Apple iPad Backed As Business Tool By Forrester

Apple is working on additional features that haven’t been publicly announced, including support for direct network printing from iPad apps and accessing shared files from a local file server, he wrote.

How will IT managers handle this? It depends on the shop, Schadler said.

“This thing will take off among high net worth mobile pros,” Schadler predicted. “And IT should be OK with that, at least in non-regulated industries where the lack of application management and device control tools are not big issues. After all, iPad is really just a big iPhone,” and 20 percent of businesses already support these smartphones.

Schadler also believes the iPad could pressure Google to improve its Android development platform “so developers can target that platform with the same relative ease as they can target the iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad market.”

Of course, computer makers such as Dell, Acer and Asus will need to distribute Android tablets and netbooks to compete with the iPad.

That would set Google and Apple up for a duel in the enterprise for mobile workers, as well as among consumers surfing the web from the comfort of their couches.