Apple has completely dominated the consumer tablet space in the past year. In fact, by most accounts, the company more or less created the space. Before the creation of the iPad, such a thing seemed like little more than a pipedream. Tablets had long been the realm of very specific verticals.
While companies are introducing their own tablets by the boatload (only a tiny fraction of which have come to the market, of course), many have eschewed the prospect of direct competition with Apple, instead opting to target other markets–markets like business.
Things aren’t looking to rosy for the competition on that front, either. According to new numbers from analyst group ChangeWave, of the 14 percent of companies who plan to buy a tablet in the first quarter of next year, 78 percent plan to buy an Apple. Dell and Apple are tied for a distant second at nine percent each, HP has eight, and poor old Samsung is trailing behind at four.
Of those opting for a tablet, 73 percent use it for Internet access (that number seems a little low, actually…), 69 percent for checking e-mail, 67 percent for working outside the office. There’s been a pretty big jump for those businesses that are using the tablet as a “laptop replacement”–that number has risen 13 percent to 38.
A sign of things to come, perhaps?
