RIABiz makes its first major capital investment -- an iPad

Congratulations on your iPad purchase! After using mine daily since it drop-shipped to my front door back in April, I can say with confidence that this device will change the computing landscape over the next 5 years.

Lesson #1: Whenever you feel compelled to print something on your printer, stop. Instead, send the file (or make a PDF) to your iPad. It’s interactive, electronic paper. Use it that way.

And no, in my opinion RIABiz really doesn’t need an iPad (or any other mobile device) app. Your page is clean and attractive that it displays beautifully on the tablet’s screen. Why bother going through the time and effort to submit an app that syndicates content already available on the web?

Bill @ <a href="http://fppad.com" rel="nofollow">FPPad.com</a>

Congratulations, you late adopters you!

Now what are you going to do with your spanking new iPad? First, I recommend that you shift some additional funds to the iPad Care & Feeding budget because you’re going to need a good case, a stand, maybe a keyboard, a camera kit, a VGA adapter and lots o’ apps.

For app-browsing, you’ll want to sample one of my absolute favorite podcasts—Leo Laporte’s iPad Today at http://twit.tv/ipt It will open your eyes wide to the iPad’s many powers and capabilities. Oh and also download the Appolicious app to keep up with iPad and app news. You’re in the iPad army now, my friends, and welcome!

Should you be thinking about an RIABiz iPad app? Hmm, probably but I’ll leave that for our next conversation—after you’ve experienced first-hand the advantages for the reader of using native app publications.

Thank you, Bill and Pat!

What I didn’t mention in the article, Pat, was that the $660 price included a seriously overpriced case. I also didn’t mention the one reason that Nevin, for about 5 seconds, thought we should hold off on the purchase. He believes the next release of the iPad could happen in December with enviable new features that we could regret not waiting for.

I’m glad we have the 3G. Every time RIABiz has crashed — usually just the admin system — Nevin, when I’ve called him, has been in a pub with loud music playing and no Wi-Fi to be found for miles. Now, in theory, he can get right on it. Bill, are you living without 3G? Does it really make a difference?

Thanks for the thoughts on whether there should be an RIABiz app. Our list of tech initiatives is long and our tech team’s time is stretched. It sounds like we can hold off on that one for a while.

Brooke

I own a MiFi 2200 activated on Sprint’s 3G network using Virgin Mobile Broadband2Go. I’m in control of my 3G data costs ($40 buys 30 days of unlimited 3G data) and I can share the 3G connection with 5 devices (namely my iPad, laptop, iMac, and my wife’s Kindle).

For the price differential between a Wi-Fi-only and 3G iPad, <a href="http://bit.ly/9YtorX" rel="nofollow">I used the money to buy a MiFi.</a>

It’s great for business continuity, too, when the local Internet provider has a service interruption.

Pat: I tried to switch to Dvorak a month ago and ended up buying a bluetooth keyboard so that I didn’t have to go cold-turkey. Turns out I wasn’t strong enough to make the switch, but now I have the keyboard in case I need to write code on the iPad while on the go!

Thanks for the app recommendations, too. Seems a little silly to get apps about apps, but I’m guessing it will lead to… well, more good apps :)

Bill: Your setup sounds pretty good! It would be great to be able to just tether the iPad in times of crisis, but it looks like I’d have to jailbreak to make that happen.

Nevin

This was almost one of the best articles I’ve read on RIABiz. I thought you were going to tell me how I could apply the iPad to my advisory practice, and recommend some cool tools that I honestly need as an advisor, that run on the iPad. Sure, they’re cool, but can you really use one in a real live practice? Would love to see an article on that.
BTW, I like the new format that puts more of the content in my reader. It’s a good compromise between the old format (one paragraph) and the optimal format: all in the reader, no peekaboo.
Keep up the good work.

Naturally, we would have written that article but fortunately Bill Winterberg beat us to the punch. Here it is if you’re interested: http://www.riabiz.com/a/719009.

Thank you for the positive reinforcement on the feeder issue. We won’t promise to never editorialize with notes ahead of an article. But we are mindful to do so judiciously.