Apple's iPad Wins Corporate Converts at Wells Fargo, SAP

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With their smaller screens, inability to multitask, and lack of keyboards, tablets may not soon replace bigger computers for many work-related tasks. The iPad's display, for example, is 9.7 inches (25 centimeters). By 2015, less than one-fourth of personal computers sold will be tablet-style, Forrester says.

Competition's Coming

As popular as the iPad may be for businesses now, it may soon face competition from rivals including Hewlett-Packard, Dell (DELL), LG Electronics (066570:KS), and Samsung Electronics (005930:KS), which plan their own tablet computers. Cisco said on June 29 it too will release a tablet that will be able to handle high-definition videoconferencing and may be available in early 2011.

Some companies may also be reluctant to entrust their data to the iPad after a breach on the AT&T (T) website revealed the e-mail addresses of as many as 114,000 iPad users. Apple takes pains to keep its products secure in part by carefully vetting the applications that can be downloaded onto it. Still, the process is "not foolproof, it will be subverted eventually," says Mikko Hyppönen, chief research officer of Helsinki-based security firm F-Secure.

Reservations aside, Wells Fargo saw early on how quickly the iPad might take hold among business clients the weekend the device was released. Finance executives of large companies—those that generate more than $50 million in revenue—accessed corporate Wells Fargo accounts with iPads, says Amy Johnson, a Wells Fargo vice-president who works on the company's online portal and mobile strategy. A finance official or account representative could use a mobile device like the iPad to approve multimillion-dollar wire transfers, she explains.

Johnson used one of the iPads bought by Wells Fargo to demonstrate financial products during a May 13-14 conference. She says she now carries the iPad with her everywhere.

Versatile Tool

The same goes for Rob Enslin, North America president at SAP, the world's largest maker of business-management software. Enslin says that when he travels, the only device he carries besides a Research In Motion (RIMM) BlackBerry is the iPad. "It's allowed me to almost run a paperless office," says Enslin, who uses it to access business applications, briefing documents, customer information, and other data.

SAP, based in Walldorf, Germany, also works with clients to put its products on mobile devices including the iPad. Tellabs, for instance, collaborated with SAP and Sybase on an iPad application that lets managers more quickly approve shipping of customer orders. "We also have three or four different applications lined up behind this that will help us with better inventory control," says Jean Holley, chief information officer at Tellabs, based in Naperville, Ill.

Other companies using the iPad at work include Daimler's Mercedes-Benz. Sales representatives in 40 U.S. dealerships in late May began using iPads on showroom floors to order on-the-spot financing options for customers, says Andreas Hinrichs, vice-president of marketing at Mercedes-Benz Financial. In October, Mercedes-Benz had released an application for the iPhone that lets customers manage accounts and make payments. Up to now, customers have made $5 million in car payments through the application, Hinrichs says. The company now is considering doling out iPads to all of its 350 U.S. dealerships.

At Wells Fargo, Minich is waiting for an iPad after her boss made off with the one she expected to be assigned to her.

King is a writer for Bloomberg Businessweek in San Francisco.

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