Letter from Steve Jobs to “the Apple Board of Directors and the Apple Communty” dated August 24, 2011:
I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.
I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.
As far as my successor goes, I strongly recommend that we execute our succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO of Apple.
I believe Apple’s brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role.
I have made some of the best friends of my life at Apple, and I thank you all for the many years of being able to work alongside you.
CUPERTINO, California—August 24, 2011—Apple’s Board of Directors today announced that Steve Jobs has resigned as Chief Executive Officer, and the Board has named Tim Cook, previously Apple’s Chief Operating Officer, as the company’s new CEO. Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board and Cook will join the Board, effective immediately.
“Steve’s extraordinary vision and leadership saved Apple and guided it to its position as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company,” said Art Levinson, Chairman of Genentech, on behalf of Apple’s Board. “Steve has made countless contributions to Apple’s success, and he has attracted and inspired Apple’s immensely creative employees and world class executive team. In his new role as Chairman of the Board, Steve will continue to serve Apple with his unique insights, creativity and inspiration.”
“The Board has complete confidence that Tim is the right person to be our next CEO,” added Levinson. “Tim’s 13 years of service to Apple have been marked by outstanding performance, and he has demonstrated remarkable talent and sound judgment in everything he does.”
Jobs submitted his resignation to the Board today and strongly recommended that the Board implement its succession plan and name Tim Cook as CEO.
As COO, Cook was previously responsible for all of the company’s worldwide sales and operations, including end-to-end management of Apple’s supply chain, sales activities, and service and support in all markets and countries. He also headed Apple’s Macintosh division and played a key role in the continued development of strategic reseller and supplier relationships, ensuring flexibility in response to an increasingly demanding marketplace.
Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced iPad 2 which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.
I know that I speak for all readers of iPhone J.D. when I say thank you to Steve Jobs and wish all the best for him and his family.
LogMeIn Ignition is one of the most useful apps on my iPhone and iPad. The app allows you to access your computer (either Mac or PC) when you are away from your home or office. I find the iPhone app useful when I am on the go and need to quickly grab a file from my desktop or quickly access some function on my PC that I cannot accomplish in a native iPhone app. On my iPad, I make extensive use of LogMeIn when I am travelling. My most recent review of the app is here, and even more features have been added since I wrote that review nine months ago including a great option that lets you view a list of files on a remote computer and download a specific file. With LogMeIn Ignition, I can use my iPad, usually paired with an Apple Bluetooth Keyboard, to access my work computer even when I am away from the office and get virtually anything done that I could do if I was in front of the actual computer. It is one of the key reasons that I can travel with just an iPad and keyboard and never miss leaving my computer in my office.
The LogMeIn Ignition app usually sells for $30, but every once in a while the price is reduced to $20. I bought my copy during a $20 sale back in 2009. But right now the company is running a “back to school” 50% off sale, which means that the app is only $15. This is the lowest price that I have ever seen for this app. If you don’t own the app already, I strongly urge you to consider picking it up right now when you can do so for such a low price. It is a universal app so you can buy it once and use it on both an iPhone and an iPad.
Thanks to California attorney David Sparks (of MacSparky and the Mac Power Users podcast) for alerting me to this price drop.
Click here to get LogMeIn Ignition for iPhone and iPad (usually $29.99, but only $14.99 for a limited time):
I suspect that when most people think of the “work week” they think of Monday to Friday. But some people work shifts that do not depend on the days of the week, such as three days on and one day off, ten days on and ten days off, etc. This probably doesn’t apply to many attorneys, but it may apply to your clients or witnesses. Trying to figure out whether a person is working six weeks from now can be difficult when you cannot just look to see whether it is a Monday to Friday or a weekend. Workdays by Radislav is a simple app that allows you to quickly make these calculations.
To use the app, simply indicate the number of days that the person is working, the number of days off, and the start date. The app will then present you with a traditional calendar that has different colored days. A workday has a grey background; a day off has a colored background.
