“Tech behemoths Apple and IBM announced a partnership Tuesday that could make Apple — traditionally a consumer brand — a major player in the business market,” Matt Hunter reports for CNBC. “IBM said it would create a class of more than 100 business applications exclusively for iPhones and iPads to run on Apple’s iOS platform. In return, IBM will sell Apple’s products filled with 100 industry-specific apps to its clients worldwide.”
“Some of the services IBM will provide via iOS include device management, security, analytics and mobile integration, they said in a release. In return, Apple’s vaunted AppleCare service would provide support for these applications,” Hunter reports. “The partnership is about ‘transforming enterprise,’ Apple CEO Tim Cook told CNBC in an exclusive interview. The partnership aims to ‘deliver on the promise of mobile in a big way,’ he said.”
Hey Mikey! How THANGS going all private and what knot? Your back end will need ICU services right quick now ya hear. LLLLLOOOSER! Dude! I ain’t never gettin’ a DELL. Maybe you & Stevie B. Can get together & Squirt fecal matter at one another. Where is ZuneTurd? He may want in on the action.
> IBM said it would create a class of more than 100 business applications exclusively for iPhones and iPads to run on Apple’s iOS platform. In return, IBM will sell Apple’s products filled with 100 industry-specific apps to its clients worldwide.
“In return”? Sounds like IBM is doing the software development to make Apple devices more desirable in enterprise, AND then actually selling the Apple devices. This is a win for IBM, but a MUCH bigger win for Apple.
This really is a complementary arrangement. Enterprise is going mobile. IBM is huge in Enterprise software and analytics. Apple is the gold standard for mobile devices, software and support. Apple gains huge access and credibility in the enterprise and IBM instantly gains the best mobile platform around.
I’m curious what they mean by exclusive? I guess IBM will not develop for Android. What about Apple? They won’t cooperate with Oracle? Perhaps Apple is giving IBM special access to iOS?
If the commercial was remade today, Apple with its subscription-based computing push and its new “analytics” partner IBM would represent Big Brother, not the liberating hottie in short shorts. There is no personal computer freedom anymore. The individual computer user is tracked and marketed around endlessly, without user permission or notification. Apple is now just as bad as Google.
Hmmm, oh thanks for your post, it’s getting the gears going. I’m right on you with your idea of personal freedom, heck 1984 the novel, and I remember the idea about the only people that will be free will be those without computers, I think I read it in future shock.
No doubt the intrusion of ewww marketing, and GPS location is going to be intrusive to those that are aware of it, and goodness knows organizations like Google and the NSA are taking advantage of that.
I just don’t know about Apple though, I think they value personal freedom, although I don’t know if the iBeacon does remove that, nor is the subscription based computing (are you talking like Office rent 365?) does that, at least with the way Apple has set it up.
I like your ideas, once again, I just don’t know if Apple subscribes to that and will use that for whatever reason. By all means feel free to elucidate, I’d certainly keep an open mind about it, and certainly would value the input of others on this topic, as I highly value personal freedom, especially of where I happen to be, no GPS for me thank you very much.
Good day, and thanks for your post, nice to know that others are concerned about the situation.
MSFT can not be trusted. Google can not be trusted. IBM is a trustworthy company. IBM however in the early 70’s – late 80’s had a myopic vision of personal computing. It took AAPL and Steve Jobs to wake them up & dare them to Think Different. I grew up in & around IBM headquarters. Let’s just say, IBM’s dress code back when did not allow the employee’s to Think Beyond….. Their own front doors. That is just the way it rolled. Both APPLE & IBM have seen the ills of their ways from their collective pasts. It is time now to “Make A Difference”
Don’t Be A Clown. Scrap the Dell Hell. Rid yourself of MicroSloth and it’s CrapSoft. You just might get some actual productivity out of your employees. Go FIGURE!?
I definitely like that post, great and wild insight. Having known some of the IBM engineers from those days I concur, there were some brilliant minds at IBM but they lacked a certain panache when dealing with people.
A big thumbs up from me on Microsloth, Google and Dell.
I don’t care how many activations a day Android devices are getting. With this Apple/IBM collaboration in the enterprise, Android is as good as dead in the water except for sales in undeveloped countries. Imagine IBM selling Apple hardware to the enterprise. Damn. It boggles the old mind. I hope 68 million iPhone 6s are enough because demand is going to go through the roof.
I know there are those who are going to continue to say Tim Cook is still in Steve Jobs shadow but I think this move is going to push Tim Cook into the light. I have absolutely no doubt that Apple is going to soar past $100 and eclipse its high mark set in 2012.
