Bizjournals reports that the adoption of the iPad (note: iPad, not other tablet devices) has quadrupled in 2011 from the previous year. A full 34% of small businesses in the United states are now using the iPad in some business function — a statistic likely to increase at an even faster rate with the recent decision by apple to continue production and sale of the iPad 2 at a reduced price point of $399.
A key takeaway from the report is that small business owners are no longer primarily concerned with productivity and efficiency. Rather, access to data anytime, anywhere, has trumped the need to be productive. It’s a vindicating trend for those of us evangelizing the impending tsunami of mobilization. What’s critical to note is that with this trend of increased mobility, the need to manage fleets of these devices (either company owned or BYOD) will also increase.
The days when business owners could treat mobile devices as “just” phones or novelty devices are long past.
