Apple has enjoyed a tremendous revival in the past decade, with almost all of it on the consumer side. Business has not really embraced Apple fully, and Apple has not pursued corporate America. But Enterprise Mobile Today thinks the iPad changes all that.
Just when mobile managers and IT departments started feeling comfortable supporting the iPhone, now comes the Apple’s new handheld computer, the iPad.
At first glance, Apple’s iPad appears to be squarely aimed at consumers who want a mobile device that’s bigger than a smartphone but smaller than a laptop for experiencing entertainment multimedia. But analysts say a closer evaluation shows that we’ll be seeing the iPad in the enterprise as part of the emerging mobile office.
While much has been said about the iPad’s specs and multimedia functionality, analysts say the large screen and enterprise apps that it runs make it a good fit for certain businesses, though like the first iterations of the iPhone, there are mobile security and management challenges for IT.
“The iPad is clearly aimed at consumers, but Apple isn’t completely ignoring the enterprise: e-mail, calendar and contacts are all built-in. Apple also rebuilt the iWork suite for the iPad, and then priced these relatively full function Office applications using the iPhone app pricing model — just $10 each.