Back in the day there was a company called Digital Equipment Corporation. Apple and DEC created a partnership to address the needs of the Enterprise. They almost used this language verbatim. They would call the Mac “The Ultimate Client” and the DEC VAX systems “The Ultimate Servers.”
For many reasons not much came of this partnership, not the lease of which was that in spite of the fact it made sense, champions in either company could not be found. I was working at DEC at the time.
DEC had an application called “ALL-IN-ONE” at the time. It was office automation. Nothing cried out more to have a Mac Client built, yet we couldn’t get anyone to consider it. DEC sales people saw any Mac sold as a client as one less $1000+ dumb terminal, i.e. less money in their pockets.
Hopefully this will be different.
What would really be helpful is the ability to easily construct analytical apps, pulling data from servers in the cloud.
And I really hope Apple doesn’t leave FileMaker out of this.
That’s been the mantra in tech evolution for at least 30 years. The curmudgeon demographic tends to see little or no progress, and no lessons learned. I may be encroaching on curmudgeon territory myself; but I sense something different and new with this development; maybe this time, Joan of Arc doesn’t have to die burning at the stake.
Question is what impact will this have on Apple margins. I’m not sure IBM has much of a history being a good partner. Both companies don’t like to leave any money on the table, so I’m concerned about IBMs commitment.
You are a most thoughtful man. I always read what you write here.
Just keep in mind where Apple’s revenue comes from these days: iOS. The iPhone is the driver of most of Apple’s revenue, and mobile is the future, not just for Apple, but computing in general. That’s not to take away from the Mac, something we know, love and use every day. But iOS and mobile has passed OS-X and desktop/laptop insofar as where Apple’s revenue is accrued today.
IBM is stuck with flat growth. The company has transitioned from the PCs it spawned and at one time, led, to being primarily a software and services company today. (Yes, they still produce mainframes, but the bulk of the company’s revenue is enterprise software and services). It’s not the once-hated IBM of old.
But IBM needs a new way to grow. Apple wants to deepen its penetration into the corporate world, and blunt efforts by Microsoft and Google to do the same. IBM is deeply invested in big data, an area of real promise. At the same time, new and nimble upstarts in the big data space are competing strongly against IBM. So what is Big Blue to do?
Look west. To Cupertino.
Apple has become huge. But with its amazing success and vast growth comes the challenge of fighting the law of big numbers and continuing its growth. The iPhone and iPad are the first real products to be embraced by the corporate IT world. But to penetrate more deeply around the world, Apple needs a large partner well established in the corporate enterprise.
Hence, the partnership.
Know that partnerships are only as good as the earnest efforts on both sides to make it work. If the IBM sales team see profit in selling Apple, they will. Otherwise, this will be yet another splashy announcement that went nowhere, as corporate partnerships can often do. But there are exceptions. That will take close collaboration and an effort by IBM executive management to make this a sales priority.
Given that IBM needs something new to make the company cool again with the enterprise and Wall Street, time will tell if they pull it off. But IBM is a much different company today than what we imagine it once was. So I remain hopeful that this announcement will pay dividends for both companies.
My comment about OS X is primarily emotional, but your analysis is spot on. I mostly hope to not wake up one morning 5 years from now and wonder, “Whatever happened to that IBM/Apple partnership?”
The Mac is still the developer/development platform for iOS.
OS X is UNIX at it’s core and IBM is as deep in UNIX as anyone currently operating. The AT&T of today is Southwestern Bell/SBC, PacTel, AmeriTech, Bell South & the old long lines division of the old AT&T that developed UNIX- Western Electric and Bell Labs are long gone. You as an old warhorse of the big UNIX Hardware know that all too well.
DEC, Wang, Data General, et al are gone, but UNIX is still alive and kicking in every iPad, iPhone, Macintosh and iPod Touch.
I bet Touch ID played a big factor here. Once it reaches iPads later this year, Apple will sharply increase its lead as having the most secure devices with the first intuitive and widespread mobile biometric security solution. IBM knows that Apple isn’t a toy maker; Cook & Ive mean serious business (pun intended).
Maybe I’m overly excited about nothing but this seems extremely huge win for both companies. IBM surely has a long history in the corporate workplace. If Wall Street is able to downplay this cooperative venture between two powerful companies then I suppose there isn’t anything that will give Apple enterprise credence. I’m hoping this news broke after the market closed because Apple closed down today and I doubt this news would have caused that to happen. If this news doesn’t give an advantage to Apple over Google on Wall Street then I don’t know what will. This move will produce nearly immediate returns for both companies and not merely some pie-in-the-sky future possible returns.
