The new iPad unboxed -- and already making an impact

For those of us working in the mobile space, Friday was one of those fun days. It’s the day that the new iPad, formerly informally known as the iPad 3, started arriving. That sent some people to their local Apple shrine, er, Store to get their hands on the newest tablet.

The true “in” crowd, however, had their orders placed the day of Apple’s announcement, and just needed to sit back and wait for the delivery guy.

Our CEO here at Framehawk, Peter Badger, of course was one of the early birds. His two new iPads arrived at his house early Friday morning. As I tweeted then, he interrupted our Friday morning staff meeting to live broadcast opening up his new gadget. We all oohed and aahed over the phone line.

So what is it like? Is it bigger and better than the iPad 2…or just better? Peter recorded The Great Unboxing, so see for yourself:

Questions about the new iPad

There are certainly a bunch of questions consumers have about the new device, like what’s that new HD screen like? But more to the point with our customers and prospects, how will this new tablet impact the enterprise?

MarketWatch writer Ben Pimentel asked Peter for his take on the new iPad and its implications for large IT organizations for an article that ran Friday. “Holy moly,” said Peter, “this is better than going from basic to HD cable.

“Adding that to 4G network availability is going to put a lot more pressure on enterprise to really get their act together and figure out a way to support iPads and other tablets in the workplace,” he continued. “They can’t afford to sit on their hands anymore. Their customers and employees are going to beat their door down with this latest device.” Ben also quoted my blog from earlier in the week about the enterprise impact and serious CIO interest.

But back to the device itself. As he was trying the new iPad out, Peter commented that “everything looks cleaner, sharper, more luscious. This latest device is just unbelievable. I didn’t think I needed the 3 upgrade until I started to use it.”

Anything negative? “I have to say,” said Peter, “the new iPad looks similar to my iPad 2.”

I guess by that he means that getting device-geek street cred will be more difficult. You see, given that it looks so physically similar, you’ll actually have to tell people that you have the new iPad.

But you’ll probably be doing that anyway.