Purchasing of enterprise tablets is forecasted to outpace enterprise laptops over the next few years.

Many companies lease laptops for their employees, rather than purchase them outright.  For both lessors and lessees, 36 month leases have been a good option – the laptops hold enough significant value over that period for the lease to make sense financially.  This 3 year cycle also fits well with many companies’ technology plans to refresh their client hardware, and with the manufacturers’ new release schedules.  Leasing can lower the total cost of ownership, and can make managing the hardware lifecycle easier for an organization.

What about tablets?  There are some different considerations both for the lessor and the lessee.

One difference is the refresh cycles – new models are released every 18 months – or less.  The average user now upgrades every 12 months!  However, up to 2 year old mobile devices still hold significant value on the secondary market, and plenty of lessors offer two year lease options.

Most lessors have targeted the education market, where capital is scarce and managing hardware programs for students is a challenge.  Tablets have shown to be a useful educational tool, and school districts are deploying them in large numbers along with specialized education software.

School systems should definitely be looking at tablet leases if they are using, or planning to deploy, tablets to students.  For enterprises, if you plan to deploy a large number of tablets in your organization, leasing could be a smart option.

The secondary market for used/refurbished iPads has been pretty robust, particularly within 24 month refresh cycles.  Most leases for tablets have been for Apple iPads. Other brands do not have the same residual value, and are generally not an option for leasing – at least not yet.  Microsoft Surface and Samsung tablets are becoming more popular with enterprises, and the demand for these devices on the secondary market may grow as these gain market share and popularity.

Another difference between laptops and iPads or tablets is that upon lease return, the condition of the iPad is more critical.  Even small scratches or dings can significantly reduce resale value.  Most mobile devices are covered by insurance, which covers major repairs, like replacing the glass.  However, even minor scratches on the case or screen, which are not covered by insurance, will impact the resale value.  Including cases or covers with the iPads is good idea.

A very important note about Apple mobile devices (iPads or iPhones):  If the user or enterprise manager does not disable the Activation Lock feature of the Find My iPhone, it cannot be reused or resold.  This means it has the same value as one that’s smashed to bits.  Lessors will charge you for the device as returned broken/unusable in this case.  If you own the device, you won’t get anything for it.

Whether you lease or purchase tablets, make sure the disposition vendor that handles the resale has the ability to wipe all your data, and can back it up with a certification.  Remember that you are responsible for the data, not the lessor or a reseller.  If you are doing the data wiping yourself, be sure it’s done properly and documented to ensure compliance with your corporate security policies, and any regulations such as PCI, HIPPA/HITECH, SOX, or state and federal PII (Personally Identifiable Information) rules.

To learn more about how to securely wipe data from mobile devices like tablets and smartphones, download our free whitepaper,  “Guide to Wiping Data On Mobile Handsets.”