Apple's iPad: clearly the top tablet for business

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 11 October 2010 13:57

Business IT - Technology

There's a lot of talk over which tablets will be best suited for business, but laughably, most of those discussed simply aren't available for consumers or businesses to buy, leaving just two real contenders until the iTablet-clones truly finally arrive: Apple's iPad and existing Slate and Tablet PCs running Windows.

 

Steve Jobs said that Apple has sold one iPad every 3 seconds since they first launched earlier this year in the US, then spreading around the world, selling so many so fast Apple has left competitors scrambling to respond in its wake.

Although Microsoft has successfully sold what must now be millions of Windows-powered Tablet PCs over nearly the last decade, Apple has sold millions of its iPads too, in just months - and the iPad hasn't even been on sale for a year as yet.

In that time, new types of software have exploded onto the iPad, including a heavy contingent of business apps from sold of the world's heaviest business hitters. Apple has even has a dedicated part of its site to the iPad being used in business.

So, it's always interesting to read about people's thoughts on the iPad as a business tablet, and other 'business tablets' that presumably will or could wipe the iPad away, but such articles are usually disappointing.

Why? Because mostly these articles talk about tablets that no consumer or business can buy as yet, some of which aren't due until sometime next year, and most take the tone that the iPad isn't really a serious business tablet, not when BlackBerry has its still-unavailable PlayBook or Samsung's Galaxy Tab will soon emerge to defeat all, etc etc etc.

The most recent example is an article by Oliver Milman from the new Australian website Startup Smart, called 'Top Tablets for Business'.

The article starts off by saying that 'A flurry of recent activity in the exploding tablet market has raised the prospect of a much greater choice of tools for small businesses.'

Now, there are already lots of tools for small businesses - these are called notebooks and netbooks, some of which are cheaper to buy than tablets or the same price - and collectively, there are millions of programs available for this platform, be it a Windows, Linux or Mac OS being used.

But notebooks and netbooks aren't tablets, and while there has indeed been a 'flurry of recent activity' in the exploding tablet market, it's been more a flurry of 'pre-launch' and 'preview' activity than actual in-store retail units anyone can buy. Most of the real "flurry" has been the stampede of people heading to Apple stores or resellers to buy an iPad.

The article briefly mentions Telstra's upcoming T-Touch Tab, which makes me wonder if Samsung has anything to say given it has called its tablet the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Given the fact that Google itself has plainly said that its current Android Froyo 2.2 OS isn't tablet ready, it's hard to have much confidence in Telstra's Tab becoming anywhere near as successful as the iPad, at least in its initial stages, especially when Telstra is ultimately up against not only Apple, but Microsoft, HP, RIM, Samsung, LG, Motorola, a zillion cheap Chinese factories (one of whom is presumably supplying Telstra) and more.

I'll have more views on Telstra's 'Tab' when it actually arrives, but for now it's just another as-yet unavailable 'me-too' product.

So, what about all those other so-called business tablets, like the BlackBerry Playbook, the Galaxy Tab, the HP Slate and others? Please read on to page two...