I think Tim Cook is doing an excellent job as a CEO even if he isn’t Steve Jobs. He seems to be broadening Apple’s scope further than ever before.
The market is a circus of nimrods because, let’s face it, if Tim Cook were to be replaced by Garth Brooks, sentiment would drive the stock price higher, and cicadas would thrive.
The market is a hovering, malevolent cloud mentally factored into every decision made by every industry leader. It’s a sorry state of affairs but in the end, merely another constraint to be considered, and for the far-sighted, disregarded.
Thats a good point perhaps Apple should buy IBM otherwise it could give scumsung or shady google the opportunity to make an investment in IBM itself and make things difficult for Apple.
This could just be the beginnings of the future for business computing once it truly sheds itself of the desktop. Just get it right guys, certainly more right than with previous collaborations between them. But then both companies have changed a lot since those days and as was suggested IBM is strong where Apple is weakest.
It’s not flash new gadgets types that are the future core for Apple but this sort of development to which existing and future devices can be linked creating self perpetuating money streams.
Over on Gizmodo, no less than Steve Wozniak had the following comments in response to the announcement:
“The 1984 ad wasn’t against IBM or other manufacturers, per se. It was against customers who follow blindly as much as anything. Apple is now in a post-PC era. Our computers have moved to the data centers and our mobile devices, and even home computers, just display the analysis of big data that comes off huge storage arrays in these data centers. So what we do with our iPhone has 2 parts, the computer in the data center and the display device in your hand. The Apple-IBM non-competitive split should be obvious here.”
A crater where Microsoft used to be. OMG! LOL! MDN you are too funny. Best entertainment all day. You tell it like it is… in words AND pictures. Please keep it up.
BIG News! Wait till July 22nd.
Hey Mikey! How THANGS going all private and what knot? Your back end will need ICU services right quick now ya hear. LLLLLOOOSER! Dude! I ain’t never gettin’ a DELL. Maybe you & Stevie B. Can get together & Squirt fecal matter at one another. Where is ZuneTurd? He may want in on the action.
> IBM said it would create a class of more than 100 business applications exclusively for iPhones and iPads to run on Apple’s iOS platform. In return, IBM will sell Apple’s products filled with 100 industry-specific apps to its clients worldwide.
“In return”? Sounds like IBM is doing the software development to make Apple devices more desirable in enterprise, AND then actually selling the Apple devices. This is a win for IBM, but a MUCH bigger win for Apple.
This really is a complementary arrangement. Enterprise is going mobile. IBM is huge in Enterprise software and analytics. Apple is the gold standard for mobile devices, software and support. Apple gains huge access and credibility in the enterprise and IBM instantly gains the best mobile platform around.
I’m curious what they mean by exclusive? I guess IBM will not develop for Android. What about Apple? They won’t cooperate with Oracle? Perhaps Apple is giving IBM special access to iOS?
Awesome, simply awesome. Gosh now to make a remake of that 1984 commercial. I wonder if Monkey boy is available, as a skin head of course.
If the commercial was remade today, Apple with its subscription-based computing push and its new “analytics” partner IBM would represent Big Brother, not the liberating hottie in short shorts. There is no personal computer freedom anymore. The individual computer user is tracked and marketed around endlessly, without user permission or notification. Apple is now just as bad as Google.
Hmmm, oh thanks for your post, it’s getting the gears going. I’m right on you with your idea of personal freedom, heck 1984 the novel, and I remember the idea about the only people that will be free will be those without computers, I think I read it in future shock.
No doubt the intrusion of ewww marketing, and GPS location is going to be intrusive to those that are aware of it, and goodness knows organizations like Google and the NSA are taking advantage of that.
I just don’t know about Apple though, I think they value personal freedom, although I don’t know if the iBeacon does remove that, nor is the subscription based computing (are you talking like Office rent 365?) does that, at least with the way Apple has set it up.
I like your ideas, once again, I just don’t know if Apple subscribes to that and will use that for whatever reason. By all means feel free to elucidate, I’d certainly keep an open mind about it, and certainly would value the input of others on this topic, as I highly value personal freedom, especially of where I happen to be, no GPS for me thank you very much.
Good day, and thanks for your post, nice to know that others are concerned about the situation.
