“In the primordial days of computing, IBM machines were so common inside corporations that there was a running joke in the industry: Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM,” Vindu Goel reports for The New York Times. “These days, the same could be said about Apple. Even IBM is promoting Apple gear.”
“Apple’s iPhones and iPads have become the preferred mobile computing devices for corporations, as industries from insurers to airlines aim to ditch bulky PCs and give their employees the ability to do their jobs from anywhere using smartphones or tablets,” Goel reports. “Sales of high-end iPads to business customers in particular have been strong. Nearly half of all iPads are now bought by corporations and governments, according to the research firm Forrester. ‘Apple is stronger in the enterprise market with its devices than it is with consumers,’ said Frank Gillett, an industry analyst at Forrester.”
Goel reports, “It is a long way from the days when Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s co-founder and longtime chief executive, derided corporate technology buyers as ‘orifices’ and preferred to focus on building great products that would sell themselves.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The importance of Cook’s deal with IBM cannot de understated.
As we wrote one year ago: Soon millions of corporate workers will look forward to coming to work so they can use the real thing, not the insecure, upside-down and backwards, ugly and frustrating knockoff to which they’ve been shackled for decades in a productivity-sapping living hell!
I went with (former Intel CEO Paul) Otellini to meet with [Steve] Jobs and his lieutenants. We go into this meeting and say Steve, let’s work together to make your Macs better for enterprise customers. Jobs looks at us and says ‘why would I do anything for that orifice called the CIO?’ — Pat Gelsinger, then a senior vice president at Intel, now CEO of VMWare
“Apple is stronger in the enterprise market with its devices than it is with consumers,” said Frank Gillett, an industry analyst at Forrester.
I don’t believe this at all. Consumer market is Apple’s bread and butter.
Agreed, the consumer market is Apple’s core (pun intended). But it is good to see more strength in the corporate sector, too. I just wish that Apple would dedicate more attention to the creative professional segment – the original Mac evangelists.
“The importance of Cook’s deal with IBM cannot de understated.”
No, its importance cannot be OVERstated; its importance is underestimated and understated routinely.
Here’s another point about how Tim Cook is actually doing a great job. He’s got a partner in business, and not just any partner but IBM. A name that screams business and they are working together to bring mobile apps for business. Bringing the iPad, iPad Pro, iPhone into business as a standard device. No more excuses that they are not compatible with business apps since there are business apps that are purposely built with IBM’s help. Something that Steve Jobs didn’t do very well was getting Apple into business.