Councils across the country may be facing the harsh reality of budget cuts and spending cuts imposed by the new coalition government but that hasn’t stopepd Leicester council from saying that they will spend £40,000 ensuring that every council member in the area has their own iPad. Apparently, it will cut down on printing costs and make councillors’ jobs easier. There’s a ringing endorsement if Apple ever needed one – maybe you’ll see it on their website one day soon.
One councillor claimed that it helped him because he could write down notes and start researching immediately, as soon as they were approached thanks to the iPad’s ability to connect to the Internet anywhere in Leicester city centre. Unfortunately for the council, the announced spending has come at a time when they are also suppsoed to be cutting 1,000 jobs in order to save money; maybe not the best move at this time then.
Perhaps instead of a top of the range iPad each, the council should have announced they would be giving their councillors an Archos 7 Home – unfortunately, though, while it is considerably cheaper at around £130 it’s also severely limited in its usefulness and, we suspect, enjoyment.
The Archos runs an almost obsolete version of Android and doesn’t offer access to the app marketplace, instead offering 1,500 of its own applications (that’s really not very many). It also doesn’t have Flash and offers moderate battery time. Without 3G, GPS, or Bluetooth it’s also pretty much useless on the go but did we mention that it’s really quite cheap?
If you or your council officials are basically looking for a quite nice multimedia player at a cost that is significantly lower than the iPad then the Archos 7 Home could (we said could) be the answer you’re looking for.
Could you save £40,000 on printing using an iPad?
Is Leicester Council right to replace human councillors with iPads?
