In the start of a potentially world-changing trend, corporations are beginning to buy Apple's iPads and develop applications for them.

In doing so, the companies are breaking free from the vice-grip lock that Microsoft and Intel have had on their business for the past two decades.

The iPad-adoption stories are mostly anecdotal reports so far, so they won't show up in quarterly reports and financial statements. But they could represent the start of a major trend. And this trend has the potential to upend the enterprise technology industry and, ultimately, cripple Microsoft's business.

Some anecdotes from an article by Ben Worthen of the Wall Street Journal:

Chicago law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal "offers access to its internal systems for more than 50 iPad-toting attorneys, and anticipates issuing iPads as an alternative to laptops as soon as next year."

Apple's Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook "said in July that "very surprisingly" half of the Fortune 100 are testing or deploying iPads."

"More than 500 of the 11,000-plus applications built specifically for the iPad are in the business category. A free app from Citrix Systems Inc., which allows people to access internal corporate programs from the iPad, has been downloaded more than 145,000 times."

Why are companies jumping on the iPad bandwagon when they have banned or resisted other consumer-friendly technologies--including, initially, the iPhone?

Several reasons:

Apple has fixed several specific early weaknesses with iOS, the operating system that powers iPhones and iPads, including Microsoft Exchange integration, encryption, and deletion of data in lost devices.

iPads are significantly cheaper than laptops

iPads "boot" instantly, thus eliminating an infuriating feature of Microsoft products that the company has never addressed despite two decades of customer frustration with it.

iPads can be carried around showrooms, hospitals, and factory floors and, in the former, used to start the purchasing process while the customer is still drooling over the product

Executives are also consumers, and they want at work what they have at home.

Will iPads kill the laptop business immediately?

No. The transition will take a while.

Could iPads eventually kill the laptop business--and everyone who depends on it?

iPads are unlikely to kill the laptop business entirely--those who primarily type rather than read will always depend on them. But iPads could take a big bite out of the laptop market's growth, especially in the netbook segment.

Will Microsoft and Dell, etc., just be able to whip up an iPad competitor that does to the iPad what Google's Android-based phones are now doing to the iPhone? (Blow past them in market share and, gradually, render them less relevant).

Possibly. Microsoft still owns the corporate market. Companies will naturally vastly prefer to do business with Microsoft than a company with a less-developed sales and service infrastructure, and Microsoft understands what corporate customers care about. Newcomer Google, meanwhile, will have a tougher time winning corporate business than it has had winning consumer handset business, so Microsoft may not immediately be so far behind when it finally enters the tablet market.

But make no mistake: Every day that goes by in which corporations are testing iPads and developing applications for them will make it that much tougher for Microsoft to regain total control of this market.

The clock is ticking. And, as yet, Microsoft isn't even in the game.

See Also: The Truth About The iPad: Day 100