iPad - a Tool or a Toy?

Young Professionals Corner
iPad - a Tool or a Toy?
John M. Adams III, SIOR, CCIM, founding principal and broker for Cornerstone Commercial |
Cushman Wakefield Alliance in Knoxville, Tennessee, is involved in the sales and leasing of
office properties. John previously was with Wood Properties and was involved in real estate
sales and leasing.
I was one of the lucky winners of the first generation iPad at the
Fall 2010 SIOR conference in San Antonio. Thank you again
KDC Real Estate Development & Investments.
Before winning the iPad, I was hesitant to purchase one,
because I could not figure out how useful it would be for my
business. Having an iPhone, I could see some of the positives, but
I could also see what seemed like more negatives in going away
from my laptop.
During the first month I was often asked how I liked the iPad
and how I was using it. At that time I was very glad that I had not
spent $700 on the toy that my two children (ages two and four)
used more than I did.
However, over the last several months, I have begun to change
my tone. I have slowly determined that there are many useful
applications as well as many fun games. I now use the iPad daily
in just about everything I do.
Below are several of the many applications that I have found
to be very useful on a daily basis:
Cloud Storage
I have all of my documents on my PC
saved in DropBox® and SugarSync®.
These two applications are very similar; think of these apps as a virtual
hard drive. I am able to access all my
documents through these applications on my iPad, iPhone, and
through any computer with internet access. Below are several
example of how this works:
• When you open an e-mail with an attachment on your
iPad, these apps allow you to save it for future use.
• When someone calls about a property when I am out of
the office, I can quickly bring up the flyer in DropBox and
e-mail to the prospect.
• When I am showing a property, I open the floor plan and
flyer in DropBox. We can view either document while we
are viewing the space. I can e-mail the document to them if
they want it for future use.
Document Editing
My first problem I encountered when I opened one
of my documents through DropBox on my iPad was
that I could not edit them. DocsToGo® is an app
that allows you to edit word, excel, and powerpoint
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files. It also allows you to view PDF’s and e-mail attachments.
Once you edit with DocsToGo, you can save the document back
to DropBox. I use this app to make quick edits to word or excel
documents if I am out of the office. This app can also be used to
make presentations to clients. You can view either a powerpoint
document or a pdf through DocsToGo. I have found that it is
easier to make the presentation of a PDF document.
Notetaking
Noteshelf® has taken the place of my yellow pad
and scratch paper that I used to take notes. I have a
stylus that I use to write just like I was writing on
my yellow pad. The final straw for me was when
I could not find my notebook one day when I was
looking for a note that I had made. I use Noteshelf more than any
other app that I have. I take all my notes when I am on the phone
or in a meeting in this program. After I take the notes this app
allows me to e-mail my notes, print them and save them to, yes
you guessed it, DropBox. So even if I lost my iPad it is backed
up in Dropbox.
Task Tracker
Toodledo® is my to-do list. This application is a
web based product. I have the Toodledo website
opened on my computer to make my to-do lists.
This syncs with outlook, my iPad and iPhone, so it
is with me at all times. When I have a phone call to
make, a listing presentation to start, or an errand to run, I make
a note with a reminder in Toodledo. These reminders can be for
something I have to do today or down the road.
Remote Desktop
I have used GoToMyPC® for years on my laptops or any computer when I am out of the office.
It allows me to literally “go to my pc” from any
computer with an internet connection. This application was just released several months ago. I actually
don’t have to use this as much as I did in the past because of
DropBox, but it is still a very useful app. I use this app when I am
out of the office and need to make more substantial changes to a
word document or if I am sorting and making substantial changes
to an excel document. I often use GoToMyPC when I am looking
for an e-mail that is older than the e-mails that show up in my
phone.
professional report | 2nd Quarter 2011
Young Professionals Corner
Social Media
Facebook, Twitter, &
Linkedin all are on
the iPad as well. Most
of the time I access
the social media sites
on my iPad when I am in the car or waiting to go into a meeting. The great thing about the iPad is that you don’t have to wait
for it to boot up like a laptop. When I am at a traffic light I can
quickly turn on my iPad and look at the latest tweets or facebook
updates.
E-Readers and Magazines
The SIOR Professional Report now has an app.
You can view the SIOR tweets and read the
Professional Report from your iPad. I am finding
that I use my iPad more and more to read articles,
magazines and books. The Professional Report is a
great example of this. I don’t carry around books or
magazines around anymore. I always have them
with me when I have my iPad. The kindle and the
ibook both are great resources for e-readers on your
iPad. Currently I am reading a couple of different
books on my iPad. What I like about reading books
or articles on my iPad is that I can easily copy and
paste sections that I would like to review later. I
have created a folder in DropBox that contains
notes and pieces of articles.
There are two ways that I have found to copy and paste:
• If you hold your finger near the area that you want to
copy a little icon will pop up labeled “copy.” You can copy
the word or expand to copy several pages. From here you
can paste this into a blank word document in DocsToGo.
This word document can be saved into DropBox from here.
• The other way to copy a picture, a map, an article, a
document, a page of a lease, or even a street view from
Google is to tap the only two buttons on the iPad at the
What mobile apps or digital
services are you using to
enhance your business? We
want to know!
Let us know on Facebook and
Twitter!
E-mail us at [email protected]
same time. Think of this as taking a picture with a camera.
This creates a screen shot and saves the screen into your
photos. From here you can e-mail, print or copy the photo.
Another trick is to open DropBox and click on the photo
button. This allows you to save all your photos or one photo
at a time into DropBox. Once the photo is in DropBox, it
can be opened using Noterize. This app allows you to add
text boxes, highlight or make notes right on the photo. I
also use Noterize to make comments on leases when I am
reviewing them.
Property Searches
For those of you that use Loopnet, they now have
an app too. It uses GPS to locate your current location. You can select properties for sale or for lease.
The map will bring up all the properties around
you under the category you choose. You can easily
move the map around to see other available properties that are
available close by. I use this app to search properties when I am
out of the office. I use my current location to view all the available properties nearby.
Calculators
Most of us use one of the HP calculators. This is
one of the more expensive apps that I have purchased, but it is one that I use daily. I use the HP
10bII calculator app for my iPhone and iPad. It
works just like you are using the real thing.
Dictation
Dictation Dragon is a great app to use while you
are in the car. This is the best dictation app that I
have found. It will store your dictation as a note
in the app, it allows you to e-mail the note, cut or
copy the app to another app, or post it to Facebook
or Twitter.
As you can see from above, I have determined that the iPad is a
valuable tool in my everyday business. My two children still play
games on it just about every night when I get home. I would be
lying if I said that I don’t have my fair share of games that I play
as well. If I could purchase stock in DropBox, I probably would.
DropBox has been a valuable tool for me and I have been able to
find many apps that are compatible with DropBox. If you have
an iPad and are not utilizing all of its tools, I would encourage
you to take some of these apps and try them out. I also would recommend spending some time searching iTunes for apps as well.
The reviews that are done on the apps prove to be accurate. I also
have been viewing demonstrations on YouTube of apps that I am
interested in purchasing before I actually make the purchase. I
hope that you have found this information useful. Feel free to
contact me at 865-256-2719 or [email protected] if
you have questions on any of these apps.
professional report | 2nd Quarter 2011
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