Earlier this year I cautioned against companies making tablets specifically marketed for the enterprise.

The facts laid before our eyes are that consumer tablets, especially the Apple iPad, are making inroads into the enterprise with lesser resistance and greater enterprise-friendly security features.

From Network World:

“Enterprise CIOs are adding iPad to their approved device list at an amazing rate,” Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said recently. “Today, over 80 percent of the Fortune 100 are already deploying or piloting iPad, up from 65 percent in the September quarter. Some recent examples include JPMorgan Chase, Cardinal Health, Wells Fargo, Archer Daniels Midland, Sears Holdings and DuPont.”

A major reason that iPads are being accepted in the enterprise is that Apple significantly upgraded its iOS operating system last summer to include a number of enterprise-friendly security features.

Now the next question may be, But can another tablet device co-exist and complement the iPad in the enterprise?

To which I say, Just stop it! First, nobody wants to carry two tablets. That’d defeat the purpose of mobility, wouldn’t it?

Second, there is no enterprise tablet market. Consumer tablets are powerful enough to be used in the enterprise. If a company continues the path to make and market an “enterprise tablet,” then it’s a company that’s very out of touch with market trends and demands.

The market for mobile enterprise applications, on the other hand, has room to grow. After all, a tablet is just a piece of shiny glass without useful apps.

The Consumer Electronics Show is soon to begin in Las Vegas, and the break-out product this year appears to be tablet devices. There has to be at least 100 new tablets being announced by the usual suspects (Dell, Acer, Samsung, etc.), but now even television-maker Vizio is entering this market with its VIA Tablet and VIA Smartphone. Most of these are based on Google’s Android, but there are others like HP’s WebOS-based PalmPad, a few Windows 7 tablets, and RIM’s PlayBook.

(Wait — RIM? At a consumer electronics show? Whatever happened to the “business” oriented device?)

The simple truth is, there hasn’t been an enterprise tablet market. When Avaya, Cisco, and RIM announced their tablet plans and showed off the fancy demos, they’re trying to ride the wave created by Apple with its iPad. They’re attempting to do in the enterprise market what Apple had done in the consumer market. Apple now enjoys tremendous first-mover advantage in the overall tablet market share, but the invading Android army is encroaching.

What’s likely to happen is that tablets from Avaya, Cisco, RIM, and maybe even HP, may end up as casualties in the crossfire between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.

Companies like Avaya, Cisco, and RIM make their profits on licenses, hardware, and professional services. The telephony servers and data routers are what sells in the enterprise. If they’re trying to sell an “enterprise tablet” priced at near or above $1,000 each, with all the bells and whistles, but partially or fully proprietary, then they better be ready to hear a lot of rejection. Because the iPad and competing Android tablets are gaining traction in the enterprise market already. There’s no stopping the flood of Android tablets at cheaper (consumer- and enterprise-friendly) prices.

Just look back at history as it’s often our best teacher. The automobile industry was once dominated by American automakers like Ford and GM. They’re the first movers. Then came the flood of cheaper, affordable Japanese imported cars. What happened to the American car companies?

Or the boom of the PC industry when Apple reigned supreme until IBM and its clone PCs flooded the market.

The only way to survive is to innovate like crazy, as Apple does, or flood the market, as Google does. Neither has been or can be achieved, in my opinion, by Avaya, Cisco, and RIM.

In essence, it’s not wise for Avaya, Cisco, and RIM to pick fights with Apple and Google. Lose the desire to make an “enterprise tablet” and focus on delivering enterprise apps on existing tablets.

For more coverage of CES 2011, visit my gadget blog at gagagadget or follow @gagagadget on Twitter.

Face it, corporate IT folks: the Apple iPad will invade the office, whether you like it or not. And some UC app developers are giving the iPad very good reasons to be in the office, too.

For example, Esnatech demonstrates why the iPad can be a companion in the office with the release of its UC Client software which works with all the major PBXs.

