“Last year, the cloud continued to be red hot,” Tom Taulli reports for Forbes. “But keep in mind that the industry is far from young.”
“The roots actually go back to 1998, with the founding of NetSuite,” Taulli reports. “The company made a big bet that enterprises would eventually access software via the Web.”
Taulli reports, “I reached out to NetSuite’s CEO, Zach Nelson, to get his take on the cloud and some of the emerging trends.”
Nelson said, in part:
• I think it is a misconception that retail is dead. If you look at Apple, the main reason for the company’s success was its integrated retail model. It was a big driver. Now traditional retailers need to find a way to take the Apple approach. The problem is that they could not do it because much of the technology had been built before the cloud era. Apple, on the other hand, built its own system…
• I think Apple will become the model for the successful next-generation enterprise software company. And it will not just be because of the user interface. That’s just one piece of it. The other is having an integrated model. Everything works together…
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
Related articles:
Apple has proven that vertical integration works better – October 24, 2006
Apple was right all along: vertical market quality trumps horizontal market woes – April 30, 2006
Open standards + integrated products = AWESOME.
We can all remember a time when owning Apple gear was a bit like living on an island. While it was great in many ways, there was often a cavernous divide when it came to networking and sharing files across platforms.
With certain networking protocols and increasingly adopted web standards, so many of these “oh, you have a Mac? Sorry it’s incompatible” things of the past are gone. What’s left is a great experience that can bridge easily to other places in the world that you may have to visit from time to time.
I agree and remember the “incompatibility” mentality and perceptions of the past. I also remember MS trying to integrate I.E. and all of the MS apps into the Desktop experience to the exclusion of almost all other third party apps. MS got sued and that ended that began the decline of that monopoly.
In contrast, Apple is defining what and how an integrated system SHOULD BE, and be legal at that.
And Apple needs to get their act together. I have been to the local Apple Store 7 times since approx. mid-Nov., after not being there for over 6 months. I thought I was in the wrong place. The quality of the help had deteriorated to a point that left me speechless and wondering who was running the store now? Clearly, no one. I chalked the first 5 visits to the per-Christmas timing, but tonight with the store less busy, I could more easily witness the angst of many customers as they tried politely to deal with these Apple staff who apparently had skipped the training sessions and the this is how you dress to come to work sessions. The employees no longer looked like a bunch of smart geeks, but rather like a bunch of derelict thugs and their lack of success in helping anybody is built upon that lack of smarts foundation. There were literally 3 employees working tonight who knew their gluteal cleft from the slot in a super drive. I am so very disappointed. I feel like team just lost the tournament finals. I vowed silently to never go back in that store again. Others were vowing the same, but not so silently. Oh, sure, I’ll probably go sometime, but it will be awhile.
What the heck happened Apple? There has been blunder after blunder lately. It is embarrassing to me as someone who has forced the Apple punch on everyone I know. Yes, still far better than the alternative, but their price point will not support this type of mediocrity; nor should it.