3 ms·

A non-crappy enterprise mobile option alone (basically Blackberry 2013) would be a $100b business. Neither Android nor iOS is that out of the box, and the bolt

by rdl 13y ago

A non-crappy enterprise mobile option alone (basically Blackberry 2013) would be a $100b business. Neither Android nor iOS is that out of the box, and the bolt-on ecosystem of crap doesn't turn either into as good a system as RIM was in its heyday. Look what phone DIRNSA uses today: a Blackberry. I'd sell non-core assets (Xbox, Bing, hotmail, consumer stuff in general, etc.), and focus on the core OS/mobile/Azure/Office/MSDN systems.

mathattack 13y ago
It does seem like the market is waiting for someone to replace Blackberry. I'm with you on splitting the enterprise cash cow from the rest of the business.
niels_olson 13y ago
Flag staff in DoD use blackberry because their IT goons are scared shitless of telling their dyed-in-the-wool-msft-fan bosses that a UNIX-like operating system is good business.
- rdl 13y ago
  It's that Blackberry with BES has actually decent management and security, unlike a cobbled-on-Android MDM, and the Blackberry keyboard. The underlying OS on the Exchange server doesn't matter. That DoD is (I'm pretty sure) the world's biggest MS deployment does matter, though -- even though I prefer UNIX, if I'm in an environment where 99% of systems are Windows based, I'd build my ancillary systems on Windows, too.
pwthornton 13y ago
I think you might be underselling the enterprise features of iOS, particularly with all of the Exchange support built in, ability to manage profiles with OS X server, the remote wipe, encryption, etc. It's what I use for work, and a Blackberry 2013 wouldn't get me to switch. I would grant that there are specialized markets that MS could serve well in the enterprise market, but what do you think the typical enterprise deployment needs out of the box that iOS can't provide right now?
- rdl 13y ago
  iOS devices themselves offer most of the hardware security features Blackberry (old) offers (I actually know zero about BB X; it seemed unlikely to live to adulthood, so I've ignored it). I love iOS for that. iOS is undeniably a better web browser experience than Blackberry. It also has a viable app ecosystem, but that mostly doesn't matter for enterprise. The only large OS X Server-managed deployment I've heard of is Apple internally. In Silicon Valley, I'd probably go with iOS-only (I don't believe in BYOD, and crossplatform means LCD and pain) with either a third-party MDM or maybe try OS X server. No way I'd do that in a 100k seat enterprise with high security requirements -- 30-50 person shops aren't really "enterprise". I am excited about iOS 7, but not at all excited about Apple's lack of any real focus on enterprise. The only reason Apple has stuff like Kerberos support in OSX is that Apple uses it internally. Apple focuses on consumer (primarily), with iCloud, etc. as the main management tool. There is a little bit more for small businesses and some smaller education deployments, but aside from Apple.com, there isn't much attention given to the enterprise market. (If I got to pick a job, I'd rather be HHIC of Apple Enterprise Products/Enterprise Security rather than CEO of Microsoft, personally. Either would be a turnaround.)

by rdl 13y ago

mathattack 13y ago

It does seem like the market is waiting for someone to replace Blackberry. I'm with you on splitting the enterprise cash cow from the rest of the business.

niels_olson 13y ago

Flag staff in DoD use blackberry because their IT goons are scared shitless of telling their dyed-in-the-wool-msft-fan bosses that a UNIX-like operating system is good business.

rdl 13y ago
It's that Blackberry with BES has actually decent management and security, unlike a cobbled-on-Android MDM, and the Blackberry keyboard. The underlying OS on the Exchange server doesn't matter. That DoD is (I'm pretty sure) the world's biggest MS deployment does matter, though -- even though I prefer UNIX, if I'm in an environment where 99% of systems are Windows based, I'd build my ancillary systems on Windows, too.

pwthornton 13y ago

I think you might be underselling the enterprise features of iOS, particularly with all of the Exchange support built in, ability to manage profiles with OS X server, the remote wipe, encryption, etc. It's what I use for work, and a Blackberry 2013 wouldn't get me to switch. I would grant that there are specialized markets that MS could serve well in the enterprise market, but what do you think the typical enterprise deployment needs out of the box that iOS can't provide right now?

rdl 13y ago
iOS devices themselves offer most of the hardware security features Blackberry (old) offers (I actually know zero about BB X; it seemed unlikely to live to adulthood, so I've ignored it). I love iOS for that. iOS is undeniably a better web browser experience than Blackberry. It also has a viable app ecosystem, but that mostly doesn't matter for enterprise. The only large OS X Server-managed deployment I've heard of is Apple internally. In Silicon Valley, I'd probably go with iOS-only (I don't believe in BYOD, and crossplatform means LCD and pain) with either a third-party MDM or maybe try OS X server. No way I'd do that in a 100k seat enterprise with high security requirements -- 30-50 person shops aren't really "enterprise". I am excited about iOS 7, but not at all excited about Apple's lack of any real focus on enterprise. The only reason Apple has stuff like Kerberos support in OSX is that Apple uses it internally. Apple focuses on consumer (primarily), with iCloud, etc. as the main management tool. There is a little bit more for small businesses and some smaller education deployments, but aside from Apple.com, there isn't much attention given to the enterprise market. (If I got to pick a job, I'd rather be HHIC of Apple Enterprise Products/Enterprise Security rather than CEO of Microsoft, personally. Either would be a turnaround.)