A recent study by NPD Group found that 73 percent of businesses are planning to make tablet purchases in 2012. Most of those businesses are considering iPads, but Android tablets are also receiving some attention. With most tablets costing between $400 and $600, how good of an investment are they for SMBs?

As some of the first truly cloud-powered devices, tablets offer users a diverse range of functions, on-the-go technology access, and an attractive (and usually intuitive) interface. Of course, so do smart phones. Are the big screens, increased storage, and slightly better processing power worth it? The answer is complex.

(Disclaimer: As an SMB owner who works with SMBs, I actually find NPD’s tablet survey results unreliable. I’d estimate that a quarter to a third of my SMB clients are truly considering a tablet purchase in the coming year. Additional disclaimer: I own two Android tablets, but they’re both primarily recreational devices.)

When Tablets Make Sense

Sales and real estate: As tablets’ own popularity suggests, they’re good at selling things. Tablets provide an elegant, attractive interface and often stunning displays. For on-the-go sales and real estate agents, tablets provide a digital portfolio or sales presentation that gives agents the opportunity to wow potential customers with beautiful visuals, multimedia presentations, and engaging interactive features. They’re more convenient and sexier than laptops… and let’s not even mention paper literature.

Healthcare professionals: Many hospitals deploy iPads and other tablets because their lightweight, portable stature and easy-to-use interface. While laptops typically offer more efficient input methods through traditional keyboards and mouse’s, they usually lack the portability and convenience offered by a tablet. Because of their popularity in major healthcare centers, a number of companies have developed tablet apps focused on doctors, nurses, and other clinicians. For these professionals, having a tablet makes sense, especially if they’re using a cloud-hosted practice management solution that integrates seamlessly with their tablets.

Mobile or traveling employees: Employees who frequently engage in long commutes, drives, or travel may find that tablets are a convenient and comfortable productivity solution. Tablets endure being lugged and tossed around better than laptops (especially ones with traditional hard drives), and they’re also lighter weight with smaller form factors. While employees aren’t likely to write a detailed memo or report on their tablets, they can do email, scheduling, research, and form completion. Tablets can also be conduits for cloud-hosted software and virtual desktops.

Marketing devices: Customers find tablets attractive, which means if they’re strategically positioned at businesses where they may find themselves spending time waiting, they offer businesses an opportunity to capture and direct customer attention. Tablets can be used for branding, promoting specials and other products or services, obtaining customer contact information, and allowing customers the opportunity to engage with the company on social media platforms.

And When They Don’t

Employees who type: While almost every tablet has wireless keyboard options (and some Android ones even support standard USB keyboards) tablets just don’t make sense as laptop replacements for employees who spend a substantial amount of time writing or entering data. For that matter, if an employee spends most of his or her time in front a keyboard, then there’s probably no need for a tablet as a secondary device either.

Phones are good enough: For employees who already have smart phones that will run whatever apps may be necessary, there’s really no need to also supply them with tablets. Unless the point of the app is to impress potential customers with dazzling displays, phones can usually accomplish whatever tablets can.

Office employees: Tablets may be cool, but they tend to lose their luster quickly in a productivity environment. Sure, they can browse the Web, create documents, manipulate slideshows, and handle email and calendars… but why would any employee regularly use such a device when laptop and desktop computers can handle these tasks much more efficiently? Giving office employees tablets is akin to providing them with a distracting toy.

Tablet as gimmick: While retail stores or other customer destinations might see a slight bump in interest from customers who enjoy playing with their tablets, such interest is not likely to be sustained. As tablets become more main stream and consumers have access to them at home, they will grow increasingly less impressed when they’re used at businesses in lieu of simpler and less ostentatious solutions. I’ve already found myself turned off at businesses using tablets when something as simple as a sheet of paper—or even a real life person!—would suffice.

The Changing Equation

Tablets are popular for a large and complex set of reasons, but two of their two most becoming features are their light weight and large selection of apps. As ultrabooks—or other super lightweight notebook computers—continue to come to market, tablets may find themselves being pushed out of the business world as extraneous entertainment devices.

Ultrabooks offer a similar level of portability as tablets, and both Google and Microsoft are working on creating browser-based app markets for traditional computer uses that will compete with the Apple App Store and Android Market. They also provide more durability than older models of laptops, mostly owing to their solid state hard drives that can weather much more abuse than platter-based drives.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if the next 12 to 18 months don’t bring us super thin, network ready, touch enabled LCD/LED screens that stream cloud-hosted content. Such devices could be larger, thinner, lighter, and far cheaper than the current incarnation of tablets. In such an environment, tablets strike me as a short-lived, intermediary device that’s bridging the gap between traditional computers and a world of interconnected, cloud-hosted digital surfaces.