Businesses Add iPads to Their Briefcases
When Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) first iPhone came out in 2007, many companies told their employees that the device wasn’t appropriate for the workplace. The iPad is a different story.
The company’s tablet-style device seems to be sidestepping the resistance that the iPhone and other consumer-oriented devices have faced in the corporate environment. Indeed, many businesses have raced to snap up iPads.
One example is the Chicago law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP, which banned the iPhone when it first came out yet preordered 10 iPads in the run up to the tablet’s release in April.
“We made sure that we knew as much about these devices as possible,” said Michael Barnas, the firm’s director of application services. The technology department now offers access to its internal systems for more than 50 iPad-toting attorneys, and anticipates issuing iPads as an alternative to laptops as soon as next year.