If you tap on a specific day on the calendar, it will show you all of the events that you have for that day (from the iPhone’s normal Calendar app) and will also tell you at the bottom whether it is a workday or a day off.
You can scroll through months by tapping the arrows at the top, or faster yet just swipe up or down. You can also touch a dimmed non-active month to make it active. To jump to a specific date, touch the date in the header.
The default color scheme is red and grey, but you can easily change that from within the app. I like the Azure color scheme:
The developer told me that he created the app to help out some friends who worked in shifts and were always “torturing their brains trying to calculate their workdays sequence for a few weeks ahead.” I love iPhone apps such as this one that address a very specific need in a simple and elegant way.
On April 19, 1998, I bought a Palm III organizer, and I was a happy user of Palm products from then until July 22, 2008 when I retired my Treo 650 for an iPhone 3G. Even though I haven't used Palm products in three years, after that decade of use, I always cheered for Palm from the sidelines. When the Palm Pre was announced, I thought it would be the first really good competitor to the iPhone, and when HP purchased Palm last year for $1.2 billion, I hoped that the resources of HP would allow the Palm Pre and the webOS to flourish. So it was with some sadness that I read the announcement from HP's CEO Leo Apotheker yesterday afternoon that HP is killing off the Pre and the TouchPad, and is likely to exit from the PC business altogether to instead focus on services and software, somewhat similar to what IBM did years ago when it sold off the ThinkPad line of laptop computers to Lenovo. It seems like it was just yesterday (2004) that HP was partnering with Apple to sell an HP branded iPod. With the Palm Pre dead, is there any chance that we'll someday see an HP branded iPhone? No, I didn't think so either. And now, let's wipe away the tears for what was once the great Palm brand, and move on to the iPhone and iPad news of the week:
If you are a looking to read a good article on yesterday's HP announcements and what Apple had to do with it, I recommend MG Siegler's article at TechCrunch.
Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs will be released on November 21, 2011, just in time for the holiday buying season. A great author and a colorful subject; I suspect it will be a good read. Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Fortune has an article with a picture of the book cover and more information on the upcoming book.
In the past, Starbucks has given out cards with each purchase that could be redeemed for a free song on iTunes. Josh Lowensohn of CNET writes that Starbucks is now giving away cards that can be redeemed for iPhone apps, starting with the fun Shazam Encore app that can identify a song just by listening to it.
Mississippi attorney Tom Freeland discusses a way to bypass the iPhone's passcode requirement by using a computer with a program called PhoneVault.
Peter Kafka of All Things D shares a video from 1994 in which newspaper publisher Knight Ridder predicts a future in which newspapers are available on tablet computers.
Bob Tedeschi of the New York Times recommends apps for wine lovers.
And finally, I have used FaceTime on my iPhone and iPad to allow an out-of-town relative join the rest of my family for things like singing happy birthday, but others have taken it much farther. Nicole Martinelli of Cult of Mac relates a story from the ABC affiliate station in Denver, Channel 7, about a woman who couldn't make her friend's wedding but was still able to be a bridesmaid by using an iPad to establish a virtual presence. A groomsman walked the iPad down the aisle and she experienced the ceremony and the reception using FaceTime. Here are some pictures from the news report, which you can watch here:
The iPhone 4 usually does a great job of lasting all day before the battery runs out, but on those days when you are out of the office and using your iPhone the most, you may find your battery running low in the afternoon, which means it is time to use a battery to recharge the iPhone. I’ve long been a fan of the RichardSolo batteries because they are tiny enough to carry around, but the downside is that they hang off the iPhone when attached — not a problem if you are at a desk, but awkward if you are on the go. The solution is to use an iPhone case that doubles as a battery. XPAL Power recently sent me a free review unit of its $70 PowerSkin case and battery for the iPhone. It works very well.
It is very quick and easy to insert an iPhone 4 into a PowerSkin. Just slide the iPhone into the connector at the bottom of the unit and then fit the silicone rubber around the iPhone. If you look at a picture of the book of the PowerSkin, there is a line near the top that makes it appear as if there are two parts, but this is a one-piece design so you don’t have to worry about it coming apart.
