IBM Global Financing Adds Leasing Option For Tablets

IGF recognizes the sharp rise in commercial demand for tablets such as Apple's iPad and the Motorola Xoom in the marketplace, particularly within key vertical markets such as health care, and knows that solution providers want to include them in financing deals with their customers, according to an IBM spokesman.

"[Tablets] are coming, whether you want it like it or not. [VARs] need get to hold of it and manage the program and manage the costs," said the spokesman.

According to IBM, a typical tablet could cost about $800 after it is imaged and configured for an end user. Instead of purchasing the device, enterprises could lease it for less than $25 per month, a financing option that could be especially attractive to companies rolling out tablets by the thousands, according to the spokesman.

IGF's tablet financing is vendor- and OS-agnostic, according to the company, and financing of tablets can be included in larger financial opportunities that include other products and services.

"Despite creating the PC, we weren't afraid to divest our operations when that model became a commodity-based business. Likewise, IBM has not jumped into the tablet device pool. Instead, IBM has kept with its shift into higher profit opportunities to surround computing devices with higher-value services," reads a document obtained from IBM. "Considerations for acquiring PCs and tablet devices go well beyond price. In today's environment, the true value lies in establishing a strategy that addresses the challenges across all phases of the computing lifecycle—from planning to asset disposal."

The inclusion of financing for tablets should enable end users to reduce up-front cash outlays and better match payments to benefits, which in turn helps spur the adoption of tablets in the enterprise, according to IBM.

The proliferation of tablet computers puts the IT industry on the cusp of a major shift, according to IBM. "Just as the phone industry underwent a massive shift from operator-connected calls to direct calling in the mid-20th Century...this time [the shift was] caused by the massive growth of mobile computing," according to the IBM document.