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Comment by bjplink | Hacker News Reader

As I was tracking the press conference on the live blogs I had the same thoughts as you did.

One of my larger clients is a factory setting using a custom built web app for, among many things, inventory control. When it comes time to do physical hard counts we've been stuck using crappy Dell laptops and pads of legal paper. The 16 gig iPad is perfectly priced and seems more than capable of handling our web app. I'm pretty excited about the possibilities for the iPad in industrial/factory settings.

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We did our full physical inventory using MC70s http://www.barcodesinc.com/symbol/mc70.htm last month and had absolutely no problems. I bought a total of twelve Wifi MC70s at a cost of $1600 each. I would have absolutely no problem buying 20 iPads if they can replace the mountains of paperwork that need to be filled in manually for every single production run of a pharma product. I would have bought a CrunchPad for $300-ish but I'm willing to pay more for iPad because of the battery life and quality. Now I just need to find cheap barcode scanners that plug into the 30pin instead of USB.

> Now I just need to find cheap barcode scanners that plug into the 30pin instead of USB.

That's going to be tough. Apple controls the 30-pin connector and I haven't heard of any barcode scanners. You're probably better off looking for Bluetooth. Since it supports BT keyboards, you could likely find one that pairs as a keyboard. Won't be cheap, but hey neither were the MC70s.

There is a 30pin -> USB connector accessory with iPad by default. That will help with the interface, but how will you get data out of it ?

Google Docs

>There is a 30pin -> USB connector accessory with iPad by default. That will help with the interface, but how will you get data out of it ?

Really, a web enabled tablet computer can't use google docs to solve this problem?

The issue isn't getting the SKUs off the iPad, it's getting them off the scanner and onto the iPad. The iPad includes a USB connector to charge and sync, not to access devices with. There aren't public APIs to access USB devices--the accessories you see that use the 30-pin go the other way (getting music off typically).

Well, the question how to get data off of it. Which I answered and got hammered on and now sit in negative karma territory for my trouble (thanks guys! downvote abuse is awesome!). But whatever, apparently actual answers aren't valued.

Getting data onto them (such as scanning barcodes) is a separate question.

Apple claims all of the existing app store apps will work on the iPad. But I wonder how many require things like the camera to function?

http://www.ismashphone.com/2009/05/red-laser-the-first-accur...

That number is actually probably a bit lower due to "broken by design" problems like this.

I'd wager that we'll see an iPad camera accessory offered within 6-12 months that connects nicely to the 30-pin.

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