MSFT can not be trusted. Google can not be trusted. IBM is a trustworthy company. IBM however in the early 70’s – late 80’s had a myopic vision of personal computing. It took AAPL and Steve Jobs to wake them up & dare them to Think Different. I grew up in & around IBM headquarters. Let’s just say, IBM’s dress code back when did not allow the employee’s to Think Beyond….. Their own front doors. That is just the way it rolled. Both APPLE & IBM have seen the ills of their ways from their collective pasts. It is time now to “Make A Difference”
Don’t Be A Clown. Scrap the Dell Hell. Rid yourself of MicroSloth and it’s CrapSoft. You just might get some actual productivity out of your employees. Go FIGURE!?
I definitely like that post, great and wild insight. Having known some of the IBM engineers from those days I concur, there were some brilliant minds at IBM but they lacked a certain panache when dealing with people.
A big thumbs up from me on Microsloth, Google and Dell.
I don’t care how many activations a day Android devices are getting. With this Apple/IBM collaboration in the enterprise, Android is as good as dead in the water except for sales in undeveloped countries. Imagine IBM selling Apple hardware to the enterprise. Damn. It boggles the old mind. I hope 68 million iPhone 6s are enough because demand is going to go through the roof.
For all those Tim Cook doubters out there: STFU, this guy is taking Apple to the next level.
I know there are those who are going to continue to say Tim Cook is still in Steve Jobs shadow but I think this move is going to push Tim Cook into the light. I have absolutely no doubt that Apple is going to soar past $100 and eclipse its high mark set in 2012.
I’ve seen this before.
Back in the day there was a company called Digital Equipment Corporation. Apple and DEC created a partnership to address the needs of the Enterprise. They almost used this language verbatim. They would call the Mac “The Ultimate Client” and the DEC VAX systems “The Ultimate Servers.”
For many reasons not much came of this partnership, not the lease of which was that in spite of the fact it made sense, champions in either company could not be found. I was working at DEC at the time.
DEC had an application called “ALL-IN-ONE” at the time. It was office automation. Nothing cried out more to have a Mac Client built, yet we couldn’t get anyone to consider it. DEC sales people saw any Mac sold as a client as one less $1000+ dumb terminal, i.e. less money in their pockets.
Hopefully this will be different.
What would really be helpful is the ability to easily construct analytical apps, pulling data from servers in the cloud.
And I really hope Apple doesn’t leave FileMaker out of this.
Yeah well, they didn’t have iPhones and iPads back then now did they.
Agreed. FileMaker 3.0 and Beyond. It may look simple but it is anything but simple.
Hopefully this will be different.
That’s been the mantra in tech evolution for at least 30 years. The curmudgeon demographic tends to see little or no progress, and no lessons learned. I may be encroaching on curmudgeon territory myself; but I sense something different and new with this development; maybe this time, Joan of Arc doesn’t have to die burning at the stake.
Question is what impact will this have on Apple margins. I’m not sure IBM has much of a history being a good partner. Both companies don’t like to leave any money on the table, so I’m concerned about IBMs commitment.
Also concerned there is no mention of OS X.
You are a most thoughtful man. I always read what you write here.
Just keep in mind where Apple’s revenue comes from these days: iOS. The iPhone is the driver of most of Apple’s revenue, and mobile is the future, not just for Apple, but computing in general. That’s not to take away from the Mac, something we know, love and use every day. But iOS and mobile has passed OS-X and desktop/laptop insofar as where Apple’s revenue is accrued today.
IBM is stuck with flat growth. The company has transitioned from the PCs it spawned and at one time, led, to being primarily a software and services company today. (Yes, they still produce mainframes, but the bulk of the company’s revenue is enterprise software and services). It’s not the once-hated IBM of old.
But IBM needs a new way to grow. Apple wants to deepen its penetration into the corporate world, and blunt efforts by Microsoft and Google to do the same. IBM is deeply invested in big data, an area of real promise. At the same time, new and nimble upstarts in the big data space are competing strongly against IBM. So what is Big Blue to do?
Look west. To Cupertino.
Apple has become huge. But with its amazing success and vast growth comes the challenge of fighting the law of big numbers and continuing its growth. The iPhone and iPad are the first real products to be embraced by the corporate IT world. But to penetrate more deeply around the world, Apple needs a large partner well established in the corporate enterprise.
Hence, the partnership.
Know that partnerships are only as good as the earnest efforts on both sides to make it work. If the IBM sales team see profit in selling Apple, they will. Otherwise, this will be yet another splashy announcement that went nowhere, as corporate partnerships can often do. But there are exceptions. That will take close collaboration and an effort by IBM executive management to make this a sales priority.
