Thanks for that Mithan
I am really getting the idea that it is 85% "novelty" item, 10% business capable unit and 5% still looking for something value added to do. My wife is not a techno-geek and it sounds like that is a tablet's niche market besides sounding "cool" to have.

 

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Ok, so after much interrogation I got long and short of her reasoning for wanting an iPad. Her I.T. department pushes updates to their client laptops and it seems that the latest update to Adobe Reader, X, does not work with her laptop running XP and the AIAG PDF documents and their security schema. She seems to think that if she had an iPad she could get around this issue plus be able to take the PDF docs she has purchased with her on the floor of the subject client being audited for refencing.

I finally acquiesced and took my BestBuy account card using the 18months no interest option and bought her an iPad 2 16GB WiFi. She spent a couple hours yesterday getting apps and exploring with the unit only to find that the AIAG has not converted their PDF docs to tablet format and will not be doing so until the summer of this year. Also, her I.T. department which she has petitioned with her supervisor's backing has downgraded her Adobe reader from X to 9.0 or something and now all her AIAG PDF's work again.

I just love tossing $460 into the wind to let it fall wherever it may.

 

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What type of stylus allows you to interact with the iPad touchscreen?

 

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Any capacitive stylus will work. You can find them at BestBuy for $15.

Out of curiosity, what exactly do you mean here? PDF is platform-independent format and the iPad reads it extremely well. The only issues I can think of as they specifically relate to the iPad are you don't get the nifty little epub "page turning" feature (tapping the edge of a page, instead you use the arrows) and in-document note taking isn't widely supported yet. The former is hardly a deal-breaker while the latter may be more of an issue depending upon individual needs.

 

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As Mithan mentions media consumption is a big focus of tablets. My Xoom sits under my main monitors in its charger/dock with a small ball speaker hooked up to it. From there it does Netflix, NAS streaming, Pandora, etc without tying up one of my main monitors or making me look away from my work. It's also easy to move around so I will grab it and move it into the kitchen or somewhere else in the house and keep watching/listening to what is on without interruption. I have a few pocket games like Puzzle Quest (pretty sure I have that game on 4-5 platforms now, lol) to burn time if I am bored but other than that don't really use it as a gaming platform... too many other options that do it better including portables like PSP/DS.

I do use it for other things though...

It is great for pubs. I was using my first gen Nook for that but it handles PDFs so poorly and is black and white so isn't ideal. This, on the other hand, I can load up with my manuals, white papers, graphs, etc and have all of them at my fingertips no matter where I am.

It is also handy for simple computing... email, browsing, calculations/conversions, scheduling/alarms, etc but I wouldn't expect any super productivity stuff out of it. I'd never generate a production document on it but for jotting stuff on the go or quick edits it is handy.

Simple tracking/recording type stuff... food/calorie tracking, inventory control, or whatever else you might want to be able to do all the time or on the go. Something like inventory/equipment control is a perfect example since most of them are able to process bar codes.

Portable tools, mine doubles as a wireless sniffer/diagnostic tool which is very handy.

Really though a vast majority of it is media/toy but it has great potential as a specialized portable device.

 

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All I can tell you is this is what they told the I.T. guys when the AIAG was queried about using the ePubs on tablets. Frankly, I dont think the people at AIAG know what they are talking about and have an issue with their security reacting with Adobe Reader X. All I know is that when my wife reverts down a version with Adobe Reader she no longer has an issue viewing the documents.

 

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It sounds like they may be confusing things as they mentioned epubs and pdf in the same sentence. That is an apples/oranges issue as we are talking different formats entirely. If they are convinced they need to use epubs, then that certainly is something that would have to be converted. If they simply remain with pdf's then it is a non-issue as those are read by iPad with no issue. On that note, the version of Adobe on the computer does not affect how it is read by the iPad at all. The easiest way to get your pdf to the iPad is to simply email it to yourself and then touch the attachment and select Open in iBooks. This whole issue really is puzzling as pdf's and the iPad are an excellent fit and something I have been using since I got my first iPad.

 

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But if it is a secure PDF you are limited in how/where you can open it which can be a real pain in the ass.

 

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I've tried a few different kinds. My least favorite was the Bamboo stylus (the brand, not the material) and my favorite is the BoxWave stylus.