Apple is IN the Enterprise. These days it's not just the spotty appearances in the art department of big companies, its all over. What's more, the Apple technology is seeping into the enterprise at an accelerated pace. We all see iPhones everywhere. We continue to read reports of Apple's growing sales to business. (Tim Cook points out in a recent Apple earnings call that 75%+ of the Fortune 1000 companies are using or testing iPads and 80%+ are testing iPhones). Apple brags about it, but they don't seem to be doing a whole to make any changes to leverage the momentum and attack the enterprise. Any reader of this blog knows I'll go on and on about that topic. The fascinating thing to me, is that it doesn't seem to matter what Apple does for an "Enterprise Strategy". Apple is winning anyway.People are walking in to work with iPhones in their pocket and saying "no thanks" to the corporate Blackberry. Office workers are pleading for the ability to use their Mac at home to work at home. As an employer, are you REALLY going to say no to some one asking to work more at home? The next slippery slope is yielding to those new incoming college hires who look slightly ill when told they are going to have to use Windows machine. "No Macs Allowed here at work at THIS company" Really? Not sure how long you can keep that going. People have iPads, they are using them anyway. They WANT to use them for work, as long as they are on line. This all means more yielding by MSFT's traditional strong hold: corporate IT gatekeepers. It's happening everywhere, all around us, and Apple is not lifting a finger to "make" it happen. In fact, they are seemingly taking big steps backwards, in terms of making any kind of official courting of business.
See my previous post “So Long Xserve”.
See this latest Final Cut X bru-ha-ha.
What do we see in common? Apple looking at the big business customer on one side, and the masses of ubiquity on the other side, and taking the side of the masses. Why spend money, resources, and development cycles trying to make individual businesses happy with specific features, when they can continue to perfect their products for the end user? Why paint in between the lines with a small, expensive fine brush when you could more easily, and with greater reward, paint with a BROAD brush. What's the penalty? The "enterprise business" walks? Apple appears to be saying "so what". As we are seeing, the enterprise will come back when the end user knocks on his bosses door and pleads his case for the technology enabling product that he can be more productive with. And who isn't going to be more productive with Apple technology? (Apple haters need not answer).
In a political context, It’s kind of a Libertarian view of the world. You can try to MAKE things happen (government intervention, government spending) or you can just foster the environment for ALL things to just be allowed to happen (easier regulations, lower corporate taxes), and let nature take its course. In this "political model" you have to have faith in American ingenuity to engineer, design, and create the best products and services in the world.
In Apple’s case, they ARE the best engineering and design company, creating the products that the masses MUST HAVE. Sure Apple has had little hiccups, but one cannot deny that Apple products just work, and more often than not, exceed the buyers expectations. They were a true innovator with the iPhone, and the rest of the world has spent the last four years catching up. They were first with the iPad 18 months ago, and I am still waiting for threatening competitor. I have yet to meet some one that tries switching from Windows to Mac and decides to go back.]]>
