When Apple Inc. (AAPL) released its first iPhone a lot of large corporations refused to clear the device for general corporate use until the phones had gone through extensive testing and until some early security holes were filled. That past scrutiny is now paying dividends for Apple as corporations quickly adopt the iPad. That’s good for Apple, and may be even better for soon-to-be competitors like Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Dell Inc. (DELL), and Cisco Systems Inc. (
CSCO).
Though marketed as a consumer device, the iPad has proven to some corporate buyers that the device can increase worker productivity without risking private corporate data. The iPad’s ability to access a wireless telecom network untethers workers from either a wired connection or a WiFi network, and puts the device into many more hands.
In a warehouse company, iPad-equipped workers use the device to carry their pick lists, complete the order, and then update the inventory database without ever having to go to a desktop machine, of which only a few are ever positioned where warehouse workers can get to them. This saves hours a day of useless travel time between bins and computer workstations.
The tablet device can also seriously reduce the amount of paper a company uses. Xerox Corp. (XRX) estimates that for every dollar spend on printing another six dollars are spent on handling and distribution costs. At that rate, it doesn’t take long to justify the cost of a $499 iPad.
Apple is finally breaking into a corporate market that has resisted every past attempt at getting a tablet into general use. The reasons for this breakthrough are really Apple’s core strengths: ease of use and a carefully thought-out, and closed, ecosystem. Once the security issues were put to rest, the outcome was never in doubt.
The iPad’s would-be competitors have a golden opportunity here to follow in Apple’s footsteps. HP and Cisco, with their solid and long-standing connections to the corporate world, need to deliver a device that is as easy to use as the iPad and that may better meet corporate demands. Apple, after all, designed and is selling a consumer device.
