iPad makes a splash with businesses-iPad 2 is coming

The iPad tablet computer has been tested or deployed at 80% of Fortune 100 companies, according to Apple. And now the company is boosting its sales support for businesses to address that growing demand, Bloomberg News reported last week.

For years, Internet technology professionals have pushed "for a way to buy Macintoshes and iPhones directly from Apple," says Forrester Research analyst Ted Schadler. "Now with IT support for iPads, they are putting even more pressure on Apple to sell to and support companies—and not just consumers."

Industry tracker iSuppli predicts Apple will ship 43.7 million iPads this year and 63.3 million in 2012, up from an estimated 14 million in 2010. While it is too early to tell how many buyers will be corporate, the explosive growth comes as Apple is expected to announce an updated iPad on Wednesday in San Francisco.

Corporate giants thus far have leaned toward putting iPads into their workforce as sales tools.

• Medical-device maker Medtronic put more than 5,000 iPads in the hands of sales reps. The day iPads first came out, Medtronic snapped up 10, loaded them with product information, and put them into a booth for a cardiologist conference, stealing all the buzz that day. "We quickly realized the business value of enabling the sales force," says Medtronic CIO Mike Hedges.

•Mercedes-Benz put 400 iPads into dealerships keep transactions on showroom floors, near the vehicles.

Dealers can check credit on the iPads or find additional information about the vehicles. It's a powerful tool to make the conversation more concrete, says John Ferry, media relations manager for Mercedes-Benz Financial Services.

Yet corporate adoption can only move as fast as IT department will allow. IT groups are forced to define new policies for what kinds of data can and can't be accessed on the devices, among other issues, before bringing them on company networks.

"We see a lot of executives that want the convenience and accessibility of that device. One of the inhibitors is the issues of how do you secure that device," says Gary Steele, CEO of security company ProofPoint.

That hasn't stopped SAP. The business analytics software maker has picked up 3,500 iPads. "It's great to see that Apple is now embracing the enterprise marketplace," says CIO Oliver Bussmann.

Apple's lead in both the consumer and corporate markets faces an army of rival tablet contenders only just getting started. Motorola's new Xoom, based on Google's Honeycomb version of Android, is the most closely watched among analysts. Nearly a decade ago, some large companies adopted Microsoft's Windows Tablet PC for specialized purposes. It failed to spark widespread interest. "The only tablet provider out there right now is Apple," says DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim.

Shipments of all tablets, including iPads, are expected to reach 55.7 million worldwide in 2011 and more than triple by 2014 to 172.4 million, according to industry watcher DisplaySearch

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