If someone told you a few years back that tablet computers would not only become mainstream by the end of 2010, but that something like 100 million would be bought by consumers and businesses throughout 2011 alone, you'd most likely have suggested they up their medication.
But that's exactly where we are, with some analysts predicting sales could even surpass that figure this year.
Consumers are expected to represent the lion's share of demand, but signs are emerging that tablet devices are increasingly attracting the attention of corporate users. Industries such as healthcare, insurance, real estate, legal and government are among the leading adopters in the business market.
Initially analysts were looking at tablets as a likely replacement for laptops and other conventional portable computers.
But according to Kevin Francis, director of integrator and consultancy company Object Consulting, they have spawned a completely new market.
"The future of computing is some kind of exciting combo of cloud being able to be access data from tablets and other sorts of machines perhaps even without keyboards," he predicts, adding that a key driver for the uptake of tablets in the enterprise is "touch" technology.
"We see touch taking off in a number of areas, especially in front-of-house at retail shops and banks, as well as in government agencies."
He says interactive touch applications, including things like digital signage, are creating unique opportunities for organisations to develop more sophisticated ways of interacting with and analysing their clients.
"The biggest single shift in multi-touch technology is the move from arcane languages, tools sets and specialised equipment to Windows 7 out of the box running Silverlight and WPF [Windows Presentation Foundation].
"We are seeing touch provide awesome applications for self-service."
And although the market is all abuzz about the business capabilities of the iPad or the swelling number of Android devices, Francis predicts many businesses will prefer to go with Windows-based solutions.
A certified Microsoft partner, Object Consulting is working to develop solutions based on the Microsoft Surface platform for multiple device and user interaction.
"There's often a knee-jerk reaction from companies that when they want something ‘fancy' it has to be with Apple, whereas the message coming from the market now is that if you want to run an application inside your network that's not necessarily the case."
"Apple and Android have made tremendous inroads in the consumer space, but when it comes to corporates
deploying a corporate solution it makes more sense to go with Windows.
"Windows based tables don't have the cool apps yet, but in terms of practical deployment you can still run Outlook and Word and manage like any other computer in the network."
When it comes to larger scale tablet deployments in Australia, Apple appears to be well in the lead. In August last year Victoria's Department of Health bought 500 iPads to be deployed at a number of hospitals.
Earlier, the state's education department announced it would spend $300,000 in a trial to assess educational applications for the device. Meanwhile, more and more reports are emerging of small scale iPad deployments.
Trevor Clarke, senior analyst with IDC Asia Pacific, says the growing popularity of tablets and other mobile devices will create attractive opportunities for integrators to work with organisations to develop strategies for device management.
"I think there are some great opportunities for management of devices generally," he says. "With the growth of devices expected in the workforce, being able to manage this changing end-user environment within the enterprise will become increasingly important."
Of particular importance are new opportunities around client virtualisation. "Being able to move applications or workloads across different devices, that's where tablets are very handy because you can move them around and dock them. This is where you'll see more desktop and application virtualisation."
Virtualisation specialist Citrix says that one of the biggest issues for tablet deployment in the enterprise is security.
"The reason IT guys don't want to have tablets is security," Nabeel Youakim, Citrix vice president of products, partners and alliances. "Today many companies have very strict compliance laws."
Responding to this challenge, Citrix has developed the Citrix Access Gateway which, when integrated with the platform-specific Citrix Receiver certificate, allows IT managers to create VPNs (virtual private networks) to connect users of iPads, Android-based and other tablet devices.
The certificate "allows iPad, Android or any other sort of tablet user to securely access their Windows-based applications no matter where they are". It also allows an iPad use to run Windows 7 on the iPad. "It's like a soft set-top box," Youakim says.
To date most of the discussion around tablets and their suitability for enterprise deployment has focused on the development of business applications for what are essentially purpose-built mobile operating systems.
However, a number of hybrid products have now entered the market which can also run full scale operating systems such as Windows 7.
Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer presented two Windows 7-based tablet devices at this year's CES extravaganza in Las Vegas, but they failed to generate a great deal of excitement. One was a small Samsung laptop that converts into a tablet, the other a new 12-inch Asus tablet that appeared to run nothing other than the standard version of Windows 7.
