IWeek: Apple Tablet Should Be Well-Received By Businesses

Apple's new Kindle-like tablet should be suitable for executives such as bankers, according to Fritz Nelson, Editorial Director for InformationWeek (a sibling publication to Bank Systems & Technology)."Companies are taking a serious look at NetBooks, especially for frequent travelers who already have enough to lug around without the laptops and accessories that make them look like they're headed to a summit climb," Nelson writes in his blog. "Smartphones, as powerful as they are, usually don't cut it for people away from the office for more than a day."

He points to the success of Apple's iPhone, which the tablet is said to be loosely based on. iPhones are used in 70% of Fortune 100 companies and 50% of the Financial Times 100, according to Apple. Nelson notes that if all applications for the new tablet come through the Apple-vetted iTunes store (as they do for the iPhone), the risk of bugs and security issues will be reduced.

Elements the device will need to be successful, Nelson points out, include a good battery strategy, natural user input mechanisms, carrier partners that can handle fat applications and provide multimedia bandwidth and a partner ecosystem.

Apple is expected to unveil its tablet at a press conference at 1:00 EST this afternoon.