One of my sons is a certified Audi Technician.  You and I used to call them mechanics, but that’s another story.

I stopped by the other day to take him to lunch.  He told me he would be a couple of minutes, working on a blown turbocharger (I bet THAT’S expensive) and would be with me in a couple of minutes.  ”No problem; take your time”, I told him.  I didn’t expect what came out of his mouth next.

“Can you hand me a 17mm socket wrench and my iPad?”, he asked a fellow technician nearby.

Without pause, his teammate handed him a wrench and an iPad wrapped in a protective case (I later learned is was an OtterBox that looked like you could run the iPad over with a Mac Truck and not hurt it.)

What was happening here?  I work in a high-tech world, and although I know automobiles have become highly technical and computerized since my first car (a 1965 Mustang…oh yeah), I didn’t expect this.

At lunch, over a buffalo chicken sandwich and a jalapeño cheeseburger, I discovered that the iPad was “the way everything is going”.  Like you, I thought it was just a cool device for checking email, running some fun apps, and doing the social network thing.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Instead of big bulky paper maintenance guides, they were using the iPad to deliver technical content to the mechanics, er, technicians.  Not only did it not tear or stain (kudos to Otterbox), but it was lightweight, always open to the desired “page”, and – as I found out – most importantly it was always up-to-date!

I struggled with this for a bit.  Super-cool techno dream meets grease and grime.  It didn’t seem to fit.  Then it hit me.  Always up-to-date.  And what I considered a fragile and precious device was not so fragile and, considering the relatively low cost of each, not so precious.

Since that changing day I have now heard of auto manufacturers including an iPad in the glovebox of cars instead of the traditional user manual.  Always up-to-date!  Airlines are using the iPad as a substitute for traditional operating manuals in the cockpit of airplanes, reducing weight dramatically and increasing fuel efficiency.  And they are always up-to-date!

How might you and your company use an iPad for something other than web browsing, news, and weather?  I think we’re all going to find out pretty quickly.  Let me know if you have plans to use the device in interesting ways in your business.