Apple and IBM Announce New Partnership for an iOS Push in the Enterprise

[RaduTyrsina]

Apple's main clients are constituted by regular buyers, but as of late, the company has been more interested in enterprise customers. The move seems to be reciprocal, as more businesses are choosing iPhones and iPads for its employees, instead of Android devices or the traditional BlackBerry handsets reputed for their security feats.

And now, Apple shows that it's taking this new field with all seriousness. Apple and IBM have announced a new partnership that looks to revolutionize mobile device use in enterprise with customized apps and services for iPhone and iPad.

IBM has already developed more than 100 native iOS apps and services tailored to the needs of multiple industries that will soon be made available. And when that happens, Apple will introduce a new AppleCare tier made specifically for enterprise customers. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the following:

"iPhone and iPad are the best mobile devices in the world and have transformed the way people work with over 98 percent of the Fortune 500 and over 92 percent of the Global 500 using iOS devices in their business today. For the first time ever we're putting IBM's renowned big data analytics at iOS users' fingertips, which opens up a large market opportunity for Apple. This is a radical step for enterprise and something that only Apple and IBM can deliver."

IBM's CEO, Virginia Rometty, also shared her input:

"Mobility—combined with the phenomena of data and cloud—is transforming business and our industry in historic ways, allowing people to re-imagine work, industries and professions. This alliance with Apple will build on our momentum in bringing these innovations to our clients globally, and leverages IBM's leadership in analytics, cloud, software and services. We are delighted to be teaming with Apple, whose innovations have transformed our lives in ways we take for granted, but can't imagine living without."

This is just the first step for Apple and it'll be interesting to see what else the giant company has in store for its rivals, as its growth doesn't seem to have a stop.

Source: AppleInsider

 

[s2mikey]

iOS breaking into the business world on a more serious level is not good news for Microsoft. The corporate world is where Apple doesn't have a big market share when it comes to productivity so this may start to change that. Interesting.

 

[Jenningsville]

This Apple/IBM partnership is very interesting and could be as big a game changer for Apple as iPod/Phone/Pad has been in dominating the consumer market. It could be the catalyst that springboards Apple into the enterprise market that to date Apple has only dipped its toe into... and the enterprise market is massive.

Mobility tech... i.e. smartphones, tablets, cloud and connected tech (wearables, NFC, peer-to-peer wifi, internet of things, etc)... is the next evolutionary tech revolution, not just in the consumer market but... and this is much more significant... also in the enterprise. Mobility tech in the enterprise will significantly influence all other enterprise IT investment. The supplier who gets the enterprise mobility tech foothold quickest will become the defacto standard and will be on a massive gravy train just like IBM grew rapidly in the 70s/80s by dominating the enterprise mainframe market, and then Microsoft did in the late 80s/90s by dominating the enterprise desktop, and then Google did in the 00s by dominating search. The next route to IT domination in the enterprise is via mobility. It's clear that Apple has already worked this out, and has started to move on it, by what it told us about iOS 8 at WWDC last month.

So here's what I think of this Apple/IBM tie up...
(1) Google are into tablets via Android and have massive access to big data/analytics via their search/mapping dominance.
(2) Apple is Google's main tablet OS competitor. IBM has made great inroads in the last couple of years as the big data specialist. Apple and IBM don't compete in the same space. Apple has only small penetration into enterprise. IBM is big in the enterprise.
(3) Microsoft dominates the enterprise market by its ubiquitous Windows desktop OS and Office apps, and increasingly with enterprise strength big apps like Dynamics, Salesforce, etc; but... err... sorry guys, you're not really seriously gaining much traction for competing in either the tablet or big data space yet (although you'd like to).

Sooo... an Apple/IBM partnership will be very powerful in driving Apple-based mobility into the enterprise ahead of Google/Android (and hence also ahead of Samsung and other Android-based hardware) and of course ahead of Microsoft (let's face it, how many Surfaces have you seen on colleagues desks?) Not only will this enable Apple to grab the initiative in enterprise mobility, but it will also lead to a big organic increase in Apple kit and OSX in the enterprise desktop space (pushing out Microsoft) beyond the current small group of MacBook fans.

Watch your backs in the enterprise Microsoft... Apple is marching in!