Apple's iPad: Most business can wait for the sequel

Right off the bat I'll tell you I'm a fanboy of Apple. My brother and I went over to my Dad's house to share the experience of the big announcement day. We logged into Gizmodo's live blog detailing Steve Jobs' presentation. After digesting it all, my verdict is that it is indeed very cool. But is it something that will really help most businesses do business? The short answer: Nope.

To be clear, this first version iPad isn't targeted for the general business market. However, there are certainly specific businesses that can benefit to its form and functionality. And there is a horde of creative developers (both outside and inside of organizations) that will build usefully cool applications for the iPad, just as they have for the iPhone.

The two biggest showstoppers with the iPad's usability in business are 1) it can't multitask, meaning it doesn't run two or more apps at a time; 2) the form factor is wrong for the office worker. Nobody likes to a) sit on a desk chair with a tablet on their lap, having it type on a keyboard located too close to their belt, or b) prop it up on a desk easel when a computer with a much larger screen is readily available.

By far, the best thing iPad 1.0 has going for it in business is the coolness factor. It's going to be 2010's ultimate executive accessory. Just about every other business person can wait for iPad 2.0.

Now for those of you playing along at home (or in school)...well, that's another story.

The only fact: Rumored Apple tablet has mega-buzz

I bring my MacBook Pro to every client meeting. People identify me with it because the appearance of a Mac in their environment is a somewhat rare event. I'm the Mac Guy. (I'm certainly not the iPhone Guy given their widespread adoption.)

So, being the Mac Guy, I was asked at every single client visit this past week, what I thought about the upcoming announcement for the Apple tablet. I said "It's a complete mystery."

But one thing's for sure...Steve Jobs and Apple Nation generate buzz bigger and better than any business on the planet. I wouldn't be surprised if CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News, and other news outlets have correspondents reporting live on January 27 from San Francisco at Apple's "latest creation" event. In the business world, Steve Jobs stands alone in attracting this kind of attention.

The buzz is so great that in a recent poll of tech enthusiasts, 37% of respondents said they would buy the Apple tablet before actually seeing what it is. Wow. That's mega-buzz.

Now if the product's coolness can come even close to matching the buzz, I don't think I'll be known anymore as that Mac Guy at our client sites. I'll just be another dude with one of those hot Apple tablets.

Who's accountable for defining accountability?

As the new year began, the words of the week apparently were accountable and accountability. In his speech on air security, President Obama said:

"I will hold my staff, our agencies and the people in them accountable when they fail to perform their responsibilities at the highest levels.

"...I've directed agency heads to establish internal accountability reviews.

"All of these agencies -- and their leaders -- are responsible for implementing these reforms. And all will be held accountable if they don't.

"As President, I have a solemn responsibility to protect our nation and our people. And when the system fails, it is my responsibility."

Ted Phillips, the Chicago Bears president and CEO, held a press conference to announce the firing of four assistant coaches following the team's third year of missing the playoffs. Phillips explained the chain of accountability as:

"Jerry (Angelo, the Bears general manager)is accountable in the structure of this organization. Everyone's accountable to ownership. I am directly accountable to ownership. Jerry's accountable to me and Lovie's accountable to Jerry.

"...and we know the accountability that we all have."

Apparently, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Angelo, and Mr. Lovie were not accountable for the string of sub-par seasons - the four fired coaches possessed the accountability.

So...what exactly does it mean to be accountable or to have accountability? Merrian-Webster says accountable means "answerable" or "responsible." But I think it means that the person who uses these words is not the person taking the blame or gets fired. These accountability words are warning shots fired across the bow of someone else's ship. If you hear these words from your boss it means you should update your resume or start talking about accountability yourself.

How does an organization measure accountability? It usually has something to do with achieving your goals, making your numbers, fulfilling your duties, etc. What everybody really wants to know is what do I have to do to keep my job? What numbers do I have to hit? In the case of air security, my guess is that number is now zero for 2010 - zero terrorists getting on planes flying in the U.S. In the case of the 2010 Bears, the number is at least 10 wins and a playoff appearance.

If these numbers aren't attained, people who are currently accountable will lose their accountability...maybe.

The KDD Movement

Remember when so many corporations got behind the Total Quality Management crusade? "The Japanese are kicking out butts." Nowadays, you never hear about TQM. About five years ago, TQM evolved into things going by the names of Evidence-based Decision Making or Data-driven Management. A tipping point is occurring as smart, progressive organizations are now jumping all over Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD) thanks to the affordability of multi-core processors, robust data warehouses, next-gen data mining tools, and the latest release of PMML (Predictive Model Markup Language). Basically, KDD is where one piece of data combines with other related data to form a new data element which then intelligently finds with even more data to produce previously unseen information of high value.

The big deal is that companies can more easily and cost-effectively do what superpowers like Amazon, Google, IBM, and Apple have been doing - identifying and creating customers, markets, and internal efficiencies (TQM on steroids). You're going to see a lot more of KDD this year, but my guess is its name will, like TQM, evolve into something with a bit more buzz.

2010 will be the year of the Cloud, the Cutback, and the Google

I was meeting with IT execs at a Fortune 50 company today and got asked "What three things should be on our radar screen in 2010?" The three that stand out in my mind are cloud computing, IT budget cuts (mirroring the rest of the enterprise), and all things Google. And the three go hand-in-hand.

The Internet has been driving down the cost of doing business for years. In 2010, cloud computing and online apps will drop the price to a lower plateau. Upstart businesses, who can't get business loans these days, are enabled because they understand you don't need your own data center loaded with servers anymore. Corporate leaders are quickly getting wise to this movement. Their IT departments cost a fortune. For the head honchos, the game-changing potential of cloud computing is extremely intriguing.

Businesses that combine the cloud with data analytics and Google (present and future) apps and mix in some creative ingenuity will be able to do some big things in improving their sales and their bottom line.