Does the "Sent from my iPad" email signature make you seem unprofessional?

The often incendiary, but just as often sincere, Kevin Michaluk of CrackBerry.com followed up a recent, provocative Tweet with an editorial saying no one who uses an iPad should ever leave the default "Sent from my iPad" signature -- or any "Sent from my Any Tablet" signature for that matter -- on their email. While it might be tempting to dismiss Kevin's advice, he argues his position on CrackBerry.com well:

In general, you're replying to emails from a mobile phone because you have to. You're away from your computer. As for tablets -- especially in the business use case I'm focusing on here -- if you're writing a long email on your tablet it's because you choose to, not because you have to.

Unlike the default signature on the phone, which subconciously tells the recipient you're responsive all the time and from everywhere (a good thing), the same isn't true of the tablet signature. To me, and the many others who have expressed agreement with my viewpoint, it gives off the appearance that you're a person who doesn't value your time. If you did, you'd head to a computer and pound out that email wayyyyy faster. Time is money. And if you're a person I'm paying to provide services, the last thing I want to see is time wasted.

Of course, there are exceptions. YES, some people are mad fast at typing on glass. YES, you can use bluetooth keyboards with your tablet and speed things up a lot. YES, you may have to use a tablet for work and do not have a computer alternative to go to. But these are exceptions, and your default tablet email signature does not reflect those exceptions.

Kevin also argues that having "Sent from my [anything]" is basically giving the company, whose product you already paid for, free advertising. Depending on who you are and who your contacts include, that kind of brand marketing can be incredibly valuable for them. And you paid them for that privilege.

Why broadcast what you're using to respond to an email when it doesn't add any value to you, and provides free advertising to a company you already paid $500 to almost $1000?

Like most things, however, it's more nuanced than that. Apple products have a certain cachet. Especially when a new product launches, it's not uncommon for people to want to show off that they have it -- including highly productive people like CEOs and high profile people like celebrities. That filters down.

iPads are also popular in education and enterprise, including health care, insurance, and other verticals where the tablet form-factor is a huge advantage. If IT departments don't change the dafault signature during provisioning, "Sent from my iPad" is what a lot of highly productive people's emails are going to say, and I'm not going to read anything into that other than that's what their email signature says.

Still, Kevin's point has merit. Information is power, and the less information you give out, even if it's just an email signature, the less power you give up, even if its just perception (or misperception).

Check out Kevin's entire rant on the subject via the link below and then come back and tell us what you think -- "Sent from my iPad" or no "Sent from my iPad", what do you prefer?

Source: CrackBerry.com