So Apple has released the iPad and everyone is giving their 2 cents, its great... or it's going to flop.
While we have to wait for the actual device to ship I am strongly in the camp that this device is going to create its own market and it's success or failure will be based on software and services that have yet to be created. I am going to stand on my pedistal and call for one of those markets to be created, and I am calling out Adobe. I know there is no Flash - Apple hates Adobe... blah blah blah. I think people at Apple (Steve I am looking at you) don't hate Adobe but dislike the rutterless bloatware building bohemoth it has become. Flash went from dancing teddybears on web pages to a Director / CDRom replacing web animation, video, video game software building machine. Growing so fast, quality just never was written into its underlying code.
But we are not here for Flash, we are here for an overlooked quality product that could turn Adobe into an iPad selling engine. Acrobat Forms... yeah I know we all have them and use them. But I am talking 2 new pieces that Adobe could build easily.First an Acrobat form-design software that has the ability to easily interface with SQL databases. MySQL, MSSQL, PostGreSQL. I want to open Acrobat Pro, build a form, click on a button and have it ask for my database information then quickly and easily match data fields to form fields. It should be easy to do and take seconds. I know Adobe can do this, they just need to grab the guys from the Acrobat forms team and the guys they purchased when they bought interakt lock, them up in a house somewhere in the Valley and stock the fridge with caffeine.
Second... add an iPad Acrobat Forms application and charge for it. It should allow me to install forms from Acrobat and fill them out on the iPad, and the important part - it needs to store data sans network. I don't care if its got Wifi and 3G you need to be able to fill out multiple forms without the network.
Now we have all the pieces in place to replace the clipboard. I know this can be done with web pages and custom apps. The problem really is all the other options lack easy to build tools. You can use a web form except if you walk somewhere with no 3G coverage, and I have seen the AT&T map. You can build a custom app for your purpose... If you have programmers and they don't come cheap and you are stuck with that revision until you tear down and build it again. Every time I start researching ways to get data from staff and customers into the database I wind up with 'it's easy you take this Product A and Product B, then write your own software in the scripting language of A to talk to another script you write in the language of B. There is Product C that does it all but you have to ditch your entire corporate infrastructure and switch over to it, which would be great but it only allows customers to pay you with Discover cards'.
Trust me I run into this every time I work on streamlining a business process.
The earth-shattering change isn't going to be an application that does something on the iPad. The earth shattering change is going to be the application that lets you easily create your own applications, systems and processes on the iPad.