“Small and medium businesses (SMBs) have caught tablet fever, according to the results of an NPD survey fielded in September and released Thursday,” Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports for Fortune.
“Among these SMBs (defined as firms with fewer than 1,000 employees), 73% plan to purchase tablets in 2012, up from 68% three months earlier,” P.E.D. reports. “And over the next 12 months they plan to spend an average of $21,000 on the devices.”
P.E.D. reports, “Among larger firms (501 t0 999 employees), 89% plan to buy an average of $39,000 worth of tablet computers.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Dan K.” and “Sarah” for the heads up.]
I’d like to see the idiot critics be proved wrong when they say that the iPad is just a toy device and it can’t be used for business because it doesn’t have USB ports, support Flash or doesn’t have a file system that the average user can tinker with. I hope Apple sells millions more iPads to consumers and businesses next year to prove that the critics don’t know anything about what consumers or businesses find useful. Even if the iPad can’t crack the large enterprise businesses, at least there will be plenty of small businesses using it.
Apple doesn’t need to prove anything to anybody. The so-called “critics” are so blind and stupid that only an equally blind and stupid person would believe anything they say. Why should Apple worry about blind, stupid people? They never have and never will understand Apple or its mission. Too bad for them. The iPad has already changed the world, and it’s just getting started. What Steve Jobs and his team have created is not just a brilliantly-conceived product, but a magic seed that will sprout and grow into something most of us can’t even imagine. But Steve could see it from the very beginning. What a guy! 2012 is sure to be a breakout year for the iPad. Let the naysayers be happy with their crappy, third-rate iPad knockoffs. They have no idea what they’re missing.
Is there a mechanism for deploying custom IT apps to the iPad other than via the app store? Wouldn’t most companies require such a mechanism?
I know that Apple has an Enterprise Deployment Guide for iOS where businesses can bypass the app store to deliver apps to controlled devices and there are third-party solutions such as from Good Technology to also distribute apps without iTunes being involved. http://www.good.com/iphone/
Some companies will think like this and reject the iPad because it doesn’t fit into their established IT model; but in the long run, it is these companies that will be the big losers, not Apple or the iPad. Smart companies will adapt because it is in their own best interest to do so.
Yes, there is such a mechanism.
Further, apps developed in-house do not have to be vetted by Apple and the App Store.