Are you a mobile warrior?
That is, do you stick to the definition of “a worker using any mobile device (including laptop, netbook, smartphone, cellphone or tablet) who accesses networks (other than the corporate LAN or WLAN) for work purposes.”?

Even if the answer is no, you may be interested about mobile devices being used around you.

iPass, a leading provider of enterprise mobility services, has just published a report that outlines technology devices usage and issues related to working people on the move.
The survey respondents were asked about their mobile productivity, work habits and related experiences: the end line is that they (us) never disconnect, they’re always into the Matrix!
The subtitle highlights a common issue: ‘The Impact of an “Always Connected” Mobile Workforce’.

This quarter’s iPass Mobile Workforce Report is based on information from two sources:

- responses to the iPass survey of more than 1,100 mobile enterprise employees between July12 and July 30, 2010. 54 percent of respondents were from North America, 30 percent were from Europe and 10 percent were from Asia Pac.
- enterprise mobile broadband usage data collected by iPass across its user base of employees at 3,500 enterprises from April 1 through June 30 of 2010.

Regarding iPad, iPass reports:

Multi-Use Devices
One of the issues with the consumerization of IT is that the assumption is made that there is a signifi- cant technical difference between a consumer and a business device.

Guess who?

Take for example, Apple’s iPad.
An analyst recently conveyed that he misjudged the iPad when it was first introduced. In recent discussions with business customers, the analyst was amazed at how seriously businesses were evaluating the iPad or tablet devices for employees.

We weren’t…

This quarter’s iPass survey confirmed this observation. According to survey results, 16.3 percent of mobile employees had an iPad or tablet PC device, and an additional 33.2 percent planned to purchase or receive one in the next six months.
A surprising 90.6 percent of those planned to use it for work. iPass believes that Apple must evolve the iPad to better meet the needs of the enterprise or other vendors will essentially copy the form factor and tailor it to the business environment.

Again, the survey also asked mobile employees if they were adopting the iPad or tablet PCs:

Only 9.3 percent of those surveyed had an iPad, and 6.8 percent had a tablet PC. An iPad is an “add-on” device.
If respondents had an iPad, they were more likely to have a laptop and smartphone/cellphone (one or the other).
The survey also found that employees that paid their own mobile phone/ smartphone bills were more likely to have or plan to buy an iPad.

Any iPad in your future?

The survey then asked respondents if they planned to get an iPad or tablet PC in the next six months. Surprisingly 26.3 percent planned to get an iPad, and 6.9 percent planned to get a tablet PC. The survey also found that employees that paid their own mobile phone/smartphone bills were more likely to have or plan to buy an iPad.
The survey then asked how they planned to use the iPad or tablet PC. Of the 50.4 percent of mobile employees who either had an iPad or tablet PC or planned to get one in the next six months, 90.6 percent expected to do some work on their iPad or tablet PC.

Another interesting result?
How many of the following mobile devices do you have/carry regularly for work and personal use?

The top device carried was a laptop, with most everyone who carried two or more devices carrying a laptop. The next most common devices were smartphones and cell phones. The survey did find some adoption of tablet PCs and iPads by the most gadget-equipped users. The survey also found that if an employee carried only one device, it was usually a cell phone or a smart phone (80 percent).

Considering iPad has been introduced in 2010 (and a lot later in the rest of the world) it’s already got a strong hold in the mobile device arena.

BTW: at theifile.com we fall in the “5 to 6″ devices (almost always) carried along with us!

Get the iPass report here or go directly to the PDF version.