Businesses Add iPads to Their Briefcases
Some Companies, Which Barred the iPhone, Build Apps for Tablet Computer and Give Apple Gadget to Employees
When Apple Inc.'s first iPhone came out in 2007, many companies told their employees that the device wasn't appropriate for the workplace. The iPad is a different story.
The company's tablet-style device seems to be sidestepping the resistance that the iPhone and other consumer-oriented devices have faced in the corporate environment. Indeed, many businesses have raced to snap up iPads.
One example is the Chicago law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, which banned the iPhone when it first came out yet preordered 10 iPads in the run up to the tablet's release in April.
"We made sure that we knew as much about these devices as possible," said Michael Barnas, the firm's director of application services. The technology department now offers access to its internal systems for more than 50 iPad-toting attorneys, and anticipates issuing iPads as an alternative to laptops as soon as next year.
Apple, which said it sold more than three million iPads through the end of June, attributes some of the device's success to businesses. The Cupertino, Calif., company's Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook said in July that "very surprisingly" half of the Fortune 100 are testing or deploying iPads.
More than 500 of the 11,000-plus applications built specifically for the iPad are in the business category. A free app from Citrix Systems Inc., which allows people to access internal corporate programs from the iPad, has been downloaded more than 145,000 times.
"Everyone in IT is jumping on this one," said Ted Schadler, an analyst at Forrester Research. "Rather than wait for people to start complaining they're saying why don't we get a few of them in and see what they are good for."
Companies have often imposed policies against consumer-oriented technologies—ranging from thumb drives to Web-based email accounts—because of worries that include keeping corporate data secure and other impact on internal computing systems. But many employees defied rules and used these tools anyway, partly out of a belief they improved productivity, said Mr. Schadler. In many cases, IT departments eventually relented and relaxed their rules.
Businesses are behaving differently with the iPad, in large part because the new device is starting out as more of a known quantity from a technical standpoint. The iPad runs the same operating software as the iPhone, which has been enhanced with a number of business-friendly features.
The iPhone, at the outset, faced the hurdle that it didn't work with Exchange, the Microsoft Corp. email software that is a mainstay of the business world. Nor could information-technology managers remotely erase data on the handset in the event it was stolen or lost.
But Apple has addressed these and other issues, including the ability for companies to encrypt information on iPhones and set up secure ways for employees to connect to corporate networks. The latest version of the operating system used by the iPhone and iPad adds features that make the devices easier for a tech department to manage, including the ability for businesses to distribute internally developed apps without going through Apple's App Store.
IPads, with list prices ranging from $499 to $829, are also less expensive than the laptop computers most companies buy. They also have advantages over laptops for certain chores, such as when employees work standing up or give demonstrations.
For example, Mercedes-Benz Financial, which provides loans and leases for Daimler AG, has equipped some dealerships with an iPad loaded with its app. The goal is to begin the credit-application process while customers are standing near a vehicle.
Bausch & Lomb Inc., which makes eye-care products, built its own iPad app for its salespeople. The company said it had about 50 employees using iPads in the field within a week and a half of the device's release.
One selling point is that the iPad starts up much more quickly than laptops and has a longer-lasting battery. "We don't get a lot of time in front of a customer," said Simon Woods, Bausch & Lomb's vice president of global technologies and applications.
When the iPhone came out three years ago "many of us were skeptical" that it could be a business tool, said Sean Chai, senior IT manager at Kaiser Permanente, the health-care organization based in Oakland, Calif.
But when the iPad was announced, Kaiser preordered a pair, and it has since been testing them in a 37,000-square-foot technology lab. Among the uses so far are viewing medical images such as X-rays and CT scans, and accessing medical records through a trial version of an iPad app developed by the electronic-record system's maker.
Kaiser is also testing a tablet specifically designed for hospitals, but so far is impressed by the iPad. "Apple didn't design this for the health-care industry," said Mr. Chai. "But it's a tremendous form factor."
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