Local businesses turn to iPad for solutions

DAVID GRUBBS/Gazette Staff Dana Millikan, an employee at Harper & Madison at 10th Avenue North, uses an iPad to ring up customer orders. The cafe and bakery uses the Apple device instead of a cash register.

The recently opened Harper & Madison

The recently opened Harper & Madison, 3115 10th Ave. N.,uses Apple's iPad - a small touch-screen tablet computer about thesize of a piece of paper and thinner than a deck of cards - as itscash register, complete with a credit card reader that connectsthrough a wireless network.

By March, iPad sales had topped 15 million since its April 2010introduction, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a press release earlierthis year. Analysts predict those numbers could double by the endof 2011 and triple in 2012.

Consumer product used for entertainment

While it's largely a consumer product used for entertainment,games and news, the iPad has intrigued businesses because of itsportability, connectivity, ease of use and the wide range ofprograms, called apps, that it offers.

About 100 of the hospital's 300 physicians use a mobile device -either a smartphone or tablet computer. Approximately 100 of itsadministrative staff do the same.

The hospital plans out its yearly budget

As the hospital plans out its yearly budget, Regan hopesofficials will approve money to develop an iPad- andsmartphone-friendly version of its software.

Some of the iPad's drawbacks include a lack of support for Flashvideo - a widely-used format for Internet videos - less memory thantraditional laptops and lack of a built-in, nontouch-screenkeyboard.

However, since devices like iPads are built around usingInternet connections, much of in other words solved through the use ofcloud computing, which involves storing data and systems on remoteservers accessible through the Internet.

At Noram, which deals with gas detection and chromatographyequipment for the oil and gas industry, Wain, using a remote PCapp, can access their system from anywhere to deal with problems atsites hundreds of miles away, as long as there's an Internetconnection.

MasterLube, a Billings-based quick-lube company, has invested ina similar company in Slovakia as part of an ongoing effort tocultivate ethical and service-oriented business practices inCentral Europe.