The iPad was designed for and sold to consumers. But savvy IT pros and more than a handful of third parties are making the device a true enterprise force.
Microsoft is opening its management suite, already hugely popular in Microsoft shops, to handle third-party applications. The company hopes its huge customer base and the newfound flexibility of System Center will put the hurt on a raft of smaller competitors in the application-management market.
A dominant player in many categories of enterprise software, Microsoft is the scrappy little guy in a CRM market filled with big-name vendors. But the company is looking to scare its more established competitors by offering IT a set of enhanced applications.