Apple's iPad 2 offers little new for the enterprise

Apple's iPad 2 has impressed many in the consumer space, but the upgraded tablet offers little to excite enterprise users, according to analysts.

The iPad 2 has a dual-core A5 processor and is slimmer and lighter than the previous model, but the hardware and the software behind it offer few new features for the business buyer, apart from a new HDMI socket and twin cameras.

"Basically it's what everyone expected for the most part," Bob O'Donnell, IDC's programme vice president for clients and displays, told V3.co.uk.

"There was nothing specific there for the enterprise. Indeed, some companies don't want the new cameras because of privacy and security concerns."

O'Donnell pointed out that some firms, like Samsung, prefer not to allow any devices with cameras into key buildings to limit the risk of intelligence leaks.

While the cameras might have uses in business applications like videoconferencing, there are significant hurdles to overcome.

However, the analyst does expect to see a lot of niche business applications for the iPad in the next few months around specific vertical sectors. IPads will become increasingly popular in the workplace, not because companies are specifying them, but because employees have bought their own.

Recent IDC research on smartphone deployment shows that, while 50 per cent of companies do not issue mobiles to staff, half support personal devices that employees choose themselves. The same will be true for tablets, according to O'Donnell.

Charles Edge, director of technology at 318 Inc, a specialist Apple IT consulting and development firm, disagreed on the impact of the new iPad hardware, pointing out that doubling the processing power and increasing the graphics performance is good news for developers.

However, Edge added that it will take time to build applications that use the new hardware to its full.

One area where the iPad 2 could find widespread business acceptance is in the use of Apple's FaceTime videoconferencing system, which could be a useful in the internal communications space.

"I don't think 2011 will be the year of videoconferencing. It's going to take time to get product offerings out there. But by 2012 I think we'll see pilot programmes of the system on large environments," Edge told V3.co.uk.

The HDMI feature could also be very useful in some circumstances, he said, in particular mobile sales forces giving presentations using data from the cloud.