Giffords Using iPad

Apparently people who have an iPad, don't want to be separated from it very long. Wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has been using her iPad this morning, only about a week after she was shot in the head by alleged gunman Jared Loughner.

Using the touchscreen and scrolling through the device's information is a good sign of higher cognitive function, a Medical Center in Tucson doctor told reporters.

Giffords was shot through the head on Jan. 8 when a gunman opened fire on a gathering to meet her outside a Tucson supermarket. Six bystanders, including a federal judge and a 9-year-old girl were killed and 13 others, Giffords being one of them, were wounded.

It's unknown what Giffords was looking at or accessing from her hospital bed, but Apple has been pushing the iPad as a portable laptop alternative for business and professional needs --including working on an App Store for enterprise customers. Most workers just need to get on the company network, browse the web, view documents and presentations, and check their Facebook pages. The lightweight iPad succeeds admirably on all counts.

Giffords could easily check her e-mail from her staffers, see PDFs of pending legislation, find out what's going on at the Hill and communicate with others (she can't speak because of a breathing tube.)

Giffords, and consumers like her, will probably be the reason why Apple will double iPad sales to 24 million in 2011, Forrest Research analyst Sarah Rotman Epps wrote on her company blog:

Although they are certainly used for productivity, tablets are proving themselves to be "lifestyle devices" at home and at work, and as such we think consumers will upgrade to newer models more rapidly than they would a more utilitarian device like a PC. In other words, we think a significant number of first-generation iPad buyers will buy iPad 2 when it comes out this year -- many first-gen iPads will end up entertaining the kids in the back of the car while Mom and Dad get the shiny new (likely Facetime-compatible) model.

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