2014: The Year Of Tablet Alternatives

By Matt Miller, president, MobileDemand, www.mobiledemand.com

A wave of change is coming in the tablet market, bringing you more options than ever before.

Another market evolution for field-based mobile computing will occur in the year of 2014 — the advent of alternatives and more functionality in Intel/Windows-based thin and light tablets. You’ll soon witness the vast partner ecosystem from Intel and Microsoft delivering devices of form factors and functionality that the enterprise has demanded.

In the last five to seven years, Apple shook the foundation of mobile computing for both consumers and the business world with their innovative thin and light phones and tablets with breakthrough user interface. Coupled with innovative apps, the benefits of these devices include better user acceptance of technology deployment by field users. Overall, the mass adoption of tablets is driving prices down. It’s led to Apple having become a significant, if not dominant, force in a few mobile enterprise applications like field sales, hospitality, and retail. However, there are drawbacks — for example, as a consumer-oriented company, Apple tends not to be as flexible and supportive of the enterprise.