Since Apple launched the iPad in April 2010, tablets have emerged as the latest “must-have” device for the early adopters, like my self. I have recently read an article which says that Apple had sold a cumulative total of nearly 40 million tablets worldwide and continue to dominate the tablet market. Figure below shows the iPad sales, source Analysis Mason 2011.
I am a teblet believer and very positive to use tablets for business purposes. Businesses thinking in the same way as I do will have a broad range of choice. The launch of Amazon’s Kindle Fire and others represent the first major threat to Apple but a lot of alternatives for consumers and businesses.
By providing businesses and consumers with access to a range of content and apps on tablets, operators can create a new market opportunity and differentiate themselves. In some cases, notably in emerging markets, operators could even provide with own-branded tablets manufactured by white-label vendors as a value-for-money alternative to premium-branded tablets. I believe in order to position themselves as a preferred distribution channel for tablets among consumers, operators should consider: a business model for connectivity bundles with tablets, fully integrate tablets within their existing ecosystem of device and services, push tablets for businesses not only for the consumers. On top of that, I also belive operators should provide shared data allowances between devices and multi-SIM propositions for the end users.
All in all, I am a tablet believer, even for business usage. I have an iPad II 3G + Wifi and I use it for my personal as well as business duties. Once operators find better and flexible business models and bundling strategies, I am sure we will see more and more tablets consumed by businesses.