Here’s the press release:

Richmond Hill, ON, Canada – June 10, 2010 — Esna Technologies Inc. (Esnatech), a market leader in enterprise Unified Communications, has launched a version of its market leading Mobile Unified Communications software for the newly released Apple iPad device. The mobile UC software, UC Client delivers fixed-to-mobile convergence for a wide range of wireless devices with enterprise PBX systems such as Cisco, Avaya, Mitel, Nortel, Iwatsu, AASTRA, Toshiba, eON, Shortel, Asterisk, etc. UC Client provides a complete communications and collaboration solution for mobile users, integrating enterprise presence, mobility, unified messaging, and enterprise voice to mobile devices. The integration of unified communications on wireless devices such as the Apple iPad will dramatically increase the ability of mobile and roaming users to connect to their office and communicate as if they were at their desk. Esnatech has released a version specifically for Apple iPad users so they can link their iPad device to their enterprise voice network/PBX and leverage their iPad as their office communication device.

“With the release of our newest Mobile UC Client software for Apple’s iPad, we provide iPad users with the opportunity to experience full, rich, and live enterprise communications directly on their iPad,” said Davide Petramala, Vice President, Business Development at Esnatech. “Integrated with the Esnatech UC server platform, Telephony Office-Linx, iPad users can manage all of their office communications such as find me/follow me, presence, and instant messaging directly from their device. This once again demonstrates Esnatech’s market leadership in interoperability as we extend our UC services to any telephone system, any business application, and now to any mobile and wireless device including Apple’s iPhone, the iPod touch and now the iPad.”

With the new Mobile UC Client software, users of Esnatech’s Unified Communications platform will have access to the following features directly from their Apple iPad:

• Users can manage their office presence and integrate with enterprise presence solutions such as Microsoft® Live Communications Server and Google® Talk
• Users can define their presence and availability even while on their Apple iPad
• Users are able to view the presence and availability of colleagues in their office
• Initiate and/or participate in enterprise instant messaging sessions with full logging and security
• View complete call history, including real-time view of inbound, outbound and missed calls to/from the office
• Initiate and manage live office calls directly from the Apple iPad, acting as a remote control for their office PBX
• Unified messaging integrated natively in the iPad email application where users can view, manage, and respond to voice and fax messages

The new mobile application installs the Apple iPad and connects through IP to the Telephony Office-LinX™ platform, that is connected to both the enterprise PBX/email platform and business applications. Users will have the ability to view their workgroups and see who is online and available. With access to real-time status, users can then choose the best way to communicate with co-workers. This will dramatically improve the connectivity of wireless users to their office environment and improve productivity by delivering anywhere, anytime access to critical resources.

The new Mobile UC Client software for the iPad is available as a FREE download for a limited time from the Apple Apps Store. It can be accessed directly from any user’s device or from iTunes. Simply search for Esna or UC Client.

About Telephony Office-LinX™

The Esnatech Telephony Office-LinX platform is already tightly integrated with Google Apps and Android, Microsoft Exchange and Windows Mobile devices, IBM Lotus Domino, Novell GroupWise, Apple Mac OS, iPhone, iPod, iPad, Research in Motion BlackBerry and Nokia Symbian devices. The gateway server can be administered directly from an organization’s Microsoft Management Console or through Terminal Services over the web. Users can be managed through Active Directory and Group Policy.

About Esnatech

Founded in 1989, Esnatech’s mission is to provide communication solutions that are simply the best way to communicate! Esnatech’s solutions empower organizations by giving them the flexibility to conduct business at anytime, from anywhere so they can manage the information they need, when they need it! Esnatech markets and distributes its products through OEM and VAR partners in 28 countries worldwide.

Follow ESNATECH:

TWITTER: http://twitter.com/poweredbyesnauc

YOUTUBE: http://youtube.ca/ucommunicate

ESNA UC BLOGS: http://esnatechuc.blogspot.com | http://unified-comm.blogspot.com

FACEBOOK: esnatech link

PRESS ONLY INFORMATION:
Davide Petramala | VP Sales & Marketing, Esna Technologies Inc.
Tel: 905-762-5914
Email: davidep@esna.com

Hmmm, what is Avaya up to with this tablet device going through FCC approval? Eric Krapf of No Jitter analyzes:

So one possibility is that Avaya really intends to compete toe-to-toe on end-to-end. That would explain Avaya recommitting to its data product line, instead of shedding it, as many people expected they would when they acquired it as part of Nortel Enterprise.

