Toshiba Thrive or Apple iPad 2? Model Metrics analyzes trends and developments in many electronics and business sectors. In a recent survey they made of 448 businesses they found some surprising trends. After analyzing the data, they found that a surprising 22% of the companies surveyed had already begun to adopt wide range tablet use. And in an even more surprising development, the remaining 78% of companies who aren’t currently employing tablets in their day-to-day operation plan to do so by the year 2013.
Answering another question, 72% of those companies polled claimed they use tablets on an informal basis, or allow their employees to use their personal tablets at work. While this is not a former roll-out or requirement by these companies, it still joins the above numbers to illustrate that tablet implementation in the marketplace is a targeted business tool, and will only become more commonplace in the future.
And in a very unsurprising find, 83% of those companies adopting a former tablet policy in the workplace chose Apple’s iPad and iPad 2 devices over all the other tablet offerings. While this is certainly not surprising, considering the Apple iPad 2′s domination of the tablet marketplace, the reason that these companies spent their resources on the iPad 2 as opposed to any other tablet may very well surprise you. A full 35% claimed Apple’s “cool factor” was the lead consideration in making the tablet choice.
However, the recently released Toshiba Thrive Tablet PC line is slowly beginning to make inroads into the business tablet application niche. With a “strictly business” approach to most of its features, and a huge focus on business apps, more businesses are turning to the Thrive as opposed to the iPad 2 or any other tablet for their business plans. The Thrive offers five separate home screens, one of which is loaded with Google contacts, LogMeIn remote access, the Google calendar, QuickOffice for business file access and Toshiba’s PrinterShare and FileManager apps. This is a perfect business suite of apps all in one place.
The native file management Toshiba provides in the Toshiba Thrive tablet is also another business advantage. And though Toshiba’s App Place (apps store) does provide entertainment and gaming apps, it is definitely heavily slanted towards business-oriented apps and software, from enterprise-oriented apps developers such as Central Desktop.
And since the Apple iPad 2 offers no ports or input to the business user, and even charges extra for costly accessories needed for basic business activities like file transfer from an external drive, the Toshiba Thrive is much more inclined to be an out-of-the-box business solution with microSD slot upgradability, microUSB port access and HDMI video mirroring capability. The Toshiba Thrive also offers 8, 16 and 32 GB models at more attractive retail prices than the iPad 2, and is definitely a more durable and sturdy tablet.
As more and more businesses are discovering, tablets such as the Toshiba Thrive offer greater business flexibility out-of-the-box without spending any more money on tablet resources. Cool factor aside, the Apple iPad 2 is simply not designed for the day-to-day grind and productivity demands that a tablet like the Toshiba Thrive can deliver to the business user. Learn more in the Toshiba Thrive Review.
August 31, 2011 at 4:03 pm
My early use of the Thrive has been positive. I still have lots to learn – the USB port and downloaded Quick Office are excellent for work.
Next step: the SDHC port.