Given that IBM needs something new to make the company cool again with the enterprise and Wall Street, time will tell if they pull it off. But IBM is a much different company today than what we imagine it once was. So I remain hopeful that this announcement will pay dividends for both companies.
My comment about OS X is primarily emotional, but your analysis is spot on. I mostly hope to not wake up one morning 5 years from now and wonder, “Whatever happened to that IBM/Apple partnership?”
The Mac is still the developer/development platform for iOS.
OS X is UNIX at it’s core and IBM is as deep in UNIX as anyone currently operating. The AT&T of today is Southwestern Bell/SBC, PacTel, AmeriTech, Bell South & the old long lines division of the old AT&T that developed UNIX- Western Electric and Bell Labs are long gone. You as an old warhorse of the big UNIX Hardware know that all too well.
DEC, Wang, Data General, et al are gone, but UNIX is still alive and kicking in every iPad, iPhone, Macintosh and iPod Touch.
Steve Ballmer to Bill Gates, “I felt a great disturbance in the Force. I fear something terrible has happened.”
And so it has for Microsoft.
Satya Nadella to Ballmer and Gates: “Hold me, I’m scared.”
He did not need this partnership for that….
I bet Touch ID played a big factor here. Once it reaches iPads later this year, Apple will sharply increase its lead as having the most secure devices with the first intuitive and widespread mobile biometric security solution. IBM knows that Apple isn’t a toy maker; Cook & Ive mean serious business (pun intended).
Maybe I’m overly excited about nothing but this seems extremely huge win for both companies. IBM surely has a long history in the corporate workplace. If Wall Street is able to downplay this cooperative venture between two powerful companies then I suppose there isn’t anything that will give Apple enterprise credence. I’m hoping this news broke after the market closed because Apple closed down today and I doubt this news would have caused that to happen. If this news doesn’t give an advantage to Apple over Google on Wall Street then I don’t know what will. This move will produce nearly immediate returns for both companies and not merely some pie-in-the-sky future possible returns.
I think Tim Cook is doing an excellent job as a CEO even if he isn’t Steve Jobs. He seems to be broadening Apple’s scope further than ever before.
The market is a circus of nimrods because, let’s face it, if Tim Cook were to be replaced by Garth Brooks, sentiment would drive the stock price higher, and cicadas would thrive.
The market is a hovering, malevolent cloud mentally factored into every decision made by every industry leader. It’s a sorry state of affairs but in the end, merely another constraint to be considered, and for the far-sighted, disregarded.
This word Nimrod … as I know him as a “mighty hunter before god”, I looked it up. So now I know something new. Thank you.
Big Blue is putting Watson on iPads? But guys! IBM is the evil empire since 1984! /sarcasm
None at this time
why doesn’t Apple just buy IBM?
Why waste the money when Apple now effectively owns IBM already. IBM is Apple’ bitch. Steve is smiling today!
Thats a good point perhaps Apple should buy IBM otherwise it could give scumsung or shady google the opportunity to make an investment in IBM itself and make things difficult for Apple.
This could just be the beginnings of the future for business computing once it truly sheds itself of the desktop. Just get it right guys, certainly more right than with previous collaborations between them. But then both companies have changed a lot since those days and as was suggested IBM is strong where Apple is weakest.
It’s not flash new gadgets types that are the future core for Apple but this sort of development to which existing and future devices can be linked creating self perpetuating money streams.
Redmond: Jurassic Park One filled with dinosaurs & meteor craters.
Cupertino: New Mothership Campus preparing for future liftoff.
…one word: BOOM !
Each and everyday my desktop computer is looking more and more like a truck while my iPhone and and iPads increasingly look like cars…
Over on Gizmodo, no less than Steve Wozniak had the following comments in response to the announcement:
“The 1984 ad wasn’t against IBM or other manufacturers, per se. It was against customers who follow blindly as much as anything. Apple is now in a post-PC era. Our computers have moved to the data centers and our mobile devices, and even home computers, just display the analysis of big data that comes off huge storage arrays in these data centers. So what we do with our iPhone has 2 parts, the computer in the data center and the display device in your hand. The Apple-IBM non-competitive split should be obvious here.”
A crater where Microsoft used to be. OMG! LOL! MDN you are too funny. Best entertainment all day. You tell it like it is… in words AND pictures. Please keep it up.
Will be interesting to see how they fare against the established players.. VMWare aquiring AirWatch was pretty scary for a lot of MDM providers.
I wonder if Siri and Watson will start hanging out together