“Apple isn’t really known as an enterprise vendor, but rather as a consumer one that people like to use in an enterprise setting. Apple traditionally hasn’t set itself up well to sell into enterprise – they don’t follow the technology enterprise norms,” Ben Kepes writes for Forbes.
“If we look to Oracle as the exemplar (for better or worse) of what it means to be an enterprise company what do we see? Highly paid salespeople, large enterprise pricing approaches and big industry events where industry analysts and media get a preview into upcoming news that can then be disseminated to the masses,” Kepes writes. “Apple does none of this – it sells either via the web, through partners or from stores staffed by fresh-faced disciples. It tends not to ‘do deals’ for enterprise customers, and it is the epitome of a closed shop. There are almost no industry analysts or media who get decent access to Apple and its execs and even fewer who get any insight into product roadmap.”
“So given these facts, it is interesting to see the announcement by Apple in its latest earnings call that they’re going to partner with a number of companies to bring iOS solutions to market for the enterprise,” Kepes writes. “For too long, enterprise iOS apps have been problematic. Small mobile developers are often seen as too risky a bet for enterprises, while larger vendors didn’t have the Apple support to really double down on the opportunity – this change from Apple looks set to turn the tables on the status quo. So can Apple be the only vendor in history to buck the enterprise software norms? Can it continue being aloof and arrogant and still succeed in the heady world of the largest organziations. Something tells me that this real outlier will be able to do so.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: For the sake of the exceedingly well-built and long-lived iPad, let’s hope so!