Balmer did however show off the next version of Windows supporting "system on chip" (SoC). SoC enables a full PC to be crammed onto a tiny chip and motherboard about the size of a business card, a technology bound to be of extreme interest to tablet manufacturers.
Leading enterprise software vendors including SAP and Oracle are all working to mobilise their core applications, with many recognising the unique opportunities presented by the form factor of tablet devices.
SAP's acquisition of Sybase last year was largely motivated by the German giant's desire to extend its portfolio of mobile capabilities.
Sybase Australia managing director Dereck Daymond says the company has created back-end management and security tools for iPad and Android devices that allow users to access enterprise applications and data while enabling IT staff to securely manage their mobile fleets beyond the corporate firewall.
"Developers of mobile business applications will increasingly seek to take advantage of the increased screen real estate presented by tablets," Daymond says.
A survey commissioned by Sybase last year found business users' appetites for tablet devices is growing sharply.
One in four Americans surveyed by Sybase said they would likely replace their laptop with a tablet device. The same proportion of respondents stated they expected their employer to furnish them with a tablet for work.
As for what people expected tablets to help them achieve, 18 percent cited improved creativity and innovation, 16 percent highlighted efficiency, time saving and problem solving, and 14 percent citing better all-round communication, collaboration and productivity. While Apple obviously got the jump on its rivals with the dramatic success of last year's iPad launch, a recent research report by Deloitte predicted Android will overtake Apple's iOS within three or four years, which is roughly how long it took to overtake Apple in the smartphone space.
Everyone from HP to Toshiba, Dell, Fujitsu and ASUS has so far come to market either with an Android-based device or some sort of hybrid variation. And let's not forget Motorola's Xoom tablet.
The first tablet to run Google's new Android 3.0 operating system, otherwise known as Honeycomb, was crowned best gadget at CES.
But for now, Apple's biggest rival from the Android camp is the Samsung Galaxy, which recently passed 1 million in sales, way ahead of any of its Android competitors.
The Korean company's Australian VP of telecommunications Tyler McGee says that while the device started out as a consumer product, its potential as an enterprise tool is now being realised both by users and developers.
Meanwhile, the swelling reservoir of Android applications continues to deliver more and more options for improving business intelligence.
"The Android market now has more than 130,000 apps," notes McGee. "There are a huge amount of apps with an increasing number of corporate applications being added," especially targeting the SME market. Apple on the other hand boasts that the iPad operates with around 300,000 apps from the iPhone store.
Samsung is collaborating closely with both Microsoft and Intel to develop the company's next generation of tablet and sliding screen devices, all of which are expected to boast a broader array of business applications.
The company is working with its local channel partners to market these to the education, healthcare and insurance industries. It's also working on new applications for the golf industry.
And while Google has been pretty cagey about its new Honeycomb operating system, it is expected to spur a raft of new business-oriented applications, especially around mapping and navigation. Likewise, however, the highly anticipated iPad 2 will doubtless present a few surprises of its own.
Of course another important player to watch in the tablet space is corporate mobility pioneer RIM. The Canadian company recently made its foray into the tablet market with the ill-advisedly named BlackBerry PlayBook. Seen as a direct rival to the iPad and Android-based tablets, the PlayBook has received mixed reviews.
Unlike the iPad it does however boast native support for Adobe Flash, for what it's worth, although reports of poor battery life appear to have dampened enthusiasm. However, observers have noted that RIM's newly acquired QNX operating system is very robust and proving popular with developers and will likely ensure the company remains firmly in the evolving enterprise game for some time yet.
It will also be interesting to watch the two newest entrants into this space, Cisco and Avaya.
In a sure sign of the appetite for tablets in the enterprise, the networking giant has released in the US its Cius tablet complete with built-in cameras for videoconferencing and other emerging business applications, while Avaya is marketing its desktop video device at more or less the same market.
David Keane, founder and director of Sydney-based virtual telecommunications company BigTinCan, feels we are really only now viewing the tip of the iceberg in terms of the potential for tablet devices to radically transform how businesses operate.
"The argument for tablets in the enterprise is nothing to do with being sexy and exciting," he says.
"They have a very real role to play in delivering mobile salesforce productivity, at significantly less cost to buy and maintain than a laptop, all the while being significantly more useful."
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