(Warning – This will
be light on the technical stuff and heavy on subjectivity for a change. I will follow up soon with some more
technical information on this topic)
There are many famous duos in American popular culture.
Simon and Garfunkle
Axl and Slash
Batman and Robin
Like all great teams, their value is greater than the sum of
their parts. Great teams are almost
inseparable (although Paul Simon had a great solo career). Great teams complement each other.
So for the consideration of the Academy, I would like to
nominate a new great duo:
The iPad and QlikView
After recently picking up the newest iPad, I was pleasantly
surprised by the experience. And I was
surprised for a few reasons. First,
QlikView is beautiful on the iPad.
Secondly, it works well. And
lastly, it is FUN.
Of course, every great team has its share of problems. Axl and Slash hate each other today. But I will save the minor issues relating the
iPad and QlikView for another post. But I will save any of the minor issues and design workarounds relating to QlikView and the iPad for another, more in-depth, post.
The Beauty of Mobile
Data
I never liked the AJAX experience until recently. I am so used to the full desktop client that
it is hard to swallow all the flaws that become obvious in the AJAX
rendering. With the release of QlikView
11, this has become less of an issue lately.
But I think the essence of why it translates so well into
the iPad is the smaller form factor. The
screen is big enough to provide ample real estate, while small enough to some
flaws in pixel-perfect placement.
And the new retina-display allows for a very sharp
image. They “sparkle” off the
tablet. The greater resolution also
allows for a perfect rendering when zooming.
Elegance in
Performance
It is likely cliché at this point to talk about how the iPad
“just works”. QlikView R&D must have
been taking notes, because when you open a document on the iPad, it just
works. Having an interface you can touch
is a natural fit for a product like QlikView.
QlikView has taken advantage of many of the inherent gestures and other
methods for getting around on iOS. The
interface is intuitive and fast.
Snapping to fit works very well, generally adjusting the
resolution to the smaller of the length or width in relation to the aspect
ratio. Zoom is equally easy and
intuitive. Traditional desktop users
will miss the right click and lack of hover, but good design will make up for
these issues.
Having Fun with
QlikView Again
It is likely a combination of the mobility of the hardware
and the excellence in execution from both parties. I am having fun using QlikView again.
I have found myself spending hours on the couch at night,
analyzing my data on the iPad. Tapping
through selections and seeing the changes on various tabs of my documents is
actually fun again. It reminds of when I
first started using QlikView. And the
fact is, I can do this analysis on the couch in front of the TV (although the
TV is mad because I am ignoring it). The
iPad has reinvigorated my excitement for data analysis and application design.
The Future of this
Great Team
The wave is coming.
Organizations are starting to see the value of this new hardware and
QlikView has smartly put itself in a perfect position to reap some of those
rewards.
I often see commercials for iPads and other tablets where
they gush about how useful the tablet is for business. Invariably there are screenshots of some
charts and graphs on the display.
QlikView fits the bill perfectly.
It is the quintessential mobile BI app.
With this new mobility we can discuss scorecards with vendors, industry
statistics with clients, and widget production data on the factory floor. It is definitely coming to a user, client,
company, enterprise near you.
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