Your 3-Step Reality Check for the New iPad

NEW YORK (MainStreet) -- When it comes to the iPad 3 for businesses, repeat after me: It's just an upgrade. It's not a bad upgrade. It might even be a good upgrade. But if your goal is like mine, to make money with your tablet computer, the latest Apple(AAPL) iPad ($499 for a 16 GB version) looks to be just that: a basic upgrade over the iPad 2.

I'm no iPad hater. I use my vintage first-gen iPad every day to run my business apps, do work email and catch up on my work reading. Fine. And I keep my eyes peeled to see if maybe the latest iteration of the device is worth lining up for at the Apple Store.

When it comes to the new iPad it turns out it's just an upgrade, and not a cheap one.

Well, based on some glimpses of the new iPad over the past week or so, here are three important business reality checks.

1. The iPad 3 is not a game-changing business tool.
The Apple Web site is filled with its usual breathless claims for new functions for the iPad: faster processor, brighter and crisper screen, improved voice recognition and a nifty new camera, all of which have business potential. But the notion that what amounts to a slightly faster, brighter, tablet computer could be any way a significant new business tool is simply nonsense.

The reason, of course, is Apple's cloud-based content management offering -- iCloud -- is not ready for business prime time. It is not team oriented, does not run on enough devices and simply cannot complete with real business apps such as Google(GOOG) Apps, Salesforce.com(CRM) or LiquidPlanner. All of which run beautifully on the iPad, by the way. Until Apple figures out how to make its Internet-based offerings truly iPad specific, this device remains a hardware story, and that's not much of a business tale to tell.