Frankly, that’s the only possibility that makes any sense. If Avaya is building a tablet that’s essentially a tablet version of its proprietary desk phones–an Avaya-specific device, optimized for the Avaya platform, if not restricted to that platform–well, that just wouldn’t seem to make any sense. Proprietary desk phones can be inflexible devices that hang off a proprietary platform, because they’re not going anywhere. Tablets are mobile devices that are supposed to connect to different, often public, networks. Unless Avaya is planning some kind of dual-mode tablet–Avaya-optimized for the office, more generic for the outside world.

Personally, I’m not so sure about Avaya (or any Big Telecom companies) getting into such a thing, especially in tablet computing. The communications business isn’t about hardware any more — it’s now about applications. Plus, building computers isn’t a competency for Avaya or its peers. Leave that stuff to HP, Dell, Apple, and Microsoft, especially if it’s about tablet computing. Instead of coming up with its own tablet, why not develop a kick-butt app for the iPad (or other mobile devices) instead? Does Avaya really think it can create a better tablet computing experience than Apple (or other computer companies)?

Besides, nobody wants desk phones any more. It’s about mobility and portability. People want to get calls on their mobile devices now, be it a smartphone or a tablet computer. A fancy desktop phone with a big multi-touch capable screen may look sexy, but come on, it’s 2010 so let’s please move away from the desk.

Now that the Apple iPad is out of the bag and starting to arrive in homes everywhere, all sorts of embargoed information are coming out. Not only will the device transform the publishing and portable computing markets, but evidently Big Telephony and other major UC vendors have reached an agreement to standardize on the iPad device platform. Yes, we’re talking about Alcatel-Lucent/Genesys, Aspect, Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, Mitel, NEC, Siemens, and several others. Apparently Apple CEO Steve Jobs had an interest in not just communications, but unified communications, since a long time ago, but had thought the technology was far from mature. The iPhone was really a stepping stone and learning lesson in how to partner with global communications providers. But now with the trend towards multimedia, SIP, and UC, Apple is ready to make the leap in furthering the reach of its red hot iPad tablet.

Perhaps this is a blessing to the competitive and sometimes hostile UC landscape. Jobs realized how UC technologies were fragmented and lack interoperability (and to his dismay, filled with “fugly devices”), and had the pull to bring top executives from each vendor to the same table in Cupertino to work out an all around win-win deal. It took months and countless stealth meetings — even when VoiceCon Orlando was just around the corner. Apple advised the executives not to leak this under any circumstance, especially when they were all to be present in Orlando. “Pretend that you hate each other,” was Jobs’ suggestion, according to an unnamed source at these secret meetings. Surprisingly, the deal remained a secret until now.

What these vendors have agreed on is to develop their products — PBXs, IVRs, UC servers, SIP phones, SBCs, etc. — to run on the iPad exclusively. Supposedly Avaya, Cisco, and Microsoft engineers, with the help of Apple, have already developed a few proof-of-concepts in Apple’s labs. The iPad multi-touch interface should prove to be a hit… Imagine performing MAC (that’s “moves/adds/changes”) on the PBX by tapping and dragging extensions. Or enabling presence using the built-in geolocation service (either Wi-Fi or 3G). Or dialing using the on-screen soft buttons on an iPad SIP phone. Or configuring the SBC with gestures to establish trunks. And of course, all of these tasks could be performed in either portrait or landscape mode! The possibilities are endless — only limited by the developer’s creativity…

Initially there were concerns about the iPad’s horsepower — can it really handle SIP and VoIP without sacrificing usability and stability? Apple assured the vendors that there won’t be a problem, and if so he would gladly provide more iPads (at a discount, of course) to form some sort of undocumented cluster architecture commonly seen in database design. No wonder there’s a shortage of supply, right?

