iPad finds early favor with enterprise customers
updated 01:10 pm EDT, Wed July 7, 2010
Wells Fargo, SAP named as adopters
The iPad is starting to find escalating corporate adoption, reports say. Among the interested parties is Wells Fargo, which is said to have initially bought 15 iPads, approving them internally in a space of just two weeks, as compared to two years for the iPhone. The company's senior VP, Megan Minich, now says that the financial firm has "a bunch" more on order, only waiting for Apple's delivery. iPad stock remains tight, but is believed to be improving overall.
The Wells Fargo VP for online portal and mobile strategy, Amy Johnson, says her long-term vision involves account representatives and finance officials using iPads -- and similar devices -- to authorize wire transfers worth millions of dollars. Finance executives at other large corporations are already accessing Wells Fargo accounts with iPads, Johnson notes.
Other high-profile iPad buyers are known to include the likes of Tellabs, SAP and Mercedes-Benz. A current SAP app lets managers approve order shipments, and more proprietary titles are reported to be in development. The tablet is also said to have some popularity with smaller companies, like Arhaus Furniture, which claims it will save about $100,000 a year in paper by giving 50 iPads to delivery drivers. A custom app will again be necessary.
The iPad continues to have limitations that may be hampering enterprise adoption. These include the likes of direct printing, mass installation of apps and updates, and the ability to access files from a local server. The printing and server access problems are expected to be fixed in future upgrades of iOS.
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The iPad is starting to find escalating corporate adoption, reports say. Among the interested parties is Wells Fargo, which is said to have initially bought 15 iPads, approving them internally in a space of just two weeks, as compared to two years for the iPhone.
Well, since it uses the same OS as the iPhone, one would think it wouldn't need much to get approval to go through, would one?
The company's senior VP, Megan Minich, now says that the financial firm has "a bunch" more on order, only waiting for Apple's delivery. iPad stock remains tight, but is believed to be improving overall.
A 'bunch'? Is that greater than 5, less than 20? Greater than 50?
The tablet is also said to have some popularity with smaller companies, like Arhaus Furniture, which claims it will save about $100,000 a year in paper by giving 50 iPads to delivery drivers. A custom app will again be necessary.
Sure hope that custom app doesn't cost them $100,000 in developer time, otherwise there goes the first years savings. And also hope that the workers getting the orders off the iPads just don't turn around and print them out (because that's how they're used to doing it).
But one would think that the savings isn't some miniscule amount saved on paper, but rather having the information actually in digital form from the beginning, and not needing to data enter it at some later date.