Enterprise tablet sales to grow 48 percent over 5 years

Signaling an increased interest in tablets in the workplace, market analysis firm Infinite Research predicts tablet computer shipments will grow at a compound annual rate of 48 percent between 2011 and 2016.

In total, the research firm expects 96.3 million tablets to ship by the end of 2016, up from 13.6 million in 2011.

This tablet growth will not be restricted to a handful of verticals, but will be evident across industries. According to Infinite, organizations in education, retail, hospitality and healthcare, among others, will gravitate toward the mobile devices in an effort to improve productivity among their workforces. The financial industry in particular has an eye on the technology, after purchasing more than 3.3 million tablets in 2011.

"[E]nterprise members are increasingly seeking real-time access to computing and communications tools, content and the internet regardless of their physical location," says Infinite Research president Mark Ritorto. "The tablet has emerged as the perfect solution to give employees access to the computing tools necessary to succeed in today’s hyper-competitive business environment."

A separate study from Cisco shows a similar movement toward tablet computers in the enterprise. In a survey of 1,500 IT managers and executives, Cisco finds that employees submit one request for a tablet computer for every three smartphone requests.