Medical technology company Medtronic (http://www.medtronic.com) has bought 4,500 iPads for its employees. The purchase possibly makes the medical device company one of the “earliest and biggest corporate buyers” of the tablet computer, according to "Computerworld" (http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/352494/Meet_the_CIO_Who_Bought_4_...).

Medtronic, headquartered in Minneapolis, has six major businesses that focus their efforts around a condition or therapy type: Cardiac Rhythm Disease Management, Spinal and Biologics, CardioVascular, Neuromodulation, Diabetes, and Surgical Technologies.

Medtronic bought the Apple tables to help employees better share information with customers, physicians and one another, company spokesman Brian Henry told the "Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal (http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/news/2010/11/09/medtronic-snaps-up...). The company -- which has around 43,000 employees -- will mainly use the iPads for corporate and sales purposes rather than for research and development of new products.