iPads as Playbooks

I actually wanted to avoid this topic until I saw some fruit from the effort, but enough people have asked me about it that I decided to take it up.
Two NFL teams have publicly announced that they have issues playbooks to players on Apple iPads. At first glance, this may sound like a gimmick, or even a bit dangerous making something akin to trade secrets so accessible. But the more I think about it, the more I like it.
First, let me explain something about NFL playbooks. They are massive. However, players are not asked to memorize individual plays, they are asked to understand the elements of a play. When the elements are called in a huddle, they make up a play. Lets say there are four elements to a play: The formation, the protection, play type, and routes. As I said, NFL playbooks are not full of plays, they are full of these elements. Hundreds of combinations of these elements are able to be assembled at the whim of a coach. Playbooks are designed this way so that gameplans can be flexible, both during a game, and from game to game. This makes sense, since the opponent a team may face from week to week look different, and teams must be able to adjust. Over the course of a season, a playbook will expand to nearly a thousand pages. That's a lot of information for a player to carry around.

Enter the iPad. Now coaches have a great form factor that allows them the flexibility to game plan all they want, and with a keystroke send that game plan to every player on the roster. Teams can easily take their iPads with them to study the plan, changes are instant and easy, and you also can also use it as a platform to review gametape and practice notes.

As far as security goes, Apple has made great gains in their enterprise support. unlike a traditional playbook, that can be easily lost, stolen, or copied, the iPad can be remotely wiped, preventing unwanted eyes from gaining access.

and lets not forget about all those trees that are being saved.

Perkzilla