The Enterprise Will Be the Next Tablet Battleground

The at once round of tablets aiming at Apple’s iPad won’t necessarily be looking to go toe-to-toe with the device. Instead, these tablets—namely from the likes of Technology in Motion, Samsung and Hewlett-Packard—will be deemed a success if they can keep Apple out of the enterprise.

The touchpads

We just announced our new devices — the touchpads and the two smartphones. We haven’t shipped them but so right now we don’t compare in effect well with anyone because we haven’t done anything but. Nevertheless going forward we don’t intend to play in the junior league in this business either.

Apotheker as well noted that HP would ship WebOS tablets as so then as Windows versions. These tablets will inevitably be pushed as part of HP’s overall IT stack and cloud computing plans.

RIM’s strategy has been clear. Balsillie has talked up the PlayBook’s consumer capabilities, however we all know this tablet is about business. In December, Balsillie said:

CIOs understand and trust the BlackBerry Enterprise Server security model and are pleased that security will be extended to the BlackBerry PlayBook. We’re committed to ensuring that the BlackBerry PlayBook is enterprise ready for launch by delivering on key customer requirements, including pairing between BlackBerry smartphones and BlackBerry PlayBook, secure enterprise VPN, true multitasking, document viewing and editing, and a best-in-class web browsing experience. PlayBook offers numerous opportunities to transform businesses and our partners are eager to explore how BlackBerry PlayBook can help transform their business operations and customer engagements, with some clients delaying their plans to deploy other tablets in anticipation of the PlayBook launch.

Similar story with the enterprise focus

Dell has a similar story with the enterprise focus. The company is tailoring the different flavors of its Streak at verticals just as healthcare. The rest of the field—ranging from Samsung to Motorola Mobility—as well see tablets as a way to do business.

The wild card for all of these tablet players will be luring just enough consumers to be cool. Let’s face it: The days of handing out a device to employees are largely over. Workers are bringing their own gear to work and increasingly that means Apple, which may step up its enterprise game just a bit. In short, 80 percent of the Fortune 100 are testing or piloting the iPad. The challengers—HP, RIM, Motorola Mobility, Samsung and Dell—have the sales teams, CIO relationships and know how to cater to the enterprise, however they after all have to produce tablets that will appeal to the average worker.