Apple and IBM announced their intentions to partner alongside one another in a bid to “transform enterprise mobility” and as this is rather unclear as there might be severe implications on Apple’s future. The partnership alongside IBM looks to be the onset of something large for both companies.
Most people assume IBM is the brain behind Windows laptops and some other hardware but there’s a lot to IBM than most of us know. With strong ties with big companies, IBM plays a major role in business data, making analytics and data management for big businesses as well as small and medium scale businesses.
Apple’s partnership with IBM has generated mixed reactions and a signal of some sort to other technology companies. Some see it as a threat to business while some others perceive it as a challenge to re-invent.
According to John Swainson, Head of global software business in Dell, “I do not think that we take the Apple-IBM tie-up terribly seriously. I think it just made a good press release,” he made this statement in an interview with Reuters
In their partnership with Apple, IBM is carrying huge data background to the iOS platform together with an excess of 100 apps that are specific to iOS and the enterprise world. Now, firms that rely on IBM for their data would use iOS devices to access the data thus making mobile phones more useful to enterprises than just checking emails.
Above the apps that IBM has in store for iOS, IBM will start selling iPhones and iPads to their company clients, providing Apple with an even bigger share of the enterprise marketplace than what they already have.
Need more reason to believe that this partnership is really a big deal? The third angle to this partnership is the backend and cloud services that IBM will implement. Device management and protection for enterprise clients will come to be simpler and safer than ever before.
Basically, devices that are recognized for enterprise will become essential pieces of technology. Enterprise clients will become more techy with customized iCare plan, better device management for fleet-sized placements, and even a confidential app store for enterprise-specific apps and apps tied to IBM’s data services. This way it would only make sense for large firms to hand out iOS devices to most of their employees knowing they would be put into more use than just sending emails and playing angry birds. The Bottom Line
In a nutshell, Apple will sell MORE iOS devices than they have before even though 98% of Fortune 500 companies use Apple, that doesn’t mean that everyone at those firms use iOS devices. This partnership will up that adoption rate significantly even for the use of Macs in the workplace. Apple is beginning to be seen as more than just something for artists and playthings for everyone else.
We expect that this partnership with IBM will increase the sales of Apple products and generate more revenue for Apple than ever before.
Image credit: Forbes
