APPLE'S iPad, pitched as the year's most desirable gadget for techies, is quickly becoming the go-to tool for a range of businesses, ranging from food-and-beverage outlets to pharmaceutical firms.

Like the Research In Motion (RIM)'s BlackBerry, which has morphed from business device to lifestyle product, Apple's tablet computer is also being embraced by entrepreneurs.

The iPad, of which two million have been sold worldwide, is being used by wedding planners, such as Japan's Novarese, to help customers choose wedding dresses.

Airlines such as Jetstar will use it as part of its in-flight entertainment. "The myriad of applications that the iPad has...makes it possible for enterprises to offer personalised experiences to their customers," Mr Lee Chae Gi, a research director at research firm Gartner in Seoul, told Reuters.

Just two months ago, a Sri Lankan restaurateur started using the iPad to display his menu, a mere nine days after its launch in the United States.

Other restaurants which have similarly digitised their menus include Restaurant Global Mundo Tapas in Sydney.

Australian technology firm MenuPad is also offering software to allow food joints to put up their menus on iPads.

Mr Dharshan Munidasa, who runs Japanese restaurant Nihonbashi at Galle Face Terrace in Colombo, Sri Lanka, ordered two iPads online from Apple.

His wait staff now use the tablets to display the day's specials and wine lists. Mr Munidasa said that he plans to have 13 iPads for his restaurant by the end of the year.

He said he hit on the idea of using an Apple device for displaying menus when he got his iPod touch two years ago.