♫  It’s all about the Apps Store and iTunes.
They continue distribution of software media.
iPad (do do do do do)
iPad (do do do do)… ♫

– Lyrics, music and recorded by Parry Gripp.

Gerry Purdy PHD, an expert on wireless technologies, has made a prediction. In the future, you will own three devices:

• a smartphone (to make calls, check on email and messages and do light web browsing);
• a tablet (to do more review of content, more serious web browsing and messaging); and
• a desktop or notebook PC device (to create original content that is read on other devices).

What is driving his prediction? For one, mobile device sales (smartphones, iPads) already exceed those of desktops/laptops. Secondly, mobile web traffic is about to exceed desk-based web use. We are a mobile, connected world and we want applications and devices that enable our lifestyle. Furthermore, iPads represent lawyers taking charge and gaining access to technology that does not involve having to deal with the law firm IT department and all their restrictive policies.

The other factor is the ease of use of the iPad as compared to traditional PC-based technology. The iPad has exceeded everyone’s expectations on these criteria. Apps which traditionally run from free to $9.99 (and in some cases more) place incredible processing power in the hands of users. Games, book readers, word processing, presentation software, business apps – there are literally hundreds of thousands from which to choose. News apps from the NYT, BBC, AP and others place you in the center of the “what’s happening now” world. TweetDeck and Facebook allow you to comment and connect with the Twitterverse about what is happening now. Wi-Fi or cellular data plans connect your iPad to the world. Inexpensive online storage is available via Dropbox, iCloud and others.

Courtesy of such online synchronization and storage services, you can have the latest version of your documents, photographs and more available wherever you have a web connection. You can embed and present graphics, videos and more in presentations using Keynote for court, mediations or meetings. Gray’s Anatomy app places medical-school quality illustrations at your fingertips for evidentiary purposes. Contacts, calendars and reminders can all be synched and available to you whether you are on an iPad, iPhone or Mac. Photos and videos can be viewed on the iPad’s “retinal” display that has more pixels than you have receptors in your eye, producing a stunning visual experience. Social media content can be easily accessed, updated and created in different apps and shared with the world.

There are apps for organizing your information in myriad ways. Evernote, an online notebook app, is a world-class organizer of all types of information from text to web pages to images and videos – and unbelievably, it is free. Evernote is your traditional paper notebook – on steroids! Wunderlist is a task manager that synchs your ‘to-dos’ across your PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone and Android devices. You can use it to collaborate and co-ordinate tasks amongst team members as well as share shopping lists with your spouse.

Apps such as LogMeIn and GoToMyPC can connect you to your office desktop from wherever you may be. Kayak, a travel app, can help you book flights, hotels and more to those distant lands. Tired of typing? Dragon Dictate and other apps can do voice recognition or voice recording. Feel like note taking the old-fashioned way? Penultimate is a stylus note taking app that also allows you to draw in colors, insert a photo and draw on it and organize your handwritten notes.

Ultimately it is all about the apps on the iTunes and Apps store. They open up a whole new world of software and media and place that in your hands on the iPad, allowing you to do whatever it is that you wish to do.

This article originally appeared in the Canadian Bar Association, British Columbia branch’s publication BarTalk.