iPad – a laptop replacement?

I have recently joined the iPad owning millions – due to a ‘significant’ birthday and a very generous wife (thanks Wendy!). I have been a fan of the iPhone ever since we got them at work and have been lusting after an iPad since they came out a couple of years ago.

Is the divide becoming blurred?

Well, now I have one and I have been giving it a bit of a ‘shake down’ to see what I can use it for at work to help ease my day. I have a laptop which runs Windows 7 which is my day-to-day machine, but I have always felt that the iPad could take some of the load – and be much quicker and portable! I am still working on this but will report on my thoughts shortly.

It appears however that I am not alone in this belief as we have been bringing a few iPads into the firm to try out in a variety of our departments. The general consensus appears to be that they are useful and being used more and more. This also appears to be a general trend across the world – recent research has found quite a high percentage of iPad use in the business environment already.

The role of the iPad in the enterprise was explored by IDG Connect in their “iPad for Business Survey 2012″. The survey found that 12 percent of workers indicated that the iPad has “completely replaced” their traditional laptop. Another 54 percent said the iPad has “partly” replaced their laptop, and instead complements it on the go.

Nearly three-quarters of respondents said that they ‘carry their laptop around less’ now that they own an iPad.

So it appears that the tablet that ‘no one would want’ according to much of the IT world is starting to take over! Yet another example of the genius that was the late Steve Jobs.

 

Well done Ocado!

I am not a big fan of the Supermarkets (as regular readers of my blog will be fully aware) – I believe that our love of everything under one roof has cost us the small independant shop on our high streets. However, living in a city I have little choice and have to frequent one or other of the big 4 – normally Sainsbury’s. I don’t enjoy it, but needs must!

This week however we received a voucher offering us £15 off our first order from Ocado. Now, Ocado are a bit different from the other supermarket delivery systems in that your order comes directly from a warehouse, and is not ‘picked’ in a supermarket. We have used Sainsbury’s home delivery service in the past, but found that the stock levels were often poor and the ‘replacements’ offered for missing items were often ‘random’ to say the least! Plus the Ocado system reduces the miles the food travels which appeals to me.

So, we thought Ocado was worth having a go at – friends have told us previously how good they are. So on Friday evening instead of going to Sainsbury’s we, (well for most of the time my Wife), sat down to make the order. First use of a website is often a trial – but Ocado appear to have sorted theirs – and the first order was completed fairly swiftly considering it was a first time.

They also have an excellent iPhone app which was updated with our order instantly. So far so good!

The order was due for Saturday evening and at around 2pm we received a text confirming the time of delivery, the name of the driver and even the registration of the van! We were also informed of one substitution which was a sensible one (unlike the Sainsbury’s experience).

The order arrived 10 minutes early (the driver apologised and offered to come back if it wasn’t convenient) and was very helpful. Everything is also bagged in a way that makes it easy to put it away and sell by dates are logged on the bill. We have found with Sainsbury’s that we got lots of short dated stuff – not with Ocado!

So all in all a great first experience and one that I would recommend. Plus their prices are not bad either!