IBM's Interconnect customer conference reinforced its commitment to Apple in a not-to-subtle way.
Over the last 30 years, IBM has evolved dramatically, and it is now almost exclusively a global software and services company focused on the enterprise. Although I have not worked closely with IBM in the last 15 years, my interest was piqued when it announced a major partnership with Apple in 2014.
IBM dates back to the early 1980s. Right after I joined Creative Strategies, one of my first major consulting projects was to research what would become IBM's distribution strategy for its original PC. I worked with the father of the IBM PC, Don Estridge, and saw the birth of the PC industry up close and personal.
Over the last 30 years, IBM has evolved dramatically, and it is now almost exclusively a global software and services company focused on the enterprise. Although I have not worked closely with IBM in the last 15 years, my interest was piqued when it announced a major partnership with Apple in 2014.
IBM dates back to the early 1980s. Right after I joined Creative Strategies, one of my first major consulting projects was to research what would become IBM's distribution strategy for its original PC. I worked with the father of the IBM PC, Don Estridge, and saw the birth of the PC industry up close and personal.
As IBM explored mobile, it found that many of its customers had Apple devices, so it became clear that if IBM really wanted to make headway, it would need help from Apple. Eventually, IBM made the big decision to port all of its mobile apps to iOS in order to support customers at all levels.
The result is that IBM is offering over 100 iOS apps for use on iPhones and iPads in the enterprise and giving its customers very powerful mobile solutions that help them integrate mobile apps and solutions into their overall IT programs. I got to see some of the apps, and they are amazingly powerful. One allows pilots to manage fuel; it does the calculations for them and then allows pilots to adjust fuel use automatically. Another lets a major European airline handle priority bookings for premium customers who miss connections. They can be booked on a new or different flight even as they are in the air.
Ultimately, all of these apps gives IBM much more latitude for meeting the needs of a huge customer base, and makes it a trusted vendor to a worldwide base of IT professionals. But there is another little-known part of the deal I believe is equally as game-changing.
IBM is now a sales arm for Apple hardware, which IBM's mobile team sees as very strategic to its overall IT solutions. IBM also supports Android mobile devices to a degree, but it has not yet ported its apps to Google's mobile OS. This means Apple is more than just a partner, it's a preferred partner.
One other thing that was really remarkable about Interconnect is that Brian Croll, an Apple marketing vice president, presented the opening keynote aboutApple's Swift programming language, which clearly reinforced IBM's commitment to Apple and in a not-to-subtle way.
While we may think of Apple more as a consumer company, the IBM partnership means Apple is just as much an enterprise company. IBM's continued help should help Apple grow its enterprise business exponentially in the future.
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