Cisco's Apple-Crushing Business (Tablet) Plan

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- As the tablet war moves into the office, Apple's AAPL iPad finally faces some worthy opponents, namely Cisco CSCO and Google GOOG. There's also Research In Motion RIMM, whose BlackPad tablet device will reportedly hit the market this fall, and there's been whispers of tablets arriving soon from Motorola MOT, Dell DELL and even Hewlett-Packard HPQ. But like Apple's plunge into tablets with the iPad, the entrants, led by Cisco -- the early favorite to conquer the business market -- face the question: What will people do with business tablets? For Cisco, which supplies network equipment and pushes expensive teleconferencing services, the key is to spark video calling. "They are trying to bring video into the mainstream," said Jeff Heibert, CEO of ROI Networks, an office communications company in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. "And Cisco knows that if they can make it fun, compelling and effective they will benefit by selling more network infrastructure." One big difference from the consumer tablet trend is that Apple won't necessarily be the frontrunner in the business tablet invasion. Sure, Apple's unopposed iPad campaign has not only redefined the tablet category, it has given Apple an astoundingly hot new growth product and a one-year lead on the competition. To read the rest, head over to TheStreet.com