It’s pretty much impossible to work in information technology in the AEC industry and not be aware of Lachmi Khemlani’s AECbytes newsletter and website. I find it to be one of the best resources anywhere for technology product development news and industry technology trends.  This month Lachmi is tackling iPad Apps for AEC in two parts. The first is focused on the architect’s side of the fence in an article on Design and Visualization in which she talks about the usual suspects – Graphisoft, Autodesk, and Abvent – and then finished up the article with a review of Architactile Inception.

I especially love that Lachmi begins and end the article with reflections on her own relationship with the iPad, being a somewhat reluctant adopter, having limited expectations and ultimately coming to recognize the productive power of Apple’s little tablet. I think this is a common experience for those that really put forth some effort in integrating iPad into their daily life. And I also think this sort of endorsement for iPad is so much more meaningful that the normal fanboy and hater rhetoric that’s unfortunately much more prevalent.

I particularly enjoyed her closing remarks as it’s a poignant point that close to home for us. She writes

When my iPad was delivered, the FedEx employee delivering it commented, as he was handing the package to me, “Here’s your new toy.” (Apparently, he could look at the address it had been sent from and figure out that it was an iPad.) I didn’t think much of this comment at first, but seeing the app from Inception that is priced like any other desktop computer application makes me wonder when the iPad will go beyond being seen as a “toy” and as a serious business tool by AEC professionals.

Great article. Worth the read. See the full article on AECbytes.