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I have witnessed this taking place in the enterprise sector as well. Without naming names, I've seen one large company here in Australia in particular move away

I have witnessed this taking place in the enterprise sector as well. Without naming names, I've seen one large company here in Australia in particular move away from using iPad's to laptops because iPad's are too limited in what you can do, they don't offer the freedom of choice when it comes to different software options and date very quickly. From a cost point-of-view, you can buy a decent laptop for the same price as an iPad which will last for years. I believe Apple's closed-source nature of pigeon-holing you into using applications only on their tightly controlled moderated app store is actually coming back to bite them. The fear of knowing eventually your iPad will no longer be able to use the latest and greatest version of iOS forcing you to buy a new iPad to install the latest applications developed for later iOS versions your iPad doesn't support meaning more money is also another factor that works against Apple. Don't get me wrong, the iPad is a pretty great device for simplistic Internet browsing, checking your email and updating your social media, but if you want to do anything serious with it, the iPad shows its shortcomings.

tsunamifury 12y ago
$399 laptops rarely last more than a year and are rarely robust enough for any type of work. I could make practically all the same criticisms about a $399 laptop as an iPad. That being said, I don't know who would replace an laptop with an iPad in any sort of robust, non-mobile workflow, so I'm inclined to call BS on your statement.
- rythie 12y ago
  Traditionally laptops have had far too many moving parts to be durable: - 1 or 2 fans - Keyboard - display hinge - Hard disk - CD Drive - often various flaps or expansion area Whilst laptops are improving in this area, iPad have not had any of those from the beginning - it clearly makes for much more durable device. Additonally almost all laptops are high maintenance software wise with the possible exception of chromebooks.
Spooky23 12y ago
I do enterprise architecture focused on client delivery for a living. The problem isn't the iPad, it's the enterprise. "iPad for all of the things" isn't a successful strategy. iPad isn't optimal any more than 4" thick corporate laptops were. IT is used to hammer/nail solutions, End User Computing groups in enterprises tend to be focused on routine. Hell, many still call themselves "the desktop team", although that era is fading into the sunset. Along with the desktop sunset is the "desktops for the drones, bricks for the mobile drones, thin laptops for the execs" model. An iPad is: - A companion device for executives or others who travel throughout the office all day. - A primary device for users whose computing needs are task oriented. The executive use case is web access, document access, IM/chat, email. Think big blackberry with document reading capability. Biggest "transformational" use cases that drive satisfaction are making things like approval processes easy. The typical corporate VP VPNs in after dinner to approve stupid things in some system or via email. iPad lets them do that during conference calls instead of playing brick-breaker on a BlackBerry. For task oriented workers, you can buy or write apps very easily that let folks get work done. Example: Salesmen & Auditors need to share/present information with clients. iPad with file sync tool makes that easy, with better customer engagement. Example: Field force needs to conduct inspections or complete checklists for reporting purposes. iPad makes it trivial to deliver forms, case notes, etc -- complete with geocoding and photo evidence. I've worked with industrial equipment vendors who deliver service documentation and procedures to customer engineers via iPad apps -- it avoids the need to deliver hundreds of pounds of binders via Fedex. Apple Marketing example for pilots: http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/profiles/united-airlines/ http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/profiles/united-airlines/ For both groups, the iPad offers a much better user experience vs. a corporate laptop. It just works. When they break, you overnight a new one to the employee, and MDM delivers replacement apps/data based on user ID automatically. All of the above is true for Android tablets as well in some cases. But in regulated industries where you have lots of compliance requirements, providing supported Android solutions is onerous to both IT and the end users.

tsunamifury 12y ago

$399 laptops rarely last more than a year and are rarely robust enough for any type of work. I could make practically all the same criticisms about a $399 laptop as an iPad. That being said, I don't know who would replace an laptop with an iPad in any sort of robust, non-mobile workflow, so I'm inclined to call BS on your statement.

rythie 12y ago
Traditionally laptops have had far too many moving parts to be durable: - 1 or 2 fans - Keyboard - display hinge - Hard disk - CD Drive - often various flaps or expansion area Whilst laptops are improving in this area, iPad have not had any of those from the beginning - it clearly makes for much more durable device. Additonally almost all laptops are high maintenance software wise with the possible exception of chromebooks.

Spooky23 12y ago

I do enterprise architecture focused on client delivery for a living. The problem isn't the iPad, it's the enterprise. "iPad for all of the things" isn't a successful strategy. iPad isn't optimal any more than 4" thick corporate laptops were. IT is used to hammer/nail solutions, End User Computing groups in enterprises tend to be focused on routine. Hell, many still call themselves "the desktop team", although that era is fading into the sunset. Along with the desktop sunset is the "desktops for the drones, bricks for the mobile drones, thin laptops for the execs" model. An iPad is: - A companion device for executives or others who travel throughout the office all day. - A primary device for users whose computing needs are task oriented. The executive use case is web access, document access, IM/chat, email. Think big blackberry with document reading capability. Biggest "transformational" use cases that drive satisfaction are making things like approval processes easy. The typical corporate VP VPNs in after dinner to approve stupid things in some system or via email. iPad lets them do that during conference calls instead of playing brick-breaker on a BlackBerry. For task oriented workers, you can buy or write apps very easily that let folks get work done. Example: Salesmen & Auditors need to share/present information with clients. iPad with file sync tool makes that easy, with better customer engagement. Example: Field force needs to conduct inspections or complete checklists for reporting purposes. iPad makes it trivial to deliver forms, case notes, etc -- complete with geocoding and photo evidence. I've worked with industrial equipment vendors who deliver service documentation and procedures to customer engineers via iPad apps -- it avoids the need to deliver hundreds of pounds of binders via Fedex. Apple Marketing example for pilots: http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/profiles/united-airlines/ http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/profiles/united-airlines/ For both groups, the iPad offers a much better user experience vs. a corporate laptop. It just works. When they break, you overnight a new one to the employee, and MDM delivers replacement apps/data based on user ID automatically. All of the above is true for Android tablets as well in some cases. But in regulated industries where you have lots of compliance requirements, providing supported Android solutions is onerous to both IT and the end users.