If The Tablet Love Affair is Over No One Told These Folks

The other day I penned a post here on GBM entitled Tablet Love Affair Over? Only for the Lonely Hearts. It was in response to a guest post by Zal Bilimoria on re/code called Our Love Affair with the Tablet is Over. Obviously I don’t Bilimoria’s predictions don’t hold much water. But you can read that for yourself.

While living the life of a mobile nomad here in Southwestern Florida for a few days I’ve done the usual things one does in these climes. Hit the beach, eat out, do some shopping, and basically enjoy the warmer weather and all of the winter weather I’m missing up north. On this jaunt south I’m increasingly running into Tablets. Mostly iPads, but I’ve also seen a free Microsoft Surface Tablets as well as some Kindle Fires. No one has told these folks they should be heart broken because they are carrying around devices spurned by quick hit lovers who have moved on.

I’ve seen folks reading books on Tablets both on the beach and at pool side. I’ve seen at least three businesses using iPads as point of purchase devices. I’ve seen one band in a beer joint using iPads for their music. I’ve seen one beach front cabana that rents jet skis and sets up parasailing appointments use an iPad to log in customers and have them fill out and sign waivers about potential personal injury. They also used iPads to take pictures of their customers (families and couples) suited up in vests and other gear. Speaking of pictures, and much to my surprise I’ve seen more people using iPads (a mix of full sized and iPad minis) to take pictures with than I thought was possible. (Personally, I still don’t get that, but others obviously do.)

Last night at a restaurant I overheard three gentlemen talking about integrating iPads into their business this year. One was working on a catalog of the products they sell, another was trying to figure out how to turn that into a quick sales tool for their salesmen. The third was hesitant about the whole thing saying that they could do the same thing on a regular laptop. Fascinating conversation.

I haven’t been quick enough to capture pictures of all of this, and in some cases I didn’t want to be intrusive. But the Ft. Myers Beach area seems to have quite a few Tablet users about. I suspect many others do as well.