Tablets are one of hottest-selling devices on the market today. Exhibit A is Apple who’s iPad dominates the market. In fact, in yesterday’s earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said he agreed with analysts that the market so far has been mainly an iPad market than anything else. Apple said it sold a record 15.43 million iPads in its most recent quarter, a 111% increase over the same quarter a year ago. 

But competitors, led by a variety of Android-based devices, are starting to get some traction. Amazon, for one, says it has sold “millions” of Kindle Fire tablets since its release last November. And the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month featured an array of new tablet entrants. 

Some companies, like Cisco with its Android-based Cius, are specifically targeting the enterprise with IT-friendly security and management features. A new report by Infinite Research says shipments of tablets to the enterprise are set to increase dramatically. 

According to the company’s Worldwide Enterprise Tablet Market Forecast Report, over the next 5 years, total shipments of tablet computers to enterprises around the world are expected to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 48%. That growth reflects a rise in shipments from 13.6 million units in 2011 to 96.3 million units in 2016. 

The report says enterprise adoption of tablets is occurring across many distinct vertical industries including: Education, Healthcare, Retail, Industrial, Government, Financial Services, Hospitality, Technology, Legal, and Energy sectors. In 2011, Infinite Research says the Financial Services sector was the leading enterprise market adopter, purchasing 3.37 million tablets. And while growth is not by any means limited to any one sector, the research firm says it expects the fastest growing sectors to be Education and Government which are on track to grow 55% and 53% respectively in tablet adoption from 2012-2016. Financial Services and Legal are the two leading sectors of adoption in terms of the overall number of devices deployed.  

"Demand in the enterprise tablet space is being driven by the desire to improve employee (or member) productivity. Mobile applications are allowing enterprises to realize huge productivity gains,” said Mark Ritorto, President, of Infinite Research. 

“Additionally, enterprise members are increasingly seeking real-time access to computing & communications tools, content, and the Internet regardless of their physical location," Ritorto added. "The tablet has emerged as the perfect solution to give employees access to the computing tools necessary to succeed in today's hyper-competitive business environment.

The report notes that tablets cost enterprises far more than the initial purchase price including the cost to deploy, secure and implement device management programs as well as any repair and upgrade costs. As a result total cost of ownership (TCO) of tablets ends up being 5-8 times higher than the initial purchase price. "Vendors that are able to offer end-users affordable TCO solutions will be in a position to secure market share," the report says. 

The impact of tablets in the enterprises was detailed earlier this month in a global survey of IT and business professionals released by IDG Connect earlier this month. Among other findings, the survey showed that 66% of these users said the iPad has partially or completely replaced their laptop.