Carl Weinschenk spoke with Willie Jow, Sybase’s vice president of Mobility Product Marketing and Bite Communications’ Vice President Will Willis. In March, Sybasecommissioned Bite to do a survey on prospective uses of the iPad. Work-related activities emerged as the top category. The survey was actually done by Zogby International. The progression of mobility as a key for business is evident in the survey, which found that the leading prospective use of the iPad and other tablet-like devices among people familiar with smartphones was to help them do their work.
Weinschenk: How does the enterprise landscape look for the iPad?
Jow: The idea is that the iPad will be used in the enterprise [and] raises the need for us to address the iPad as a device within our customer base and with our prospects. With every new device coming in, the questions are, “When will it get into the enterprise? When will it become one of the primary platforms we have to support?” For the iPhone, we saw a trend during the last year or 18 months of people bringing it into the enterprise. We see the iPad potentially taking the same route. From results of the survey, we see that a good majority of people are looking for devices [such as the iPad] on which they can conduct work…. A lot has to do with the form factor. It can view larger file components rather than what I call the iPhone phenomenon of expanding and contracting on the small screen.
Jow: The idea is that the iPad will be used in the enterprise [and] raises the need for us to address the iPad as a device within our customer base and with our prospects. With every new device coming in, the questions are, “When will it get into the enterprise? When will it become one of the primary platforms we have to support?” For the iPhone, we saw a trend during the last year or 18 months of people bringing it into the enterprise. We see the iPad potentially taking the same route. From results of the survey, we see that a good majority of people are looking for devices [such as the iPad] on which they can conduct work…. A lot has to do with the form factor. It can view larger file components rather than what I call the iPhone phenomenon of expanding and contracting on the small screen.
“We encrypt data, encrypt the transmission, even allow remote wiping of data without touching the photos or iTunes the user has. That separation is the best way to incorporate these devices into the enterprise.”
- Willie Jow
- VP of Mobility Product Marketing, Sybase
Weinschenk: What led to the survey?
Willis: Leading up to the iPad launch, there was a lot of speculation on what people are going to use the iPad for. It was there before Apple launched the device or even named it. [Speculation started on] just the rumors of an Apple tablet device. We did some polling around this, working with a very well-known polling organization, Zogby International.
Willis: Leading up to the iPad launch, there was a lot of speculation on what people are going to use the iPad for. It was there before Apple launched the device or even named it. [Speculation started on] just the rumors of an Apple tablet device. We did some polling around this, working with a very well-known polling organization, Zogby International.
Weinschenk: What were the key results?
Willis: Out of 2,400 users polled, just shy of 800 could be identified as owning a smartphone they used for multiple uses. Of those 800 people interviewed … 52.3 percent chose conducting work as the number-one use. Closely following that were the categories of watching movies, video or television, at 48.2. Gaming and other entertainment was at 35.4 percent.
Willis: Out of 2,400 users polled, just shy of 800 could be identified as owning a smartphone they used for multiple uses. Of those 800 people interviewed … 52.3 percent chose conducting work as the number-one use. Closely following that were the categories of watching movies, video or television, at 48.2. Gaming and other entertainment was at 35.4 percent.
Weinschenk: Was that a surprise?
Willis: I would expect people such as those on this call to say, yes we want to use the mobile devices -- such as smartphones or bigger but affordable devices -- for work. But if you ask most of my friends, I would not expect [a majority] to say that they would use it for work. It just goes to show that there is a changing perception of how we use mobile devices, whether a smartphone or something a bit bigger like an iPad or tablet-like device. It will be used a lot more in the work sphere than it would have been in the past.
Willis: I would expect people such as those on this call to say, yes we want to use the mobile devices -- such as smartphones or bigger but affordable devices -- for work. But if you ask most of my friends, I would not expect [a majority] to say that they would use it for work. It just goes to show that there is a changing perception of how we use mobile devices, whether a smartphone or something a bit bigger like an iPad or tablet-like device. It will be used a lot more in the work sphere than it would have been in the past.
Weinschenk: What was the result on the question of prospective use among people who aren’t smartphone users?
Willis: My recollection is that the numbers actually leaned a lot more toward the “not sure” category. If you take a broad cross-section of the U.S. population, there are people of all age groups, such as retired people who may have a cell phone but perhaps an old candy bar-style phone with a black-and-white screen. That might explain the fact that some of those folks are not sure what they would use an iPad or tablet-like device for.
Willis: My recollection is that the numbers actually leaned a lot more toward the “not sure” category. If you take a broad cross-section of the U.S. population, there are people of all age groups, such as retired people who may have a cell phone but perhaps an old candy bar-style phone with a black-and-white screen. That might explain the fact that some of those folks are not sure what they would use an iPad or tablet-like device for.
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