5 ms·

"Is Apple ever going to go after the enterprise market?" (Steve's response, a refreshing "If you're interested in that, you're probably at the wrong company.")

• mgkimsal 15y ago
  I thought that at first too, but I think it could be interpreted a couple other ways too. What we've seen over the last 10 years or so is the increased consumerization of the enterprise. Essentially, large IT depts have been forced to accommodate iPhones and iPads, due to large numbers of people buying them then saying "I want to use this at work", rather than Apple having to accomodate "enterprise" needs (and thereby perpetuating often antiquated or just poor ways of doing things). I'm generalizing here a bit, but that's another way I'd read it. It probably would have been difficult for people in the late 90s to foresee how much consumerization of IT we'd see 10-15 years in the future
  • tommi 15y ago
    Also the needs of consumer and a enterprise have converged. Everybody expects to able to read email on their phone. Many people expect their consumer laptops to be able to encrypt their hard drive (at least Apple users) just like the enterprise IT department. The difference between enterprise and consumer as an IT user has become smaller.
  • cbs 15y ago
    rather than Apple having to accomodate "enterprise" needs (and thereby perpetuating often antiquated or just poor ways of doing things). Thats kind of a plastering over of the reality though. iOS plays nice with ActiveSync, right there thats Apple accommodating enterprise needs. I can hit up exchange to remote wipe any employee's iPhone right now. Its not that IT departments are forced to accommodate iPhones, they're forced to accommodate yet another smartphone.
    • mgkimsal 15y ago
      Yes, I did realize I was generalizing some. But... Apple's supported some of those protocols, but not out of the gate, and they've not built their initial products around some competitor's idea about a market (at least, not that I've seen). So... yes with the iPhone, they did accomodate "the enterprise", but didn't base the success of the iPhone on how well it was accepted by 'the enterprise'.
    • randomdata 15y ago
      One could easily look at it from the opposite direction: Consumers want to access their company email on their personal property. The inclusion of ActiveSync wasn't to help enterprise IT departments, it was the help the consumer access the resources they want to access. That said, there are other features of iOS that do support your point of view.
  • VladRussian 15y ago
    >What we've seen over the last 10 years or so is the increased consumerization of the enterprise. Essentially, large IT depts have been forced to accommodate iPhones and iPads, ... i'd not say "consumerization of the enterprise" is limited to the last 10 years - it is more like for the last almost 30 years "large IT depts have been forced to accommodate" PC, notebooks, iPhones, iPads ... (mental implants? ask Jobs what is the next :)
• boredguy8 15y ago
  ...what? The 'cost', to Apple, of going to Enterprise is pretty large. Enterprises need things like stable patch schedules, forward-looking roadmaps, and integrated control structure. The toughest, culturally, on that list, is the forward-looking roadmaps. As one of many examples: Apple's switch from PPC chips to Intel chips was done with no warning & negatively impacted order fulfillment. (I was working at a university at the time, and lab computers ordered well in advance of the change were delayed 2 weeks -- other schools who ordered later were waiting months.) Compare & contrast Microsoft's "patch Tuesday" with Apples "patch whenever". There's a cost to 'going enterprise' that goes far beyond "we don't want you to use this at work". And that's not even touching the issue other's have pointed out regarding 'image' and 'branding' and emotional associations with the system you're using at the job you hate.
• deleted 15y ago
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