The latest iPad: hotter than ever
Jinfo Blog

By Dale Moore

Abstract

After much enthusiasm for the launch, the new iPad cements its place in the world of business as well as enthralling its personal customers. 84% of tablet-buying companies are now choosing the iPad and some predict it may even replace business PCs.

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Well, just a week after the launch of the new iPad and the web is already awash with stories of tablet world domination. And it’s not just the consumer market that’s enthralled with Apple’s latest release; it seems the corporate world can’t get enough of them either. Some are even predicting the replacement of business PCs.

A study by ChangeWave Research surveyed over 1,600 business technology buyers and found that 22% of respondents were planning to buy tablet computers during the second quarter of 2012. And of those tablet-hungry companies, 84% are going to go with Apple’s iPad. That’s the “highest level of corporate iPad demand ever seen in a ChangeWave survey”, the company said.

They’re even making their way into smaller businesses (that’s great news for me!), according to a study by the Business Journal claiming that iPad use in small businesses has quadrupled in the past year, jumping from nine per cent to 34% and making the device the fastest growing technology in the SMB/SME market. The full study will be available on 31 March and contains surveys of a nationally representative sample of more than 1,400 business owners, CEOs and presidents of companies with between five and 499 employees. 

This is very interesting but, while it’s fairly obvious what consumers use their iPads for (photos, movies, music, email, web browsing), what are businesses using theirs for? The iPad for Business Survey, published in January 2012 by IDG Connect, found that web browsing, reading and news consumption are the biggest activities carried out by business users. The survey admits that business users do resemble consumers by using the device for media consumption - but the media consumed is primarily text based, with news and white papers cited as the main elements.  

This is certainly one very viable way of reducing the amount of wasted paper caused by our appetite for ephemera and the need to absorb snippets of new content quickly. The survey reports how iPad ownership had affected the user’s propensity to buy newspapers, books and DVDs. Nearly three-quarters said that owning an iPad has reduced the frequency with which they purchase newspapers and books. If nothing else, that’s surely to be applauded. 

However, amid all the hype, it was noted that the launch of the latest iPad wasn’t quite the sell out it was with the previous incarnation and some reports claiming it’s been overheating. 

So, the usual mixed bag of articles, reviews, commentaries and reports. But what’s abundantly clear about all of this is that the iPad is truly a modern phenomenon and continues to captivate and dominate the world of the consumer and, it seems, the world of business.

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