

Today, Apple announced the planned release of its latest revolutionary computing incarnation.  The Apple iPad was unveiled at an exclusive event in San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.  The new device looks similar to an iPhone, only significantly larger and more powerful than its smaller 3G counterpart.  The 3G or Wi-Fi ready iPad features a 1024-by-768-pixel 9.7-inch Led display and a powerful 1Ghz processor. Technical specs aside, let’s take a closer look at the iPad’s features and functionalities to see if this new Apple product could revolutionize event planning.

Portability

One of the primary selling points of the iPad is enhanced portability.  The iPad weighs a paltry 1.5Lbs. Compare that to the MacBook Pro weighing-in at around 6 pounds.  What this means is the iPad could be carried to various events with even greater ease than the lightest of laptops.

3G  & Wi-Fi Functionality

The iPad is Wi-Fi ready and can run on AT&T’s 3G network enabling the user to potentially access the Internet anywhere.  What this means is event planners will be able to replace the bulky notebook computer and 3G SIMM cards with a slim tablet computer.  Furthermore, venue planners will no longer have to fret over a venue’s Wi-Fi connectivity since the 3G Network can be accessed everywhere (provided there is cell service).  The monthly costs for 3G plans will be 15$ a month for 250MB of data transfer or 30$ a month for unlimited data transfer.

Mail

The Mail Application for the iPad can be optimized for events as well.  Planners can compose emails on the go relatively easily.  The iPad’s main benefits are its large screen size and relatively light weight.  Due to the larger screen, when tilted on its side, the keyboard on the iPad is nearly the size of a normal laptop keyboard.  The benefits of this feature are obvious, less typos when writing emails.  The negative of this functionality is venue planners will no longer have excuses for poorly written electronic messages!

Photos

Seeing is believing.  Venue planners can now show clients large HD pictures of different spaces with relative ease.  Users can flip through photos, zoom in, or display a slide show.

Video

High-resolution HD movies and videos can be displayed to clients.  Transitioning the display view from normal to wide screen can be achieved with a “double-tap” on the touch screen.

Maps

The iPad sports an enhanced Map application.  This new app, tailor made for the iPad, can display high-resolution maps showing larger satellite and street view images on a 9.7” screen.  Event planners can also utilize the Map app to search for specific nearby businesses category.  For example, if the venue planner wants to know what hotels are in the neighborhood, he or she can simply input “hotels.”  Once queried, the map will display all hotels in a given region.  With this app, planners can show clients with precision whether or not a specific locale is in a central and convenient location.

Notes

With the larger keyboard, the iPad Notes app can make on-site note taking a much easier task.  In the widescreen landscape mode, you can see a list of all of your previous notes.

Calendar

The Calendar App for the iPad makes viewing your digital calendar quite intuitive.  Planners can view an enlarged, color-coordinated calendar.  Planners can create multiple calendars to delineate between schedules.

The iPad’s features and applications will likely prove quite useful for Event Planners that are constantly on the go.  All of the aforementioned apps will be preinstalled on the iPad (not dissimilar to the app package that comes with the iPhone).  Fortunately these apps are simply a drop in the bucket when compared with the app capabilities for the iPad.  Most of the over 140,000 apps developed for the iPhone will be compatible with the iPad from the start.  To make matters even better, Apple has released the SDK programming to start building new apps specifically for the iPad.  We will keep you posted should any apps specifically intended for planning events be developed.  To be continued...

Eric Wasnick
Website Content Developer
Eric@GreatPlacesDirectory.com