Official press release below:

CUPERTINO, California—April 1, 2010—Apple’s magical new iPad will be available in all 221 US Apple® retail stores and most Best Buy stores this Saturday, April 3, beginning at 9 a.m. Starting at just $499, iPad lets users browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, all using iPad’s revolutionary Multi-Touch™ user interface. iPad is just 0.5 inches thick and weighs just 1.5 pounds—thinner and lighter than any laptop or netbook—and delivers up to 10 hours of battery life.*

“iPad connects users with their apps and content in a far more intimate and fun way than ever before,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We can’t wait for users to get their hands and fingers on it this weekend.”

Apple retail stores will offer a free Personal Setup service to every customer who buys an iPad at the store, helping them customize their new iPad by setting up their email, loading their favorite apps from the App Store, and more. Also beginning Saturday morning, all US Apple retail stores will host special iPad workshops to help customers learn more about this magical new product.

“But there’s one more thing…”

Apple is pleased to announce major strategic partnerships with Unified Communications (UC) vendors, including Alcatel-Lucent, Aspect, Avaya, Cisco, Microsoft, Mitel, NEC, Siemens, and others, to offer a unified platform for UC products and SIP interoperability. Soon not only will a user read books and play games on iPad, but also operate it as an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, Public Branch Exchange (PBX), Session Border Controller (SBC), and more. More importantly, iPad will become the UC industry standard platform, eliminating the fragmentation and lack of interoperability among these vendors’ products.

Apple expects most of these UC and SIP iPad applications to be ready by third quarter of 2010.

Pricing & Availability
iPad will be available in Wi-Fi models on April 3 in the US for a suggested retail price of $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, and $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be available in late April for a suggested retail price of $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB and $829 for 64GB. iPad will be sold in the US through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores, most Best Buy stores, select Apple Authorized Resellers and campus bookstores. The iBooks app for iPad including Apple’s iBookstore will be available as a free download from the App Store in the US on April 3.

*Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

Press Contacts:
Natalie Harrison
Apple
harri@apple.com
(408) 862-0565

Natalie Kerris
Apple
nat@apple.com
(408) 974-6877

NOTE TO EDITORS: For additional information visit Apple’s PR website, or call Apple’s Media Helpline at (408) 974-2042.

Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, Multi-Touch and Apple Store are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Tablet computers are traditionally favored in two specific markets, education and health care. Proponents of tablet computing envision students carrying a lightweight, thin device with a stylus for taking notes, make drawings, and reading textbooks. In health care, tablet computers accompany physicians to provide patient information — history, x-ray pictures, etc. — and drug and disease reference material. The main problem with tablet computers today — until Apple revealed its iPad — is the user interface and interaction. Existing tablet devices run the traditional operating systems like Windows and Linux, and the only difference is that instead of using a keyboard and mouse to interact, the user gets to use a stylus. The OS remains the same without consideration for a new UI more suitable for a tablet. Sure it’s highly portable, but it’s not highly usable.

The Apple iPhone redefined how a person interacts with a mobile device. Its multitouch capabilities pushed UI paradigms to a new era. With the success of the iPhone, Apple clearly saw the world ready to accept a multitouch tablet device.

Enter the Apple iPad.

This device has the same iPhone OS which was made purely for gesture-based interactions. Better yet, it will run existing iPhone applications with no problem. Just as companies started to make iPhone apps to complement their regular product offerings (Cisco and Avaya, have enterprise iPhone apps; Genesys announced an iPhone app during G-Force Orlando 2009), they should see the bigger-footprint iPad as another opportunity to enhance the contact center experience.

The contact center supervisor and manager would find the iPad a perfect device to keep up with their busy schedules and still able to monitor the center’s performance. Of course, it all depends on the available applications from these vendors. Another potential for a new revenue stream? Make a deal with Apple to resell iPads preloaded with the vendor’s technical and marketing documents, as well as the vendor’s apps. I bet that’ll have a positive impact on the retention rate of contact center staff, too. Who wouldn’t want a shiny Apple iPad as a work device?