The PowerSkin covers the iPhone’s Sleep/Wake and volume buttons with rubber buttons so that you can still access those controls. The PowerSkin has openings for the headphone port, the mute switch and for the camera and flash.
The PowerSkin obviously adds to the weight and size of your iPhone. The PowerSkin weighs 2.88 ounces (the iPhone 4 alone weighs about 4.8 ounces) so it adds about 50% to your iPhone’s weight. It also doubles the thickness of your iPhone; without a case the iPhone 4 is 0.37 inches, and when in the PowerSkin it is 0.77 inches. With that extra size and weight, however, you do get some protection for your iPhone. The silicone rubber provides impact-protection for the back and sides of the iPhone, and the non-slip surface makes it much less likely that the iPhone will slip out of your hands.
Once connected, your iPhone starts charging. This is a 2000 mAh battery so it roughly doubles the iPhone’s power; if you are close to 0% power left, the PowerSkin will charge you almost all of the way back to 100%. There is a single button at the bottom of the PowerSkin that performs two functions. Tap it once to see between one and four LED battery status lights illuminate to tell you how much power you have left. If the PowerSkin has a full charge, you get four lights; when less power remains, you see fewer lights. Second, you can hold down the button for two seconds to turn the PowerSkin on or off.
The PowerSkin comes with a charging cable that has a Micro USB plug on one end that connects to the side of the PowerSkin and a USB plug on the other end. You can plug that into a USB port on your computer to charge the PowerSkin and the iPhone. (It will first charge your iPhone, and then charge the PowerSkin.) Or you can plug the cord into a standard USB power adapter, such as the one that comes with the iPhone, to charge your iPhone and the PowerSkin. If you connect the cord to your computer, you can even sync your iPhone while it is in the PowerSkin.
If you are looking for an iPhone battery that fits around the iPhone, making it easy to carry and providing some protection for the iPhone, the PowerSkin is a great product.
A few months ago, I reviewed the Tom Bihn Ristretto Bag. I continue to use the bag every day when I go to and from work and when I travel, and it works like a champ. It holds my iPad and all of the iPhone and iPad accessories that I want to have with me, and it is very easy to carry. When I posted my original review, D.C. attorney Jason Bergmann commented: “One of the command keys broke off of my bluetooth keyboard when I was pulling the keyboard out of the bag when it was fairly full. For that reason, I also use a sleeve for the keyboard, which I got from Waterfield Designs and like very much.” The Apple Wireless Keyboard is a must-have iPad accessory for me; I don’t use it at home very often, but I use it extensively when I travel. I had been just tossing the keyboard into the Ristretto without thinking much about it, but Bergmann’s comment made me second-guess my actions. Perhaps the folks at Tom Bihn were reading my mind because soon after that, Tom Bihn sent me a free review unit of a new $30 product called the Cache for Apple Wireless Keyboard. I have been testing it for several weeks now, and it works great.
There is not much to say about the Cache because the design is so simple, and I’m using the word “simple” in a good way. The Apple Wireless Keyboard is a snug but easy fit in the case, which is tapered to follow the wedge shape of the keyboard. You insert the keyboard so that the battery side of the keyboard is near the flap, although you can use it either with the keys on the bottom or the keys on the top. The Cache is padded so the keyboard is protected from anything scraping against it or yanking off one of the keys. There is a flap on the Cache that can be tucked into the opening to keep it closed.
The only real disadvantage to the Cache is that, because it is padded, the keyboard takes up more space in a bag when you are using the Cache. The keyboard by itself is only about .75″ thick at the largest part (the part at the back that holds the batteries). The Cache with a keyboard inside is about 1.5″ thick at its largest point, so it is almost like taking up the space of two keyboards. But considering that damaging the keyboard is a real possibility if you don’t use something like the Cache, I think it is worth it.
Additionally, I like the Cache because it is simple and stylish. I have seen other attorneys use all sorts of things to store an Apple Wireless Keyboard, including the original box that the keyboard came in. I suppose that works, but I think it looks much more professional to have a keyboard in something like the Cache.
