Does The Apple iPad Have Value For SMBs?

For SMBs, at least, the most useful part of the new Apple iPad may be an accessory.Sure, the heavily hyped device itself is slick, the software impressive, and -- starting at less than $500 -- the price almost reasonable. And the challenge it poses to existing media models appears to be formidable. But none of that really matters to most small and midsize companies.

No. For SMBs, the most important part of Apple's massively covered announcement yesterday was a seemingly minor accessory: iPad Keyboard Dock.

This innocuous combination of iPad charger, keyboard, and stand makes the iPad actually useful as a real computer -- where you can get actual work done in addition to watching videos, listening to music, and surfing the Web. I haven't seem prices on the Keyboard Dock yet, but to my mind, it's the essential add on that turns a toy -- admittedly, a very cool toy -- in to something that a business person could actually take on the road instead of a "real" notebook computer.

All we need now is a nice after-market case that stows the iPad and the Keyboard Dock into a small, easy-to-carry package that you can slip into your briefcase or backpack.

Now that would be a netbook killer, and might take a bite out of so-called thin-and-light computers too.

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