Apple Inc. (AAPL), without much effort on its part, is making rapid headway in selling to corporations.

After years of being the also-ran to Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) in the workplace, Apple has seen its iPad become a standard business tool.

According to an IDG Connect survey, 51 percent of managers with iPads say they “always” use the device at work, and another 40 percent sometimes do. Seventy-nine percent of the respondents use the iPad for business when outside the office.

Even as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)’s Kindle Fire and other tablets play catch-up in the consumer market, the iPad faces little competition among corporations such as financial services and pharmaceutical firms. Apple’s iPhone, meanwhile, is the top- selling smartphone, forcing businesses to accommodate workers who use it.

That has helped set the stage for Apple’s Mac computer to make its own inroads in the corporate world.

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