iPad: Endless possibilities in Business
Earlier this week we attended the Jamf Nation Live event in London and it was a reminder of just how extensively the humble iPad is already used in business. The event was attended by several hundred people from a huge verity of different industry sectors including major banks, large retail brands, football clubs, universities, hotels and so many more. It was a real eclectic mix of sectors, all bought together by one common factor – they all have an Apple devices in their estate.
Now Jamf is one of the leading MDM (Mobile Device Management) platforms for Apple devices globally so you would be forgiven for being a little sceptical about the claim of how widely Apple devices are used in business, but the numbers don’t lie.
In 2024, Apple sold over 57 million iPads globally which represented nearly a 40% market share of the global tablet market, putting them top of the list in terms of their market position. Earlier this year, the research analysts Canalys reported 13,746 Apple iPads had been shipped in Q1 2025 alone – over double that of its nearest Android competitor, Samsung. That represents a 14% increase on their Q1 2024 performance.
In another article by the Coolest Gadgets team which amalgamates data from a range of credible sources, it is estimated that there are over 93,000 companies worldwide who use iPads in their operations.
Why Pads?
So why is the iPad so popular as a business tool over other tablet options? We produced a bitesize review of the key factors in our blog – Apple iPads vs Android vs Microsoft Devices: Pro’s and Cons for the Modern Workplace – so we won’t repeat ourselves here. But in summary the key factors are:
- Security features
- App Ecosystem
- User friendly interface
- Lockdown settings
- App store and business tools
- Build quality and design
In fact, it is even argued by some, that the main reason for not choosing iPads in business – that being cost – is actually a false economy when you consider the total cost of ownership (TCO) argument and factor in additional security costs, damages and user adoption to name a few. This is definitely a topic we can explore in a future blog.
So where are all these iPads being used and for what purpose?
This is where it gets really interesting when you start to understand how widely iPads are used across such a multitude of different sectors and for such a huge variety of use cases. The possibilities are almost endless as we see.
You can get a taser of some of the key industries and use cases from our Industry Sectors page, but lets take a little look at a few.
Healthcare – probably our biggest sector and where our Tough-PAC product began life. The iPad is used on wards with nursing teams, by patients at their bedside, by surgeons in theatre, on intensive care wards, as door signage, for patient check-in and so on.
Hospitality – perhaps one of the more obvious, with use cases in public facing areas such as reception, in-room for providing access to guest services and control of room settings (eg. heating, lighting etc.), restaurants, leisure facilities such as Spa’s, meeting rooms and more. In addition, they are also prevalent in back-office operations such with housekeeping, facilities management teams, kitchens, restaurant staff retail outlets etc.
Sports clubs – perhaps not one of the obvious ones, but when you think of the various functions, such as hospitality suites, coach staff, retail outlets, mobile back-office teams, the use cases become a bit more obvious.
The list goes on including retail, education, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, yachts, care and nursing homes, construction, utilities companies, corporations and a whole host of others. It is truly amazing.
If you want to know more about how Schiltron.IO can help you get the most out of your iPad deployment, get in touch at contact@schiltron-io.com or explore our website.
