The iPad may be a slim, slight object, but it certainly manages to make a big noise for itself around the world. Now it’s been causing trouble in the German Bundestag, or parliament. Free Democrats Backbencher Jimmy Schulz kicked off the furore when he took his iPad to the stage to give a speech. Everything was going well until the iPad unexpectedly crashed in the middle of Schulz’s speech. This immediately alerted the assembled throng to the fact that he was using a digital device, which is not allowed in the Bundestag.
Apparently those on the more traditional side of things are saying that to use such new fangled things as the iPad takes away from the dignity of parliament. Jimmy Schulz countered by blowing the whistle big time on German Chancellor Merkel, saying that she and her cabinet colleagues can often be seen discreetly using their BlackBerrys during a debate.
“Even if it’s not allowed, most of us are doing it,†Schulz told Deutsche Welle. “And I was just the first one to use, well, a more appropriate media for that; a larger tool where you can read the things, and reply to emails better than what you can do with your smartphone.â€
Schulz also confessed that he’d only just purchased his iPad a couple of hours before he made his speech, and therefore didn’t really know how to use it.
The German Parliamentary Rules Committee is now debating whether or not to lift the ban on digital devices, so it could be Jimmy Schulz will soon be able to proudly wave his iPad around in public!
Source: Deutsche Welle
