Apple might not be known for the enterprise side of their business, but it is something they have certainly been developing, and the British Parliament has announced that it will purchase 650 iPads for MPs as a replacement for their more heavy and space consuming laptops, Techweek Europe reports. A trial had already been underway since 2011, but a House of Commons committee has since made it official with a ‘rapid rollout of suitable mobile tablet hardware to all 650 MPs’.
The first MP speech made with an iPad took place in March 2011, and since then quite a few MPs have used Apple’s tablet to deliver their message. However at a cost of between £260,000 to £429,000, this new initiative will cost the taxpayer a good chunk of money, so it might not be the most popular idea, especially after the MP expenses scandal that took place a couple of years ago.
However it has been estimated that if the MPs returned their laptops, approximately £50,000 could be saved, the old laptops being used to replace obsolete equipment used by staff in the House Service. Prime Minister David Cameron already uses an iPad to keep up with the latest news and figures and that could therefore become something much more common in the next few months for politicians in general.