4 ms·

I'm just impressed that someone's finally found a practical way to do work on a tablet.

seanmcdirmid 14y ago
2010 has called and wants their comment back. People have been doing work on tablets for awhile, have you been to a Starbucks in the states recently?
- rubbingalcohol 14y ago
  People at Starbucks with tablets are usually too busy posing to get any real work done.
  - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
    So the keyboard covers/cases and the typing, those people are just pretending right?
    - gamblor956 14y ago
      Highly location dependent. In some coffee shops, the people using tablets or laptops are probably working or studying. In many others, the people are there to be seen or to give off the appearance of working. I live in LA and work near Beverly Hills, and so the vast majority of the people that I see in coffee shops are just posing.
      - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
        Strange. When I visit the states I'm based usually in Seattle/Bellevue, where I see starbucks full of people writing on their iPads, bizarrely enough (you'd expect to see some Surfaces now given the locale but...). At home in China, iPads are common but mostly used for entertainment, not work. I seriously doubt its posing anymore. When everyone in the coffee shop has an iPad (including the partners), what is there to pose about?
- redact207 14y ago
  2009 called and they want their "wants their comment" comment back. Seriously, there's doing "work" and doing work. I haven't been to Starbucks in the states, but I've been everywhere in Singapore and everytime I've seen people using tablets it's for entertainment, reading the news, or at the very most writing emails. If your job is writing emails, I concede, you're doing work. But if you're anything except a coffee shop writer then I doubt it. I've desperately tried to justify a tablet for years now but I barely have the motivation to type a text message on a phone and delay most else until I have a physical keyboard and an OS that has a proper window manager.
  - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
    I observe the same thing happening in China (entertainment, no tablets used for work). I was talking about a trend in the states, we can only guess what it means for Asia. Many of them are writing papers, doing homework, whatever. You'd be surprised how much work just involves writing something. They almost always have physical keyboards attached to the iPad when they are writing, if you don't look close enough, they look like mini laptops.
    - redact207 14y ago
      I spent a lot of time in China, but it was sadly before the tablet craze. I'd take a punt and say their cultural and business norms don't require so much writing and people would own it for the status - much like a designer handbag - and possibly QQ. Ironically it's the tablets that's much more compatible with their traditional written language. Sure you have pinyin/wubi based IMEs, and touch devices have had hand writing recognition for a long time but it's never really caught on. It's depressing when you're struggling to learn the language and you see native Chinese pull out their phone when they don't remember how to write a character.
      - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
        Most Chinese kids these days prefer phonetic keyboard input (pinyin) to writing characters, so they don't mind an iPad over something with a stylus. iPads are ubiquitous where I live (Beijing), so I wouldn't call it much of a handbag thing anymore. Maybe in a tier 2/3 city. If you are learning Chinese, I wouldn't bother on memorizing how to write the characters but rather focus on how to input the pinyin and recognize the right character to select (erm, reading). I know this sounds like giving up, but its the new way.
omaranto 14y ago
I do lots of work on my tablet: my job requires a lot of reading.
arrrg 14y ago
I … don’t really get that obsession with doing work on them. Who cares, really? No one ever asks why no one does any work on their TVs. Tablets are perfectly fine and awesome entertainment devices. Plus, I do nearly all my email on them. Why does everyone always act like doing work is the only thing that could ever justify tablets?
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  I just dislike false or uninformed information, especially when I've seen plenty if people doing work on iPads, just throw a keyboard on one and...bam...a word processor or spreadsheet editor that satisfies 70% user work needs. But ya, I agree. They didn't have to be useful for work to justify their purchase.
wsc981 14y ago
Lots of companies have people doing actual work on a tablet. Here are some examples (PepsiCo, CTV News, Ottowa Hospital, Ducati): http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/profiles/ http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/profiles/ Just remember work doesn't only have to entail Excel or Word stuff. Many custom-made apps help businesses be more effective.

2010 has called and wants their comment back. People have been doing work on tablets for awhile, have you been to a Starbucks in the states recently?

rubbingalcohol 14y ago
People at Starbucks with tablets are usually too busy posing to get any real work done.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  So the keyboard covers/cases and the typing, those people are just pretending right?
  - gamblor956 14y ago
    Highly location dependent. In some coffee shops, the people using tablets or laptops are probably working or studying. In many others, the people are there to be seen or to give off the appearance of working. I live in LA and work near Beverly Hills, and so the vast majority of the people that I see in coffee shops are just posing.
    - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
      Strange. When I visit the states I'm based usually in Seattle/Bellevue, where I see starbucks full of people writing on their iPads, bizarrely enough (you'd expect to see some Surfaces now given the locale but...). At home in China, iPads are common but mostly used for entertainment, not work. I seriously doubt its posing anymore. When everyone in the coffee shop has an iPad (including the partners), what is there to pose about?
redact207 14y ago
2009 called and they want their "wants their comment" comment back. Seriously, there's doing "work" and doing work. I haven't been to Starbucks in the states, but I've been everywhere in Singapore and everytime I've seen people using tablets it's for entertainment, reading the news, or at the very most writing emails. If your job is writing emails, I concede, you're doing work. But if you're anything except a coffee shop writer then I doubt it. I've desperately tried to justify a tablet for years now but I barely have the motivation to type a text message on a phone and delay most else until I have a physical keyboard and an OS that has a proper window manager.
- seanmcdirmid 14y ago
  I observe the same thing happening in China (entertainment, no tablets used for work). I was talking about a trend in the states, we can only guess what it means for Asia. Many of them are writing papers, doing homework, whatever. You'd be surprised how much work just involves writing something. They almost always have physical keyboards attached to the iPad when they are writing, if you don't look close enough, they look like mini laptops.
  - redact207 14y ago
    I spent a lot of time in China, but it was sadly before the tablet craze. I'd take a punt and say their cultural and business norms don't require so much writing and people would own it for the status - much like a designer handbag - and possibly QQ. Ironically it's the tablets that's much more compatible with their traditional written language. Sure you have pinyin/wubi based IMEs, and touch devices have had hand writing recognition for a long time but it's never really caught on. It's depressing when you're struggling to learn the language and you see native Chinese pull out their phone when they don't remember how to write a character.
    - seanmcdirmid 14y ago
      Most Chinese kids these days prefer phonetic keyboard input (pinyin) to writing characters, so they don't mind an iPad over something with a stylus. iPads are ubiquitous where I live (Beijing), so I wouldn't call it much of a handbag thing anymore. Maybe in a tier 2/3 city. If you are learning Chinese, I wouldn't bother on memorizing how to write the characters but rather focus on how to input the pinyin and recognize the right character to select (erm, reading). I know this sounds like giving up, but its the new way.

omaranto 14y ago

I do lots of work on my tablet: my job requires a lot of reading.

arrrg 14y ago

I … don’t really get that obsession with doing work on them. Who cares, really? No one ever asks why no one does any work on their TVs. Tablets are perfectly fine and awesome entertainment devices. Plus, I do nearly all my email on them. Why does everyone always act like doing work is the only thing that could ever justify tablets?

seanmcdirmid 14y ago
I just dislike false or uninformed information, especially when I've seen plenty if people doing work on iPads, just throw a keyboard on one and...bam...a word processor or spreadsheet editor that satisfies 70% user work needs. But ya, I agree. They didn't have to be useful for work to justify their purchase.

wsc981 14y ago

Lots of companies have people doing actual work on a tablet. Here are some examples (PepsiCo, CTV News, Ottowa Hospital, Ducati): http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/profiles/ http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/profiles/ Just remember work doesn't only have to entail Excel or Word stuff. Many custom-made apps help businesses be more effective.