“Apple has had a number of enterprise partners over the years. The company has collaborated with the likes of International Business Machines, SAP , and Cisco Systems. Each of these deals was designed to help Apple expand further into the enterprise market. The company that was built on consumer-centric devices has increasingly been courting some of the worlds largest multi-national conglomerates,” Danny Vena writes for The Motley Fool. “Late last year, Apple announced that it had bagged another white whale — General Electric.”
“Apple and GE announced that they would collaborate to develop ‘powerful industrial apps’ that would integrate GE’s industrial Internet of Things (IoT) platform to the iPhone and iPad. GE’s Predix system is a platform that provides jet engines, power plants, and other industrial equipment with an internet connection and uses powerful analytics to improve performance and lower cost,” Vena writes. “This will connect GE’s industrial internet to Apple’s mobile devices, allowing pilots, service technicians, and factory workers to use devices they are already using for more sophisticated jobs. With recently debuted iPhone features like virtual reality, this will provide developers with a rich playing field for future capability. GE will also promote the iPhone and iPad to its “global workforce of more than 330,000 employees,” which will likely result in residual sales of the products over time.”
Vena writes, “The ability to infuse the device with enterprise features will make the product even more useful, and thereby less likely that users will migrate to another platform.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Watching Apple take from Microsoft what is rightfully theirs couldn’t be more satisfying.
[Apple is] chasing after an outlandish Stevian dream: to take back the computer business from Microsoft… Like all the best fights, this one is personal. Steve Jobs is going to best Bill Gates. This fight is Shakespearean, elemental, and emotional; watching it unfold should be the most fascinating business story of this young millennium. – Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon, iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business, 2005
As we have always said, even as many short-sightedly waved (and continue to wave) the white flag, the war is not over. And, yes, we shall prevail… No company is invincible. Not even Microsoft. — MacDailyNews, January 10, 2005
SEE ALSO:
Apple hires tech team from data science startup SVDS in enterprise play – January 19, 2018
Apple is getting very, very serious about enterprise IT – January 15, 2018
Mac sales jump highlights purchasing pattern change; ‘great traction in the enterprise market’ seen – November 7, 2017
General Electric to offer Apple Macs to 330,000 employees as company standardizes on iOS for mobile – October 23, 2017
Enterprise use of Apple Macs primed to expand ‘exponentially’ – September 6, 2017
Microsoft’s Windows is doomed – September 1, 2017
Steve Jobs’ plan to take back the personal computing business from Microsoft proceeding apace – December 7, 2009
Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ ultimate goal: ‘to take back the computer business from Microsoft’ – June 16, 2005
Apple opened the door for the airline sector when they worked with the FAA to get approval to use iPads as a replacement for the bulky, heavy flight bags. Being on good terms with the FAA is a good way to open the door for additional programs like the new GE effort.
Again also take whatever IT software only on Windows and pay to have it ported in better versions to the Mac Apple. And keep your Enterprise division busy trying to make it so. You might even consider a special Mac division for making Macs for the Enterprise with their unique requirements. You have the resources and power to make it so. Now all you need is the will and execution avoiding mistakes like the 2013 Mac Pro.
OMG… GE stands for Good Enough these days. I love everything Apple, but GE is doing so poorly, they might be removed from the Dow. I just hope Apple doesn’t go down with the sinking ship on this one.
Note that the only place you’ll see “Mac” above is the first three characters of “IBM Business Machines”. Think about that the next time you wonder why Apple is slow on updating their non-iOS devices.
Full speed into the PostPC age 🙂
Way to go, Apple. The world is your oyster. You have finally achieved success. Thank you, Tim Cook. I can rest easy now, Apple has done it all. Yippee!
GE, IBM, CISCO. Who’s next? The biggest buggy whip manufacturer in the world so Tim Cook can tie Apple’s enterprise future to that company’s success?
Apple can bring some much needed expertise to IoT technology. At the moment, many commercial systems using industrial controllers are sadly lacking when it comes to security. They use rudimentary security techniques, which could make them at risk of being easily hacked. The old way of thinking was that security had to be strong for banking, but who would want to access the controls for obscure machines or plant? As a result, security wasn’t taken very seriously.
We now know that there are any number of hostile groups who would welcome the opportunity to release water from a dam or shut down electricity or water supplies. While the operators need sophisticated remote access and monitoring facilities, it needs to be done is such a way that unauthorised access is impossible.