Chapter 1
Understanding the Mobile Industry Landscape
What's in this Chapter?
- The iPad is a transformative technology
- Business technology is being influenced by consumers
- Apple is acting as a catalyst for change in the industry
- How the “app revolution” started with the iPhone
- The “app revolution” has extended to the iPad
- How Apple is facing the “innovator's dilemma”
The iPad is transforming the way businesses use technology. More than just a consumer phenomenon, the iPad is disrupting business models and power structures within corporate information technology (IT) departments. Within 90 days of being released, the device was already adopted by 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. This unprecedented rate of market penetration represents a fundamental shift in the way technology enters the enterprise.
IT departments have traditionally had complete control over the selection and management of technology, but that iron-clad grip is being threatened. Corporate employees, who are consumers themselves, are bringing their own personal devices into the workplace. While many IT departments have moved quickly to ban this, such a ban is very difficult to enforce, especially when executive leaders are among the offenders. Even when it can be enforced, the ban puts significant pressure on IT departments to support the popularized consumer technologies demanded by the employee base.
Many industry leaders have begun to recognize that it can be in the company's best interest to support this ...
