“For consumers, the Macintosh’s hip quotient is being hammered home with one of the largest and most memorable advertising campaigns in Apple Inc. history. But the enterprise isn’t getting any of that attention,” Darrell Dunn reports for Computerworld.
“Despite being roundly ignored, corporate America seems to be perking up its collective ears a bit to some of Apple’s newer wares. The company’s switch to x86 processors, though way too long in coming by some accounts, has opened doors to some enterprise accounts that otherwise would have remained shut. Businesses that make the switch to Apple generally begin by using Mac desktops and laptops, but many ultimately graduate to the Xserve server platform,” Dunn reports.
Dunn reports, “When it comes to Apple’s hardware and software, corporate customers report being happy campers indeed. But support and service are another story entirely.”
Dunn reports, “Charles Smulders, an analyst at Gartner Inc., said he has seen no real change in Apple’s approach to the enterprise. ‘Apple is not pursuing a broad enterprise strategy,’ he said. ‘Most IT departments remain resistant to introducing Apple because of the cost to support an extra platform. However, overall Apple usage within enterprises may have risen slightly as part of the ‘consumerization of IT’ that has seen consumers, rather than the IT department, have increasing influence over driving technology adoption in the enterprise.'”
Dunn reports, “Apple seems indifferent to its success in the enterprise and allocates most of its resources in terms of advertising dollars, executives dedicated to the market and to its highly successful consumer efforts.”
Full article here.
