Sneak Peek of VMware Remote Desktop Client for iPad - Video

A four minute video demonstration featuring VMWare Inc. CTO Scott Davis as he shows off the capabilities of VMware View for iPad is now available for watching. The demo took place at VMworld 2010, in Copenhagen. The iPad app is expected to arrive early next year.

Parallels was first to the race to deliver a remote desktop client for iPad users, but VMware might just knock the socks off their mobile sidekick app with VMware View, an application specifically designed for the iPad user who wants to access the programs and files that are actively running in a VM on a remote desktop computer.

VMware is yet to make a formal announcement regarding their View application, but the company’s CTO of End User Computing, Scott Davis, was kind enough to offer a sneak preview of the app’s key features.

According to Davis, users can easily access their virtual machines (either at home, or at work) while on the go, via WiFi. With just a few taps, Davis, who was in Copenhagen at the time of the preview, gained immediate access to his production VM on a computer in Palo Alto.

The iPad basically shows the Windows desktop (should the VM be running a Windows guest), and allows users to access various kinds of files and applications (such as email clients), as well as to edit them.

To modify a file, users simply tap on the field they want to edit, at which point the standard iPad virtual keyboard pops out. The keyboard also has Windows-specific function keys. It’s pretty cool, as you will see in the video below.

Also noteworthy - for applications that may require using a mouse cursor, VMware View can quickly pull out a virtual trackpad which takes advantage of the iPad’s multi-touch screen and allows the user to slide their finger on it, as they would do with a regular laptop’s trackpad.

As noted above, VMware View will be available for iPad users sometime early 2011, according to Davis.