You can pay less for a product that holds a keyboard. Bergmann mentioned the products from Waterford Designs, and their least expensive product is the $15 Keyboard Socket. (For more protection, they also offer the $29 Keyboard Slip, which costs the same as the Tom Bihn Cache.) But like all of the other Tom Bihn products that I have tested, the Cache is very well designed and manufactured, stylish, and works very well. If you use a Tom Bihn Ristretto or any other bag or briefcase to carry your iPad and accessories, I can recommend the Cache to protect your Apple Wireless Keyboard from damage, not to mention to prevent that keyboard from scratching and damaging any other item in your bag.
Google announced yesterday its intention to purchase Motorola Mobility, the part of Motorola that sells cell phones such as the Droid and tablets such as the Xoom. Assuming that the deal goes through, Google will make both the Android operating system and some of the leading phones and tablets that use that operating system. In other words, just like Apple with its iPhone and iPad, Google will make the whole product, software and hardware, even though Google will also continue to license Android software to other hardware manufacturers such as HTC and Samsung.
Reports indicate that the primary reason that Google purchased Motorola was patents. Google wanted all of the Motorola patents to defend patent claims against Android by companies such as Apple and Microsoft. Indeed, Om Malik reports that the primary reason that Google bought Motorola is that Microsoft was also trying to buy Motorola just to get the patents.
[UPDATE: For an excellent analysis of why Google was forced to buy Motorola, read this report by Horace Dediu in the Harvard Business Review.]
But even if Google was ultimately pressured into buying Motorola just so that nobody else would get those patents, the fact remains that Google now has the opportunity to create every part of an Android phone, both the software and the hardware. This might not be good news for the other companies making Android phones, but if Google does a good job, it creates the possibility that we will see some really great phones in the future from, um, Googorola, or Moto-ogle, or something like that. As Andy Ihnatko of the Chicago Sun Times explained, most of the time when you purchase an Android phone, you find it loaded with all sorts of useless apps that you don’t want and can’t remove just because another company paid to have them included — “crapware” that those of us who use the iPhone never have to see. Now we have the opportunity to see a lot of new mobile phones that present the pure Google experience. And Motorola’s engineers certainly know a thing or two about phones. I remember the days when all of the cool attorneys were using a Motorola StarTAC, the first flip phone.
The smartphone market is a huge market, and there is a lot of room for Apple to sell tons of iPhones while other companies also sell tons of other smartphones. My hope is always that the iPhone’s competition remains of high quality so that Apple is encouraged to continue its innovation and bring us even better iPhones. Google’s purchase of Motorola may have had its roots in patent disputes, but my hope is that one of the side benefits is that we see Google-Motorola designing and manufacturing some really great Android smartphones in the future.
Every year in December, the ABA publishes its list of the top 100 law blogs (blawgs) in the ABA Journal. The blawgs are divided into categories, and then people are allowed to vote for their favorite blawg. I really appreciate it that so many of you voted for iPhone J.D. in the legal technology category last year; it was a great honor to win, especially because the publicity brought more lawyers to this site and helped more lawyers make the most of their iPhones and iPads. The ABA is starting to make selections for this year’s list and is asking for your help in the form of “Amici” submissions. Click on this link if you want to tell the ABA Journal editors about one or more blawgs that you enjoy, whether it be iPhone J.D. or any other blog. The deadline for submissions is September 9, 2011. And now on to the iPhone and iPad news of the week:
First on Tuesday, and then several other times this week, Apple’s market cap was ahead of ExxonMobil, making Apple the stock market’s most valuable company. I’m not sure what real significance there is to being first or second, but it is interesting that only 15 years ago, Apple was seemingly on the edge of going out of business, and now it is the world’s most valuable company, a point that I first saw mentioned by Nick Bilton of the New York Times on Twitter. Daniel Eran Dilger has a great chart on AppleInsider comparing Apple, ExxonMobil and Microsoft stock over the past decade.
