Apple is projected to sell almost ten million iPads in 2010. Does this represent another Apple consumer success story or does the iPad have relevance to the enterprise? Early evidence would support the latter. Enterprise Desktop Alliance members have been flooded with inquires about managing iPads and their more established iPhone brethren.  According to Bloomberg Businessweek, companies as diverse as Wells Fargo, Mercedes Benz, SAP, and Tellabs are looking at using the iPad to simplify business processes. A recent Enterprise Desktop Alliance survey indicates that Tablet usage will more than triple over the next two years.

Corporate, government, and educational enterprises are looking very seriously at deploying large quantities of mobile devices, often to replace laptops. What does this mean to you? IT needs to be able to put the same policy, management capability, and security plans in place to ensure success and limit exposure during these times. The Enterprise Desktop Alliance is carefully gauging this trend and our member companies are already introducing tools to help IT cope in this ever-changing landscape.

Blackberry, Windows Mobile, and now Android mobile devices have had an Enterprise focus and now with the introduction of iOS 4, Apple devices including the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad are more enterprise-ready than ever before. iOS 4 catches up to the other mobile OS’s by adding multitasking and fast app switching. iOS 4 also introduces several important Enterprise features including support for “Mobile Device Management” and new data protection APIs. The “Mobile Device Management” APIs enable EDA member companies and others to provide full management capability including deployment, inventory, and remote wipe of mobile devices. Exchange ActiveSync and a unified inbox add enterprise capable mail features.

The Enterprise Desktop Alliance helps you keep a pulse on the latest trends in the multi-platform management world. Hear what the industry and your peers are doing as they address the ever changing world of endpoint management. The EDA will continue to offer best practice guides, webinars and conduct surveys to keep you abreast on the issues that matter to you and your peers.

We want your voice to be heard. If you have experiences, questions or challenges that apply, chances are you are not alone. Please email us at info@enterprisedevicealliance.org to comment, inquire and provide feedback.

Peter Frankl – VP Lifecycle Management, Absolute