iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter

Using the iPad to do business presentations seems like it could be the perfect device. Easy to put on a stand in front of you and utilising the iPad Dock Connector to iPad VGA Adapter from Apple ($29 US), which is a fairly unassuming device with the classic Apple 30 pin connector on one end of a short cable and a small white box housing a female VGA connector on the other.

Use the iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter to connect an iPad to your television, projector, or VGA display. Then see your videos and slideshows on the big screen.
The iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter connects to your iPad or iPad Dock via the dock connector and to your projector or display using the iPad to vga adapter.

The vga adapter iPad accessory, does exactly as you would expect, to do, more or less, allowing you to show pictures, slideshows, videos, movies and Keynote presentations to an external display. Most likely in this arena would be one of those screens that you use in business meeting to project on to.
You have to keep in mind that this Apple adapter only outputs images and video……not sound. If you want to watch that video with it’s accompanying soundtrack you will need to either listen to the sound from the iPad speaker, pull the audio out via the headphone jack or use a different cable.
It seems that Keynote on the iPad is not the full ticket as per the application on the Mac and it may be better to keep the presentations simple. The best thing of course in any case is to have a bit of a dry run at home before you go and make a fool of yourself in the business meeting.
What would be nice, would be to have a HDMI out from the iPad, maybe we will get that one of the days in a future incarnation of the iPad.

Any limitations?
Well it seems that not all applications will work using the connector including some movies, although that problem could be due to the DRM limitations that don’t allow those purchased movies to go through some VGA connections. YouTube videos play though it. DRM protected videos do NOT, but videos that I added myself (i.e. ripped via HandBrake and added to iTunes) play beautifully.

It also seems that it doesn’t enable mirroring and some buyers of this accessory have asked for their money back. Not being able to project the desktop, email, spreadsheet, websites, etc is a real limitation in order to use in meeting. Doesn’t Apple realise that in real meetings people project data in other ways rather than just a PowerPoint presentations. There are people looking for a vga to vga adapter, maybe it is necessary to change from male to female connections?