Do you use an iPad instead of a notebook computer? I certainly do. If you count iPads in the category of notebook computers, then Apple would easily be considered the #1 seller of notebook computers, as noted by John Paczkowski of All Things D, citing a report from Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore.
Victoria L. Herring, an attorney in Des Moines, Iowa, discusses the use of the iPad in the practice of law in an article for GP Solo.
Oakland, CA attorney Jeffrey Allen discusses his mobile attorney tools — including the iPad and iPhone — in another article for GP Solo.
Dave Johnson of PC World offers tips for taking better pictures with a smartphone camera.
Attorney Bill Latham of The Hytech Lawyer discusses using GoToMeeting to give a presentation in which the PowerPoint slides appear on each person’s iPad instead of on a central screen.
Dennis O’Reilly of CNET offers advice for keeping the data on your iPad safe.
California attorney David Sparks argues the case for plain text in an article for Macworld.
Erica Ogg of GigaOm recommends iPhone apps to use when you travel.
Attorney Nilay Patel of This is My Next discusses and defends the patent system, a frequent object of criticism in these days of countless lawsuits between smartphone manufacturers.
Attorney Reid Trautz writes about seeing iPads everywhere.
Jonathan Ezor, a professor at the Touro Law Center, reviews the HP TouchPad, HP’s answer to the iPad, for Law Technology News.
Darrell Etherington of GigaOm reviews the PadPivot, a small foldable stand that makes it easy to hold an iPad on your lap.
Kevin Tofil of GigaOm describes a report from mobile ad company Jumptap indicating the most popular smartphone in each state. The map shows mostly iPhone use in the North and mostly Android use in the South, except that Louisiana is a southern state in which the iPhone dominates. I’ll take credit for that.
And finally, this has nothing to do with the iPhone or iPad, but if you love Apple products you probably also appreciate the work of Steve Jobs’ other company, Pixar. Cimaron Neugebauer of The Salt Lake Tribune wrote about a house in Salt Lake City built to look exactly like the house that flies away with baloons in Pixar’s Up movie, and the paper produced this video showing off the house. Very cute:
ThinkGeek sells gadgets, computer equipment, T-shirts and toys that appeal to people who love technology. Every year for April Fool’s Day, folks at ThinkGeek come up with a series of joke products that are funny but occasionally so interesting that people wish that they could actually buy it. On April 1, 2010, ThinkGeek pretended to offer for sale the iCade, a device that would turn the then brand-new iPad into an arcade machine. Many folks (for example, Chris Davies of SlashGear) commented that people would buy this if it were actually for sale. This led ThinkGeek to team up with iON Audio, a company known for linking retro with high technology (for example, they sell a USB turntable), to work on bringing the iCade to the market. A year later, they did it, and the iCade is now for sale for $100.
I hesitated before accepting a free review unit of the iCade. iPhone J.D. is clearly not an iPhone or iPad game site. (If you are looking for one of those, I recommend Touch Arcade.) But I figure that there are a lot of attorneys like me who are of the right age to remember visiting their local mall or neighborhood arcade in the 1980s to play the classic games like Asteroids, Missile Command, Pac Man, Galaga, Donkey Kong, etc. For those of us, the idea of using the iPad to relive some of those halcyon days of youth is almost irresistible.
So I have been trying out the iCade for the last few weeks. I deputized my son, who is almost six, to serve as my assistant tester. The iCade is well designed and nicely constructed. The wooden case is sturdy, and the top lifts open so that you can easily insert your iPad. The controls communicate with your iPad via Bluetooth, so you need to pair your iPad with the iCade to use it. Just press any button on the iCade and the button at the bottom that simulates a quarter slot lights up, which causes the iCade to show up in an iPad’s list of Bluetooth devices.
The controls work well — not as sturdy as what you would find on a real arcade machine, but they definitely do the job and can withstand a lot of abuse. I don’t play a lot of games on the iPad, but I know that games with virtual joysticks and buttons are not as easy to use. That’s why I prefer games like Angry Birds that are designed with a touch screen in mind, working with swipes and gestures instead of working when virtual buttons are pressed. Being able to use a real joystick and a real button with a game makes a huge difference for games designed for a joystick and a real button.
