Channel alerted to B2B iPad opportunity
Forrester outlines several scenarios where business users may commonly adopt Apple's tablet device
Missing piece: Some firms will use iPads in places where no other device is used today, said Forrester
Resellers attempting to pitch the iPad to business users will have been given fresh impetus by a new Forrester report.
The research giant has this week published its findings on how Apple’s much-vaunted tablet devices will enter the workforce, outlining several scenarios where VARs could strike it rich.
Recent forecasts suggest Apple could ship 13.8 million iPads in 2010 and Forrester indicated the post-PC device is far from a consumer-only opportunity.
According to figures cited in its report, 43 per cent of European and US firms are interested in tablets, with only one in four having no tablet plans. After speaking to dozens of companies in detail, the analyst gave three examples of novel business cases it had encountered.
Field sales organisations are swapping laptops for home desktops and tablets. IPads are used for in-person pitches and home PCs for everything else.
Pharmaceutical firms are using tablets instead of printed drug literature.
Retailers are using tablets to take custom orders from the floor. A one per cent rise in sales productivity stemming from the strategy would cover the cost of the rollout, said Forrester.
Forrester also said all business case scenarios will fall into three categories: Displace, where a tablet is used instead of a laptop; replace, where it is used instead of a clipboard and new place where it is used in situations where nothing is used today.
This last category is potentially the most valuable, Forrester said. It gave the example of a Lloyd’s of London’s iPad pilot designed to enable its brokers to write business directly in the field.
Report author Ted Schadler said: “Computers have found their way into many non-traditional places: classrooms, conference rooms, couches, and coffee shops, for example. The same was true with smartphones: soccer fields, New York streets, and any waiting line. Tablets will also find their way into locations and situations where we have only people today.”