Small businesses have bought 2 million iPads

By Jeffrey Van Camp November 4, 2010

The iPad is open for business, apparently. While Apple designed the device primarily as a consumer consumption device, many small businesses have already purchased at least one of the tablets, according to a survey by Techaisle. The research company estimates that 2 million iPads have already been bought by companies with 1-99 employees. The adoption rate is higher for companies with at least 20 employees.

The most common uses for the device include demos, presentations, email, and Internet browsing. Larger businesses also use them as a tool when speaking with customers. Most of the businesses are using the iPad as a new gadget; it is not replacing PCs or other devices, says Paolo Puppoli, Techaisle.

“It is interesting to note that the early adopters of iPads among small businesses are those who have either transitioned or are transitioning to cloud computing environments,” says Tavishi Agrawal, Techaisle. ” These small businesses also have a higher average number of PCs and smart phones being used in their organizations.”

The research company believes that notebooks, netbooks, tablets, and smartphones will continue to coexist in the future as data moves into the cloud. Techaisle does not provide further statistics from its survey or the number of people and type of survey it conducted. Having said that, it is encouraging to see small businesses adopting a device like the iPad. If other manufacturers are lucky, this trend will continue and extend to all tablet PCs.

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