The main shortcoming with the iCade is the availability of games. The iCade is advertised to work with only one app, the Atari’s Greatest Hits app. Fortunately, that one app contains lots of different games, 100 in total. Many of those are Atari 2600 games. As someone who spent MANY hours in my youth playing an Atari 2600, those bring back great memories, but with a few exceptions I don’t think that they hold up very well over time. (One standout for me: even with its simple graphics, Yar’s Revenge seems as fun today as it was in 1981.) Playing the old Atari 2600 games reminds me that some of my favorite games on the 2600 came not from Atari but from other companies such as Activision, and obviously those games are not included in this app.
But the real stars of the Atari’s Greatest Hits app are the arcade games, and those tend to hold up rather well. The app includes Atari classics such as Asteroids, Missile Command, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Pong and Tempest. Note that the app itself is free and includes Missile Command, but to get other games you either need to pay $14.99 for all 100 games or pay $0.99 for packages that contain four games. I bought several of the packages to try them out. For example, the Centipede Pack gives you the two arcade versions of Centipede and Millipede and the two 2600 versions of those games. When playing Centipede on the iCade, I find myself wishing I was using a track ball (like the original), and when playing Tempest I find myself wishing that I had a knob to turn (like the original), but for most of these games the joystick works well, and certainly works much better than the virtual controls that you have to use to play Atari’s Greatest Hits without an iCade.
To solve the problem of not enough games, ThinkGeek and iCade have released a free Software Development Kit (SDK) so that other app developers can make their apps work with the iCade. So far, there are only a few games available, such as a free Tetris-like game called Compression HD. It works very well with the iCade controls, and makes me hope that other developers update their games to support the iCade. I would love to play other classic arcade games on the iCade — such as NAMCO’s Ms. Pac-Man, which is already available as an iPad app and just needs someone to add iCade support. Fortunately, there are signs that more games are coming. Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica interviewed one game developer who said that adding support for iCade only takes a few hours, which suggests that we should see more iCade suport in the future. TouchArcade has a list of the games with iCade support, about a dozen so far. [UPDATE 8/18/2011: See also this post for a good list of compatible games from TouchArcade.]
For example, just this week, a free game called Match Panic was updated to add iCade support. Match Panic is a simple but entertaining game. Pictures appear on the screen and you tap on the left or right side of the screen to match the picture. But you must do so before the timer runs down, so the game is fast paced. Sometimes the pictures have bonus features such as a bomb which quickly eliminates a number of the pictures that you need to match. The game works on both the iPhone and iPad, and while the visuals are nice on the large screen of the iPad, it is actually harder to play than on the iPhone just because it is more awkward to touch the larger screen. On the iCade, however, the iPad version of the game is fantastic. The game uses the iCade’s buttons, not the joystick, and you push either a left or a right button to correspond to the two sides of the screen. On the iCade, you can play the game much faster with the real buttons and thus get higher scores and get to higher levels, plus the game just feels a lot more fun when you are using real buttons. Match Panic also takes advantage another feature of the iCade: a ledge that will actually support the iPad in landscape mode, which is required in this game. Indeed, Match Panic’s retro graphics seem even more at home when played on an old-style arcade machine like the iCade:
Is it worth spending $99 on the iCade? The quality of the construction is excellent and it interfaces very well with the iPad. The only problem is the small number of games. As much fun as I have had with the old Atari games — and frankly, it is amazing that video games from 30 years ago hold up so well today — for me, they do get old after a while. Note that I say “for me.” My son must have taken his job of deputy reviewer very seriously because he loves playing these games just as much today as he did when I first unboxed the iCade earlier this summer. (His favorite game right now is an arcade game called Major Havoc, a vector graphics game released in 1983 that I frankly don’t remember ever seeing at an arcade way back when.) If I was just going to play with the iCade myself, I would feel more comfortable paying $99 if there were more games that worked with it, although as noted above that is starting to improve. But if you are looking for something fun to share with others — be they people who will view the iCade with nostalgia or those of a younger generation that just enjoy playing any games — the iCade becomes more worh the price.
