One of the great virtues of the Apple iPad 4 is that it eliminates the need for large stacks of paper and books. For businesses and institutions that have a lot of reading material to deliver to employees and clients, the need to consolidate these items has never been greater, nor has it ever been easier, thanks to the advent of tablets and smartphones.

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) seems to have reached the same conclusion. TheStreet.com, a financial news website, reported recently that the USAF recently purchased 18,000 new iPads which will be used to replace electronic flight bags (EFB) that contain flight plans and manuals used by pilots for each journey.

EFB's can weigh up to 490 pounds depending on the size of the crew and the type of mission. They contain tens of thousands of pages, meaning that users have quite a bit of sifting to do in order to find a particular document. But the iPad grants them a lot more freedom, not just in being able to store all documentation onto a small device, but also in finding a specific piece of information needed at a given moment.

9to5Mac, a site that tracks Apple news, explains that features like the word searching function that come built into iOS make it easier for pilots and crew members to navigate an especially long document or large map.

In addition, the decreased weight brought on by storing digital files rather than large cases of paper means the USAF saves approximately $50 million on fuel costs over the next ten years.

If your interested in finding out how your organization, business or institution can integrate the Apple iPad 4 or iPad mini into your workflow, contact PortableOne today.