The iPad's runaway success, as evidenced by the slew of followers now bringing tablet computers to market, is starting to reach far beyond the home market.  What began as a coffee table novelty has emerged as a less costly, far slicker and much more mobile device for corporate executives on the go. It's being used in airports, in presentations and even in conference rooms. Forbes caught up with Sanju Bansal, chief operating officer at business intelligence provider Microstrategy, to find out how the devices are being used, how they will be used in the future, and what impact they will have on other technology in the enterprise.  Forbes: Will the iPad replace the PC inside corporations?  Sanju Bansal: If you're doing content creation, a laptop or desktop makes sense. But if you're a content consumer, which managers and sales guys in the field are, it's a great device. Within about one second it's on. It's lightweight and very portable. You can share it across a desk or conference table. Rarely do people hand a laptop across the table, even though they can, but they do share an iPad. You're sharing information with other people. And the device itself is culturally acceptable.  How many iPads does Microstrategy use?  We have about 2,000 people, and we bought more than 1,000 iPads. Our sales force uses them to share videos, presentations and documents. They can share our entire library of 10,000 documents at a client site, ask which ones are of interest, and send them right there instead of going back to their desktop. It eases communication in sales meetings. And in our internal meetings, they're making the meetings more fact-based. You have access to all your corporate data and facts.  Is there a downside to this?  When I was in meetings and using my BlackBerry, people got annoyed. When you're on an iPad the presumption is you're trying to collect data for the discussion. With a BlackBerry, it felt like you were communicating with someone else. That's not the perception with an iPad.
The iPad marks the beginning of a trend toward less-expensive and far more mobile hardware--but it's not for everyone.