Telework may be coming to the federal government through an unexpected means.

For example, Federal Aviation Administration is testing a pilot program where it’s getting rid of desktop computers all together.

The tablet of choice, according to research group Gartner is, and will be, the iPad.

Carolina Milanesi, Research Vice President for Mobile Devices at Gartner, explained iPads Apple’s domination of the tablet market when she spoke with Federal News Radio’s Francis Rose.

“Apple has created a market that is not just based on a new form of a device the way that the old tablet PC came to market, where basically you had the same thing that you did on you PC but you can use a stylus. Apple created an ecosystem of application and services that support the tablet experience.”

PC vendors, said Milanesi, don’t get it. “They just see that as a hardware choice rather than an experience that is behind that hardware. And until the competitors crack that, until they understand that it’s more than just the physical hardware that brings a consumer or an enterprise user to pick up a tablet, and in this case an iPad because it’s not that all tablets are created equal, they’re not going to be able to compete with Apple head to head.”

Milanesi said tech officers in government should be ready for employees to bring in the iPad and wanting to get on the network.

Apple, she said, is a different kind of creature. “Instead of trying to continue to list the reasons why you shouldn’t work with them, you should start to look at why you can work with them.”

For more on Gartner’s research findings, see Gartner Says Apple iOS to Dominate the Media Tablet Market Through 2015, Owning More Than Half of It for the Next Three Years and to hear the complete interview with Carolina Milanesi, see Federal News Radio’s Will iPad replace your work computer?.

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