![]() IBM also will sell iPhones and iPads with industry-specific solutions to business clients worldwide, and this will give its channel partners a boost, Chris Chute, a research director at IDC, told the E-Commerce Times. Nonetheless, ABI “has been suggesting for a while now that Apple needs a strategy to address business verticals beyond K-12 education,” ABI’s Orr remarked. How the Partners BenefitĪpple “has a leading position for corporate purchases of smartphones and tablets, and the IBM relationship will solidify that by creating stickiness around the software and services with enterprise systems,” Dan Shey, a practice director at ABI Research, told the E-Commerce Times.Īpple told analysts during its Q1 2014 quarterly phone call that the iPhone was used in 97 percent of the Fortune 500 and 91 percent of the Global 500, and the iPad in 98 percent of the Fortune 500 and 93 percent of the Global 500.įor IBM, the teamup “signifies they are back in the hardware game - indirectly,” Shey said, pointing out that Big Blue has invested heavily in mobile management and app development. However, as smartphones get more sophisticated and gain more functionality, “enterprises don’t know whom to turn to - the carrier, the OEM or the channel, so that premium enterprise support where you turn to one source will become critical,” Iadorala remarked. The growing amount of mission-critical data on smartphones, especially in industries such as healthcare, makes getting a damaged or stolen device repaired or replaced increasingly important, Iadarola said, adding that 85 percent of smartphone usage is tied to data activity and not voice. For example, the iPhone 5 has a 15 percent higher damage claim rate than the iPhone 4. The AppleCare offering is “particularly interesting” because damage claims are increasing as smartphones become larger, Brent Iadarola, a global research director at Frost & Sullivan, told the E-Commerce Times. Sign up in May and unlock a special offer. SPONSORED: Manage orders, inventory, and shipping with Zenventory's all-in-one e-commerce operations platform. The two will focus on four core areas: native apps developed exclusively from scratch, called “IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions for the iPhone and iPad” unique IBM cloud services optimized for iOS 24×7 premium AppleCare for Enterprise service and support with on-site service delivered by IBM and new packaged offerings from IBM for device activation, supply and management. These services also will be available on Bluemix, IBM’s cloud-based development platform. IBM and Apple will create the IBM MobileFirst Platform for iOS to deliver end-to-end enterprise capability ranging from analytics, workflow and cloud storage, to fleet-scale device management, security and integration. IBM likely will tackle this by developing apps for clusters of businesses by genre, such as energy and utilities, or warehousing and logistics, Orr surmised. Still, “no one-size-fits-all app can be developed, even if it’s only made for iOS devices,” Jeff Orr, a senior research director at ABI Research, told the E-Commerce Times. IBM would have had to negotiate with Google and various Android device makers.įurther, the various manufacturers’ devices “are provisioned differently and have different user interfaces, creating a training and maintenance nightmare,” Howe pointed out.Īpple gives IBM “one provider, one environment to develop for, and one very small set of SKUs to support.” Why Not Android?Īlthough Android dominates the mobile market, IBM went with iOS because “Android is a coalition, not a product,” Howe said. The alliance “provides a complete solution for the enterprise,” Howe told the E-Commerce Times. ![]() “Mobility has been very much a catch-as-catch-can solution in most businesses,” noted Yankee Group Research Vice President Carl Howe, with enterprises having to consider a variety of device manufacturers, carriers and third-party IT service providers. Apple and IBM have teamed up on enterprise mobility in an exclusive partnership that will create iPhone and iPad business apps incorporating IBM’s Big Data and analytics capabilities, they announced Tuesday.
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