Those of us who rushed our UPS carrier in April, refusing to wait another moment for Apple’s then-new iPad, were willing to overlook a few flaws. The device, after all, was sleek and awesome, maybe the best way yet of consuming content (think videos, photos, and web pages). But deep down, we knew: When it came to creating content, the iPad was a work in progress. Sure, there were apps that let you tap out notes with the virtual keyboard or even write freehand with a finger. But most of these had been designed for the iPhone. There was little that took advantage of the iPad’s unique capabilities — namely, that huge screen.
The result was something of a cruel joke. Lawyers — who live and die by their PDFs — found that the iPad was great for reading documents but lousy for marking them up. All of those folks saying the iPad would never replace the laptop were missing the point. What lawyers really wanted to replace was that briefcase full of files.
