Cisco Releases WebEx iPad App

One more reminder to CIOs that the computing devices, they are a-changin': Cisco's launched a free app that lets iPad users tie into WebEx meetings with a few simple taps, and has quoted a big customer who loves the iPad-WebEx connection because his company "is constantly pursuing solutions that enhance mobile collaboration between our employees, partners and customers."From a Cisco press release:

That's the critical objective these days: for IT organizations to actively and aggressively deliver more mobile-based capabilities to their organizations to maximize opportunities for sales, information exchange, and other types of collaboration.

So I think the significance of this is not so much the free app that Cisco's posted on the App Store but rather just one more reminder to CIOs everywhere that the concept of "the desktop" is rapidly making its way to join "dial this number" and "broken record" as outdated terms offering little more than echoes of the past.

When the iPhone was introduced, Apple positioned it as strictly a consumer device-but within weeks, dozens and then hundreds of business applications were introduced for the iPhone. As a side note, it was hilarious to see the deeply offended reactions from some Apple zealots who screeched in the face of evidence to the contrary that "the iPhone is NOT a business tool!!!", and no doubt some of those Kool-Aid types will rant and rage that the iPad is not a business device for the simple reason that it comes from Apple and Apple doesn't make business devices.

What rubbish. Don't be sidetracked by that howling from the lunatic fringe because, as the iPhone has shown, businesses will rapidly adopt great devices regardless of their philosophical positioning. And I believe the iPad will be a raging success in the business world: smaller, lighter, cheaper, and more given to creative processes than many alternative computing devices.

A prominent industry analyst expressed similar upbeat expectations in the Cisco press release: