Senators pleased with saved euros, trees and backs

Members of the Dutch Senate, or upper house of parliament, returned from their summer recess to find new iPads on their desks, according to a report Tuesday. They were told they had one week left to work with paper and printed documents. Instead, they would have to learn how to use a new Senate app especially designed for the Apple devices.

The Dutch Senate is the first in Europe to distribute digital documents and forgo paper. Two weeks into the project, the 75 senators are generally "delighted" with using their iPads, Reuters understood.

In addition to the convenience and obvious ecological benefits, the economic savings are also believed to be significant. While the cost of developing the special app and buying the iPads was about 150,000 euros ($201,053), the payback was expected to come in slightly over a year. Using iPads will save the Senate around 140,000 euros ($191,184) in the first year alone in printing and courier costs from the frequent copies of legislation.

Saving paper has increasingly been a focus of the iPad at work as it occupies a similar hand-portable shape but has all the advantages of digital. Airlines testing or deploying iPads have saved pilots a burden and might even save small amounts of fuel, something that CEO Tim Cook pointed out just last week at the "Let's Talk iPhone" event.

By Electronista Staff