Gartner: Tablets will serve as companion devices in enterprise market - Visage Mobile

In a report predicting booming sales for the technology over the next few years, market research firm Gartner said tablet PCs will be used primarily as companion devices to notebooks for the enterprise market.

Inflating popularity already had many experts positioning tablets as a key piece to the enterprise mobility market in the coming years. But Gartner has concluded it will take some time for the tablet to fully supplant the notebook computer.

For now, the tablet will be utilized as a secondary device to take on the road or use for email, calendaring, accessing web applications and information sources and showing PowerPoint presentations, Gartner predicts. The firm said tablets may be bumped down as a third device in some instances.

"Since these workers usually also have smartphones, media tablets become their third device. Most organizations will not buy that third device," Gartner's report concludes.

However, workers may use their own money to purchase a tablet and use it for both corporate mobility and leisure, Gartner found. The convenience factor for travel and an "instant on" for quick look-up functions make tablets viable for both uses.

Overall, Gartner's study predicted total tablet sales will reach 19.5 million units sold this year. Next year, sales will balloon 181 percent to 54.8 million units sold, according to Gartner. North America will account for 61 percent of tablet sales this year, but will see its market share drop to 43 percent in 2011.

Despite Gartner's prediction, many still believe tablet PCs will be widely adopted for corporate mobility management.

Mobile services provider AT&T recently announced a plan to sell iPads directly to businesses. It is the first time a vendor has positioned the tablet directly as a business tool, according to InformationWeek.

"We are getting many requests for help on iPad strategies for the enterprise," Forrester Research Vice President and Principal Analyst Ted Schadler told InformationWeek. "iPads are a tremendously empowering technology that any employee can buy."

AT&T did not provide pricing details about the initiative, saying only that it would offer its enterprise customers Wi-Fi and 3G iPads through "attractive post-paid mobile broadband plans." The plan hits the market on October 28.

Many see this move as beating rival Verizon Wireless to the enterprise punch. One day before AT&T's announcement, Verizon revealed that it would begin selling iPads in the near future.

This entry was posted by Mobility Management News Desk on Monday, October 18th, 2010 at 8:37 am and is filed under Managing Mobile Devices News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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