Small Businesses' Early iPad Adoption Shows Promise for Tablet PCs, Says Techaisle

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 4, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Techaisle's recent small business survey shows that 2 million iPads have been purchased by SBs (1-99 employees) in the US with an adoption rate of 20%.  The use of iPads is more prevalent in the 20-99 employee size businesses.  Research in EMEA shows a greater uptake in the 5-9 employee size businesses and arguably does not follow the trends of the US market.  For example, 300,000 iPads have been purchased by SBs in UK with an adoption rate of 19%.

"Small businesses while willing to adopt new forms of computing are not likely to be so aggressive as to create a tidal wave of change, however, the signs are encouraging, and now it is up to the app makers and ISVs to take advantage of this new hardware in compelling ways," says Abhijeet Rane, Techaisle.

The survey also shows that iPads are being used by small businesses as a device for demos, presentations, e-mails, and Internet surfing.  Higher employee size SBs are starting to use iPads for data capture, either by salespersons or by "roaming" customer support personnel.

"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.  These small businesses also have a higher average number of PCs and smart phones being used in their organizations," says Tavishi Agrawal, Techaisle.

Techaisle believes that all four mobile form factors, namely, notebooks, netbooks, Tablet PCs and smart phones will coexist in an environment where data and information is being increasingly stored and accessed via the cloud.

"Contrary to popular belief, survey does not find that iPads are being purchased as replacements for other factors," says Paolo Puppoli, Techaisle.

About Techaisle

Techaisle is an actionable data driven market research company based in San Jose with global coverage.  Techaisle's premise is that Go-to-Market strategies require actionable data delivery based on aggregation, focused analytics and dynamic segmentation.  Techaisle provides five major services: Worldwide IT Market and Channel Partner Sizing, Syndicated Research, Custom Consulting, Segmentation, and Social Media Tracking.  For more information on Techaisle or its global products/services, please visit www.techaisle.com or call 408-914-2989.

SOURCE Techaisle