Research firm Gartner, Inc., said that by 2016, 50 percent of all major marketing automation vendors will develop applications specifically for Apple's iPad.

As more consumers purchase and use media tablets, such as the iPad, they are becoming increasingly prevalent in the workplace and enterprise vendors are responding accordingly, Gartner said.

International Data Corp. said last month it expects that there will be 50 million tablet shipments in 2011, with Apple maintaining 70 percent to 80 percent of the tablet market. Apple sold 4.69 million iPads in the first quarter of 2011, for a total of about 25 million since the April 2010 debut, and outselling all the other tablets.

"The initial use of iPads and tablets by marketers will be the extension of existing marketing applications, such as campaign management and marketing resource management (MRM) functionality, to be supported by the device, either disconnected or connected to the network and home-based application," said Kimberly Collins, managing vice president at Gartner. "By 2014, 65 percent of major marketing automation vendors will extend 25 percent of their functionality to the iPad. MRM vendors will lead this charge with adaption of functionality for reviews and approvals. Marketing fulfillment vendors are likely to enable access to content via tablets as well."

"The biggest benefit includes the ability of marketers to work remotely while traveling, enabling them to complete tasks and projects faster, and in a more timely fashion," Ms. Collins said. "They also have fast access to content and collateral in the field. Cycle times can be greatly reduced, yielding increased staff productivity and decreasing program/campaign costs. Chief marketing officers (CMOs) and creative users will have the biggest need for remote access, followed by campaign managers and designers."

E-commerce organizations, according to Gartner, are also being lured by the appeal of tablets and e-readers. E-commerce tablet and e-reader applications are nascent and evolving quickly, creating a new set of selling options for organizations. Gartner said that by 2014, 95 percent of e-commerce websites will have a tablet or e-reader presence. However, 40 percent will fail due to a lack of customer-understanding of their usage.