The Gartner research group (http://www.gartner.com) says that by 2013, 80% of businesses will support a workforce using tablets. The Apple iPad is the first of what promises to be a huge wave of media tablets focused largely on content consumption, and to some extent communications, rather than content creation, with fewer features and less processing power than traditional computers and notebooks or pen-centric tablet computers.



"Support requirements for media tablets will vary across and within enterprises depending on usage scenario," says Gartner. " At minimum, in cases where employees are bringing their own devices for convenience, enterprises will have to offer appliance-level support with a limited level of network connectivity (which will likely include access to enterprise mail and calendaring) and help desk support for connectivity issues."

The nugget of info was part of the report "Gartner's Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users, 2011 and Beyond: IT's Growing Transparency."

-- Dennis Sellers