In my last blog I talked about Apple versus RIM and the challenges an IT department faces with these two very popular smartphones. With the emergence of the iPad and the release of the slightly improved iPad2 I’m looking at the considerations IT departments have to make about these and other tablets.

When it comes to the iPad it’s easy to see where the attraction lies for the mobile business user despite some of the short comings such as MS office compatibility. But the increase in popularity of the iPad has created another challenge for IT managers, in addition to the lack of central control for some, and that’s in the area of data protection.

Many iPad users will require the use of 3rd party hosted solutions to store data in order to be able to access this data from multiple devices, such as Mobileme, Huddle, and Dropbox. There may be nothing wrong with such solutions in themselves but has anyone looked into the risks of storing company data with 3rd party vendors? Who controls what data is stored where? How do we retrieve this data if the owner is no longer around? How do we know what this data is being used for and by who? What would your customers say if they knew we store their data with 3rd parties? What about encryption, can the data be intercepted? These are some of the many questions that nobody wants to ask.

So for me I’d love an iPad in my Christmas stocking to add to my personal Mac, but for my business use for now I will have to stick with my Blackberry 9700 and maybe I can wangle a trial with Vodafone on a Playbook.