iPad on my fridge

I decided I wanted to purchase an iPad. The first roadblock was my wife, the more level-headed of the two of us, she said: “Of course honey, but by the way, what’s your business case?” I didn’t have one other than, a) I wanted it and b) I wanted to explore whether the device would change my relationship with “the machine”. Since I have a budget for discretionary spending on technology I went out to buy one.

The second roadblock was that despite advertising being everywhere, nobody had any in stock. I had to order it in.

It’s now three weeks in and I’ve had three insights that surprised me.

1. It’s instantly on. Unlike my PC and netbook which both take over a minute to get to a state where they can actually run an application, the iPad is basically instantly on because it uses a version of the iPhone OS. This means that I can look something up on the web (eg. Masterchef recipes) without interrupting my flow of thoughts or discussion. Doesn’t mean much if I’m sitting at my desk, but means an awful lot if I’m out and about or talking in the kitchen.

2. Its flat form factor and lightweight means that I can mount it on vertical surfaces. Why pay $17,000 for an internet connected fridge, when you can have the same thing for $600 and some gaffa tape.

3. The touch screen interface isn’t that big a deal. Sure it’s harder to type out a document, but typing is an abstraction anyway. If I want to draw or simply click on links, touch screen is the go. And if I did mount the iPad on the fridge, a keyboard would just be an annoyance and a mouse would be unworkable.

These thoughts lead me to believe that we will start to see iPads or their competitors embedded into everyday furniture and appliances. It’s just to easy to do and I now want web access pretty much all the time, especially when I am cooking and want a recipe. I may even get some nice mounts to put it on the freezer door.

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Brendan Lewis is a serial technology entrepreneur having founded: Ideas Lighting, Carradale Media, Edion, Verve IT, The Churchill Club, Flinders Pacific and L2i Technology Advisory. He has set up businesses for others in Romania, Indonesia and Vietnam. Qualified in IT and Accounting, he has also spent time running an Advertising agency and as a Cavalry Officer with the Australian Army Reserve.