Have you handed one to a client with a GUI on it yet? We have and it secured a $500k job for us. In the past when we hand touchpanels to clients there is no spark no interest in them. Some complain about how ugly they are. When you hand an iPad to a client their eyes light up and your sales guys dont have to work as hard anymore.

IMO the ipod touch is ok as a secondary device for an outdoor zone or maybe just give some basic features of the system to the client on his iPhone because its always on him. But the iPad is simply an amazing product. Compare one to a RTI T4. The T4 is an extreme example of ugliness but it helps illustrate how far the control system manufacturers have had their heads buried in the sand.

I disagree with gwstudios on this because i think that the iPad has already replaced dedicated control system wi-fi touchpanels. I cant tell you that the iPad has been spec'd in all of our future projects. The fact that Crestron updated their entire line of touchpanels with the exception of their TPMC-8X IMO means that Crestron feels the same way i do. Once an acceptable in-wall dock hits the streets i think it will replace larger in-wall panels also. And on top of that i think it will allow us to do things like 30 iPad's instead of 10 TPMC-8X's,5 TPS-6L's,5 12 button keypads... etc.

So yeah.. it sucks that we lose margin on all of those interface sales but just think about the product your going to be putting together for your client. The iPad is making it easier for us to sell a cool experience. Of course i wish the control system manufacturers would have done it first but that ship has sailed. If you search the forum you will see how i shared your opinion all the way up until i actually held one in my hands. A project that we had all but lost for reasons outside of our control (different state/job politics) was all of a sudden OURS once the client was handed an iPad.