I’ve been trying to figure out why I’m so excited about the iPad.  For years I’ve wanted a small, touch-interface computer that could connect me to the world wherever I go, and when I got my iPhone 3GS last July I felt like I was in heaven.  For a while.  The screen size limitation was the only thing, but I thought I could just live with that.

I’ve done mobile programming (mostly on Palm OS devices) for over a decade, in addition to programming for other platforms of various sizes as well as the web.  Most of my programming has been for enterprise apps, not the kind you typically find shrink-wrapped in a store.  The upside of this is that you get to hear a lot of what people want from their technology (not just from an application).

One of the biggest requests was for something that could replace their laptops.  This came not only from their bosses (who had to pay for all these computers) but also from the people themselves (who had to lug these things around).  I’d show them an enterprise messaging app on their device.  They’d coo and cluck about how cool it was, then invariable ask for one of two things:

1. Can I do presentations from this?
2. Can I do spreadsheets on this?

The answer was yes, but.  Yes, you could, and there were/are some really excellent apps that gave you most if not all of this capability (Documents to Go is my favorite). In the Palm world Margi had this great add-on that allowed you to tie a Palm handheld into a projector.  Companies like Landware and others had keyboards that could plug into these devices.  So yes.

But…

The screen was too small to do any real work.  A lot of these people were forty or older, and even with reading glasses it still meant eyestrain, and it was a small area to work on.

Additionally, memory was in short supply, which meant a lack of resources on the device.  Because of that, you couldn’t realistically assume you would have items to clip and put inside a slide or a spreadsheet.

And the processor was often slow.  Power is a big deal on these mobile devices, and the more powerful the processor, the more power it eats, so the bigger the battery, and the heavier the device.  The slower the processor, the slower the responsiveness (and I’m not even talking multitasking).

The simple solution was to have a computer that you use to do the heavy-lifting (spreadsheet/presentation creation).  This could work but it meant:

• You have a computer someplace
• You can easily get to that computer when you’re traveling
• Syncing is foolproof between the computer and the handheld
• You still needed to communicate with the office (email)

After trying this, most people realized that they still needed to have a laptop to support their handheld (since they were traveling), plus this dongle to hook up to it to sync and another to do presentations, plus a keyboard for the handheld.  They would be carrying more stuff AND THEY’D STILL HAVE THE LAPTOP.

No win.

Fast forward to recent times.  The iPhone/iPod Touch are a lot closer in providing this rich road warrior experience, but the screen is still too small to chuck a laptop entirely.

Enter the iPad.  I was very interested in this as a new category of a device, so I followed the January product introduction with mild interest.  I was intrigued by a platform that had a touch interface and a large screen.  I liked what Microsoft had done in the past, at an academic level, but it always seemed like either the hardware was inadequate, the software was too tied to the desktop metaphor, or both.  I’d seen enough of them at trade shows, but it never grabbed me, especially at the extra cost for these buggers.

Then Apple started to talk about iWork.  Keynote.  Numbers.  Pages.

Yes.  YEs. YES. YESSSS!!!!!!

They had hooked me.  The worm tasted sweet.  Reel me in,  Fishermen Schiller and Jobs!  As I flopped around on the shore of potential productivity I was fascinated by the ease and simplicity of how they did everything, of how bright and shiny it all looked, and the beauty of the outputs they demonstrated (and seeing the recent guided tour videos I’m even more impressed).

And I could even project my presentation RIGHT FROM THE iPAD!

To quite Scotty from “Star Trek”, “Starfleet canna be serious, Cap’n.”

Oh, yes.  Yes, they are.

The jury is out as to whether or not this will replace a laptop for these cases, or even if it will be adopted by them, but it has the best chance of meeting their needs.

That’s why I’m bullish on the iPad.  It has the potential to fit needs.  It’s not perfect, but it’s close.

(Note that you still have the Syncing issue, but if you do all your presentation work on the iPad it’s now just for backup.  I would love to see Apple or someone come up with a Carbonite-style backup utility for the iPad that worked over WiFi or 3G.)