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Call me Killjoy. Those of you who are anticipating the delivery of a pre-ordered iPad at the end of this month should be prepared for disappointment. The ultra-hyped gadget from Apple has got a lot of early-adopting tech-heads all of a quiver, but there’s bad news – bad news aplenty. 
For a start, there are criticisms about the iPad’s size (too big), its battery (it can’t be replaced), the lack of movie-editing capabilities, the awkward virtual keyboard, the inability to run Flash, the absence of a camera…
Second, there’s the name: back in 2006, property developer Barratt was talking about building hundreds of small flats that the firm toe-curlingly called iPads. (What was wrong with, say, iSlate or iTablet, Apple?)
And third, no one seems to know what the iPad is for or why they want one. A study published last week by research firm Simpson Carter of London suggested that most of the men and women on the UK’s streets think the device is a comedy-sized iPhone. That can’t make calls.
Others assume it’s simply a slab-like laptop. And most agree that many of the practical functions are already covered by (more conveniently shaped) mobile phones and MP3 players and the like.
There are some people, of course, who won’t be dissuaded. They’re Apple fanatics who want an iPad because, according to Simpson Carter, it’s ‘new and flashy’. I quizzed a few tech-loons who have the gadget on order; they couldn’t do anything other than gush vaguely about shininess and eye-popping applications.
It’s the applications that could put off a lot of tax professionals from treating themselves to an iPad. A quick search of the iTunes store shows there are – at the time of writing – a mere nine apps related to tax (compared to nearly 300 for the iPhone).
One or two look useful, mind. The universal VAT calculator is quite handy, but it’s not something a seasoned tax expert needs. The tax calculator isn’t much good to users in the UK because it’s Americanised.
Whither the killer app that’s basically an online self assessment form that does all the work for you? If you’d like to write one or know someone who would, please get in touch with Taxation. We might be willing to sponsor it or associate with it in some other way.
One thing to bear in mind when creating the app: testers have lambasted other applications for being overwhelmingly fussy (when compared to the iPhone’s clean, simple environment).
Given that tax is a fiddly business at the best of times, knocking up a thorough, friendly, intuitive tax app is going to take a heck of a lot of dedication.
There’d be room, too, for a company car calculator (one that keeps up to date with the changes in policy and legislation) – and how about a ‘should I incorporate?’ tool, or a means by which relevant tax legislation can be pulled up by entering the keywords of a particular dilemma/query?
Even something little, like a dictionary that compares the OED’s definition of a word with that of the Revenue, might be practical.
If UK tax advisers get a healthy glut of iPad apps, they can probably expect something with which, thanks to HMRC, they are very familiar: inconsistency. It seems the tools currently available across the whole range don’t all work in the same way. That means, for instance, that touching a picture can have about five different results – from nothing, to popping up navigation choices.
So, developers: spare a thought for tax professionals throughout the UK. By making their lives easier through reliable apps, you can in a small way improve the state of the country’s tax system.
At the very least, you’ll give a lot of people, who by their nature veer towards the nerdish, something new to play with.
