PlanGrid shows how wrong people were to think the iPad was just a toy. It turned out to be the last remaining thing the construction industry needed to go digital. I doubt Steve Jobs knew that when Apple released the iPad. Nor did we know it when we published RFS 6 (http://ycombinator.com/rfs6.html). But they knew and we knew that they were onto something.
What other industries have been waiting for the iPad? If you want to build what they need, we'd love to fund you.
Since I'm not competing in that industry anymore, I'll chime in.
If we can solve the problem plaguing small (1-5) to mid-size (5-10+) private medical, dental, and veterinary practices with a single, seamless interface for their various specializations and needs (hook into Front Office, back end, supply chain, mgmt of outsourced services like crowns/bridges/dentures and lab cultures/tests).
Everything I've seen working with practice management software is that the only difference is the hook into either AMA (CPT), ADA, and VM/VT (for veterinary practices) codes for procedures and conditions. Everything else is standard app stuff in my estimation.
The funny thing about the iPad's image as "just a toy" is that it has always been an incredibly powerful and capable computer, for a pretty reasonable price all things considered.
Many hospitals have been using tablet based computers for years. And think of all the touchscreen based systems out there. Kiosks. Some ATMs. Etc. I'm honestly somewhat curious about why so many people would think that removing a physical keyboard, changing the form factor, and making software easier to use would translate into a device becoming trivial in purpose. The only thing I can come up with is the concept of difficulty being inextricably linked with capability. The "REAL programmers debug memory dumps LIVE!" sort of machismo. If a jumbojet were so easy to pilot that a 4 year old could safely fly one I imagine people wouldn't take it very seriously for a while either.
What amuses me most about this is that we already went down this exact same road with the PC long ago. The PC was a toy, and not acceptable for use in serious business, until IBM started legitimizing the idea (after which Apple II sales shot up, ironically). And yet from day 1 the iPad has always been more capable than, say, the Apple II.
A lot of new applications can be created based on a certain industry or a problem.
For example, most of the furniture that we buy, comes with an instruction manual, bunch of hardware and sometimes tools. For many people, it is not easy to understand.
An iPad application can guide the user with voice and visuals, instructing what to do in each step. Kind of like GPS for DIY things like furniture. An advanced version can even guide how to repair a car. A youtube video may be useful as well. But the user needs to pause, rewind and it doesn't provide the interaction an App can provide.
I think an iPad application can provide the detail, guidance, error handling and can even connect to customer service in case of something wrong. This can change the way we do DYI projects. I think iPad is perfect for something like this.
The iPad will further digitize the construction industry in a way analogous to the way it will digitize the restaurant industry by replacing printed menus - those people looking to justify deploying iPads will find such justification and the product will be successful because there is a great deal of pent up demand among an increasingly well educated cadre of construction management professionals.
At the abstract level, construction is an exercise in estimating financial and temporal costs in light of various ongoing relationships and relationships of convenience. The revolutionary application will make playing "what if" a low friction exercise with a high degree of accuracy while accounting for the wide range of comfort levels with technology among people who actually build stuff. The 37signals paradigm comes to mind.
The tough problem is not replacing printed sets of plans, construction takes time and success comes from avoiding the sorts of crises depicted in the article through planning and information management - at the point the crane cannot swing 30kips of concrete into place due to lack of clearance, one is trying to minimize losses not maximize profits.
The focus on the iPad is allowing the team to address the non-critical problem paper plans present for construction professionals traveling between jobsites rather than the tackling the critical path impediments to radical change.
That critical path requires dealing with BIM. On the other hand, BIM is information modeling not 3D virtual construction. 3D is for solving design issues (and impressing lay people).
The representation of that information does not need to be 3D for most construction management purposes - i.e. answering the questions of how many, who can do it, when can they do it, and how much will it cost in terms of budget and schedule.
Except for trivial cases or those involving very close established working relationships, those questions are answered in days, not the length of time one is standing next to a trench with a broken sewer main.
Young guns shooting aggressively from the hip at design professionals during a crisis is not revolutionary, even if an iPad is involved.
AutoCad changed the industry because it lowered the cost of technology into the $10k range - $40 retail boxes of homeowner design software didn't even though they were a profitable product.
The revolutionary product for the construction industry utilizes business intelligence to better manage project timelines and budgets while weighing the impact on working relationships among the various parties in a way which minimizes uncertainty.
What other industries have been waiting for the iPad? If you want to build what they need, we'd love to fund you.