The iPad's prominence in London business

The London Evening Standard has an interesting article on how prominent the iPad has become in a wide range of London businesses. Unsurprisingly, the Evening Standard says that the device is very popular in the field of medicine -- specifically hospitals and doctors' offices. There doctors use the iPad not just for administrative access to medical records, but also to teleconference with patients over FaceTime and to help educate patients via visual aids such as anatomy or medical-imaging apps.

As you might expect, the iPad is also popular in the restaurant and pub scene. Many eateries in the city now use iPads for menus, taking orders and -- if you get bored of your dinner date -- several restaurants even have iPads embedded into the tables so you can eat and surf the web or play games.

In addition to the other expected fields where an iPad is used, such as music businesses, hotels and educational institutions, the iPad has found work in some more interesting places. For example, Westminster council is in the process of spending £3.25 million to install smart streetlights in the borough, which will save residents £420,000 a year. The council's engineers use iPads to monitor the smart lighting. When a bulb goes out or is faulty, the engineer is notified immediately on his iPad. This eliminates the need for residents to report dead lights and hastens the time for their replacement.

London obviously isn't the only city embracing the iPad in businesses. Even those that live in smaller cities around the world are probably sure to have seen iPads used in small businesses in unique and creative ways. Drop a note in the comments to let us know what you've seen.

Data source: Tuaw (by Michael Grothaus)