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As corporate interest in tablets spikes, Apple's iPad remains tops

A new survey has found a "corporate explosion" of interest in tablets, with the potential market for Apple's iPad doubling in the first quarter of 2011.

ChangeWave Research on Wednesday revealed the results of its latest survey of 1,651 business IT buyers conducted in November. A total of 7 percent of respondents said they have equipped their employees with tablet devices, and 82 percent of those are Apple's iPad.

Like in the consumer market, customer satisfaction with the iPad in enterprise is head and shoulders above its peers. iPad users were 69 percent "very satisfied," compared to 23 percent for an HP tablet and 12 percent for Dell.

While current tablet usage sits at 7 percent, the survey found that it is set to double to 14 percent in the next quarter. That indicates that the total number of companies deploying tablets is set to double in the next three months.

And although there are new options on the market like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, companies have indicated they are sticking with the iPad. Of those surveyed, 78 percent said they plan to buy an iPad versus competing tablets. Dell and Research in Motion were tied in a distant second place with 9 percent each.

Corporations said their iPad will mostly be used for Internet access, checking e-mail and working away from the office. But business users are also now more likely to use the iPad as a desktop replacement than they were in the previous August survey.

ChangeWave 2

Enterprise isn't the only targeted market where the iPad is making a splash. In November, ChangeWave found that the Amazon Kindle is rapidly losing share in the e-reader market to Apple's iPad.

ChangeWave also found that netbook demand has shrunk since the iPad was introduced. And among consumers looking to buy a tablet in October, 80 percent said they would choose the iPad, compared to just 8 percent for the RIM Playbook.

19 Comments

ascii 20 Years · 5930 comments

It doesn't mean much, the competitors are still finding their feet. Next year will be a far more competitive year for tablets than this year was. If Apple is still in the same position next year it will really be something. (That's not to discount the innovation that got them this lead in the first place.)

solipsism 19 Years · 25701 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by ascii

It doesn't mean much, the competitors are still finding their feet. Next year will be a far more competitive year for tablets than this year was. If Apple is still in the same position next year it will really be something. (That's not to discount the innovation that got them this lead in the first place.)

I would expect it to drop after a demo of Android 3.0 and upcoming tablets are announced, but I also expect Apple to stay far in front of any other vendor.

How is their iPhone corporate interest in the US compared to other smartphone vendors? I seem to recall they were at the top of that list.

captbilly 16 Years · 19 comments

This is like saying that most airline prefer Boeing and Airbus, who else is there. My son is a fanatical collector of leading edge consumer technology. He has already owned 3 different Android tablets, but none of them (except the Galaxy, which is a niche product) are even approved by Google (they don't have the minimum hardware and they don't have the latest version of Android). What company or individual would specify an Android tablet at this point? This is in no way a trend indicator anymore than the dominance of the Iphone was a trend indicator before there were any Android phone of significance. This time next year will be a hugely different story, when there are Android 2.3 (the first version actually written for a tablet, not even released yet) tablets and Windows tablets from a bunch of companies. I would expect Android tablets to take over just as Android has in the phone market, but probably faster since Android is so dominant in phone already.

hill60 17 Years · 6976 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by solipsism

I would expect it to drop after a demo of Android 3.0 and upcoming tablets are announced, but I also expect Apple to stay far in front of any other vendor.

How is their iPhone corporate interest in the US compared to other smartphone vendors? I seem to recall they were at the top of that list.

Apparently you'll have to wait until Adobe "certifies" them.