Many workers are ditching laptops in favor of Apple’s iPad, according to new research.
A report published this week by IDG Connect found that in 91 percent of businesses that have deployed the iPad, the device is being used primarily for work.
“Much has been written about the iPad as a ‘stay-at-home’ device, used predominantly in the living room in a ‘lean-back’ context. According to one recent survey of US consumers, 60 percent of iPads never leave the home, and 70 percent of usage occurs in the living room,” the report reads.
“IT and business professionals use their iPads more intensively, across a wider range of scenarios. Fully 51 percent of IT decision-makers say they ‘always’ use their iPad at work (and a further 40 percent say they sometimes use it at work). Out-of-home usage is even more intense, with 79 percent of IT decision-makers saying that they ‘always’ use their iPads ‘on the move’.”
However, only 16 percent of those questioned said that the iPad had “completely” replaced their laptop. Six percent said it had replaced their desktop PC, eight percent that it had replaced their portable music player, while two percent said it had replaced their TV, with the same proportion saying it had replaced their smartphone.
Seventy-nine percent of those questioned said that they would now “always” use their iPad for browsing the web, 76 percent said they’d use it always for reading, 73 percent for news consumption, 54 percent for work communication, 44 percent for social networking and 42 percent for personal communication.
“What this survey makes clear is that iPad-based media consumption among IT and business professionals is predominantly text-based and work-related. In particular, web browsing, news consumption and reading emerge as the three most intensive usage scenarios, the killer apps that transform the iPad into a viable business tool.”