Having the iCade around my house reminds me that when I was a a pre-teen and young teeanger, I thought that one of the coolest things that anyone could have would be an arcade game in their own house, much like Ricky Schroder’s character did in the 1980s sitcom Silver Spoons. If that describes you as well, then the iCade will bring you hours of fun while making you feel just a little like the lucky guy in that childhood fantasy.
Bassford Remele is a full service litigation law firm in Minneapolis with about 50 attorneys. The firm was founded in 1882, but being old doesn’t mean that the firm cannot keep up with the times. This week, the law firm is giving an iPad to every single one of its attorneys.
I first heard about this decision when one of the firm’s attorneys asked me whether he should get the 16GB, 32GB or 64GB version of the iPad; the firm was going to pay for the 16GB version and let the attorneys pay the difference if they wanted other models. As I told him, 16GB is fine if you won’t use a lot of media on your iPad (pictures, videos, music), but 32GB is probably the sweet spot if you do plan to have a lot of media. The firm then decided to eliminate the anxiety over which model to get — and the administrative nightmare of ordering different models for different attorneys — by just giving every attorney the 64GB version, even though this is probably more memory than most attorneys will ever need. The firm is providing the Wi-Fi only version of the iPad, but is also providing each attorney with a Verizon MiFi with 4G and 5GB of data a month.
I’m told that the firm knew that the iPads would work well because for several years now, many Bassford attorneys have been using iPhones, and for many months now several have been using iPads. The iPads work with the firm’s Microsoft Exchange e-mail system, plus the firm uses Citrix so attorneys can use the free Citrix app to access all desktop applications.
Kevin Hickey, who chairs the firm’s Commercial Litigation Practice Group and the firm’s Technology Committee, tells me that he first got an iPad for Christmas of 2010 to store and organize his music collection and use as an e-reader, but he soon learned how useful can be in a commercial litigation practice. Hickey explains:
I bring it to depositions and use it as a note taker using the Penultimate App and then send the notes via PDF to be stored in our document management system. This reduces the number of hardly used legal pads filling up a paper file and makes the notes readily available. I bring it to hearings with all the briefs on it instead of lugging a large file to the courthouse. It also makes checking emails with attachments much easier and of course web navigation is a breeze. Recently, I brought it to a marketing lunch and pulled up an article of interest to a client and showed him our web site with the pictures and bios of those who would be on the legal team.
I have had these same types of experiences using an iPad in my practice, and I’m sure that the same is true for many of you. Positive experiences by attorneys such as Hickey led to the firm’s recent decision to give iPads to everyone.
I remember that when I first started working at law firms back in 1992 as a summer law clerk, many attorneys didn’t use e-mail, something hard to imagine today. Not many years ago, it would have seemed cutting edge for a law firm to give each of its attorneys a smartphone. Today, it seems very forward-thinking for Bassford Remele to give each of its attorneys an iPad, but I suspect that it won’t be long before this, too, becomes common. For example, earlier this year, Karen Donovan of the New York Times identified three law firms in New York that made iPads available to many of their attorneys. (Proskauer Rose made iPads available to its 700 lawyers, Holland & Knight gave iPads to all of its associates, and Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler gave all its associates a $675 Apple gift card to cover the cost of an iPad.) And late last year, David Lat of Above the Law noted that Edelson McGuire in Chicago gave all of its attorneys iPads. I’m sure that there are other examples out there … and that there will be many more soon.
Thanks to Kevin Hickey, Steve Sitek, and the other folks at Bassford Remele (including Laurie Pearcy, the Director of Administration) for providing me with information about the firm’s recent decision. And best of luck to all of the new iPad-owning attorneys in Minneapolis. If they were at my firm, I’d right now be sending them an e-mail similar to this one.
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This article won the BlawgWorld Pick of the Week. BlawgWorld is a free weekly email newsletter that links to the best articles on the Web for lawyers and law firm administrators.
