“I fully expect Apple to have its best-ever quarter in 4Q11, and in 2012 I think we'll see Apple's product begin to gain more traction outside of the consumer market, specifically with enterprise and education markets,” said Tom Mainelli, IDC's research director for Mobile Connected Devices.

Consumers have just become acquainted with tablet computers in the last couple of years. In reality though, this computing form factor has been around for “generations.” Austin, Texas-based Xplore Technologies (OTC: XLRT) announced in November the largest order of rugged tablet PCs in its history. One of the world's largest utility companies purchased 4,000 of the company's fifth-generation X104C5 rugged computers for $14 million.

“What you see today is a paradigm shift in the computer space,” said Mark Holleran, president and COO, Xplore. “Traditionally in both the enterprise and consumer market, people had basically two choices, a desktop or a notebook. Today, it's a tablet, a desktop or a notebook and the tablet is the new, sexy device.”

Holleran gives credit to Apple for driving the tablet to popularity. Apple shipped 11.1 million units in the 3Q11, up from 9.3 million units in the 2Q11.

The trend toward tablet computers was clear from the dozens of companies that tried at last year's Consumer Electronics Show to bring a tablet device to market. While most companies marketing tablets have focused on the entertainment aspects of these computers, Xplore views its tablets as productivity tools.

The company holds a unique place in the development of tablet PCs. More than a decade before the iPad existed, Xplore began developing rugged pen tablets for workers in warehousing, transportation, utilities and public safety organizations. Xplore competes in the rugged mobile computing market — an area where Apple's iPads are too fragile to go.

A recent report from Venture Development Corporation predicted that this IT sector would grow to $6.8 billion by 2013 and the portion of the market in which Xplore’s products compete, to $3.5 billion during the same period.

“The iPad isn't what I would call an enterprise class computer,” said Holleran. “At Xplore, we build a rugged tablet that's a Core i7 product. It has up to 8 GB of main memory, turbo boost technology and dual solid-state drives. It will do everything a desktop or a notebook will do, plus more. I think tablets are much more mobile and tactile and work the way humans work and that's why you're seeing so much more market acceptance of them. With a tablet, there's no need to open up a clamshell device or get on a keyboard. Now major software developers for business and industry are putting touch and pen-based functionality into their applications. Also, the tablet is more in sync with the whole cloud computing concept where you have the compute power residing in the cloud and then you have an access device.”

Holleran believes that due to global economic uncertainty, which he sees continuing throughout 2012, more companies will be turning to investments in IT, both hardware and software, to increase productivity among their existing employees, rather than bringing new staff onboard. That will give a greater push to the introduction of tablet devices in the workplace. And tablets will soon be in use in places never imagined.

Xplore makes docks that allow tablet computers to be mounted just about anywhere. Tablet computers are now commonly mounted on forklifts and in airplanes — but what about a tablet computer mounted on a bicycle used for water inspection in Holland? That's already a reality.

“We have a new dock that's the first in the world made out of a unique composite plastic. It's lighter and stronger than metal but able to withstand vibrations and shocks,” said Holleran. “Intrinsically safe, we believe our new dock will find strong adoption in the oil and gas industry and other industrial settings.”

So, while the iPad takes consumers on flights of fantasy, a rugged tablet from Xplore promises to make data available anywhere it's needed.