Clean slate

With the recent launch of the Apple iPad, tablet computing has seemingly come of age. In the few months that they have been available, several million iPads have been sold, and a number of manufacturers have put their own variations into production.

A tablet computer is generally defined as a portable device that has a screen as its primary or secondary input. The first tablet computers were laptops with touchscreens. The screens had a swivel mechanism to allow the device to be folded through 180 degrees, leaving the screen exposed for inputting.

Despite the potential usefulness of these devices, they never really took off until the iPad landed. Apple took the imaginative leap of following the format of touch screen mobile phones rather than laptops, and this has become the format for the genre.

Apple has enjoyed a monopoly since the launch of the iPad, but all that is about to change. Several manufacturers are on the verge of releasing their own versions of the tablet, including RIM with a Blackberry tablet, and several others with products based on Google's android (mobile phone) operating system. All of these are based on mobile phone technology rather than PC. Microsoft have yet to get involved but it is unlikely they will stay away for ever.

Too large to work as a phone, and without the range of applications run on many laptops, the iPad's place in the IT hierarchy is not immediately apparent. However, there are clearly some advantages to using them. The size advantage over a mobile means most tasks are much easier to undertake.

Conversely, the lack of bulk compared to a laptop makes them very portable.

Another advantage with Apple's variation is that it moves seamlessly between its 3g mobile broadband connection and its wireless internet connection. This allows it to constantly update email accounts. As the device is switched on in a moment, access to emails on the move is extremely quick. You need to be careful with the 3g connection though, as it tends become very expensive when used abroad.

Benefits and drawbacks for lawyers

As useful as they may be, tablet computers have a few drawbacks. First, the applications they run are not as fully featured as their PC counterparts, and compatibility between PC and tablet can be a problem. The iPad does not support Adobe flash, which will obviously limit the users' internet experience. The lack of a physical keyboard is cited by some as a problem, but my experience of the virtual version on the device is that it's not that bad. The absence of arrow keys on the iPad keyboard, however, is a disadvantage, one which makes document editing much harder than it should be.

Lawyers are heavy users of Microsoft Office, and legal specific applications, and much of this will not run on a tablet PC. However, there are software packages that allow the user to create, edit and save documents that can be read by Microsoft Office software and vice versa. There are also a number of legal specific applications available, such as time recording and digital dictation. The combination of these together with email covers a large percentage of the technology that a lawyer uses on a day-to-day basis.

In terms of pricing, tablet computers are a little on the expensive side, but this will change as competitors enter the fray. Many lawyers will be using a combination of a laptop and a Blackberry. The hidden costs of running Blackberry email over two years roughly equates to the cost of a tablet PC.

A potentially cost-effective (and possibly radical) re-jig could see lawyers using an inexpensive desktop at work, a tablet PC on the move, and a standard phone rather than a Blackberry. Why anyone would bother with this arrangement? The key advantage is that communicating with clients on a tablet PC is much easier than with a Blackberry, largely because of the bigger screen and keyboard, and so responses are likely to be more complete, rather than the stilted responses Blackberries tend to produce.

Success story

In July of this year I deployed iPads to one of my law firm clients alongside laptops. I was cautiously sceptical at first. Two portable devices initially feels a bit overkill. Three months later I can see that they have been a success. The lawyers use the iPad when they don't need the full software facilities of the laptop. The iPad is more portable and much quicker to get working with, but at the same time much better than a Blackberry for responding to clients. From what I have observed, they appear to be used considerably more than the laptop.

The question many firms will ask is should they invest in this type of facility. As with all new technology, a decision needs to be made about who to deploy them to, and whether they are a replacement for Blackberry or laptop, or, at some expense, an addition to them. For users who would not normally consider a laptop, the tablet PC's portability, instant on, and email and document editing capabilities may encourage them to consider using one. For those given to writing emails on Blackberries, the tablet PC is as accessible, but much easier to use, and thus potentially more productive.