4 ms·

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the recent cringely book on IBM, which I learned about from HN. IBM doesn't even make their own servers anymore - sell

by lmg643 12y ago

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the recent cringely book on IBM, which I learned about from HN. IBM doesn't even make their own servers anymore - selling that business to lenovo (IBM only makes mainframes). I assume this is relatively neutral for both parties, and reflects the deterioration of technical competence at IBM. IBM will act as a giant sales arm, and apple would fulfill whatever contract IBM can land. only question is how big the scale they can accomplish together. you would think IBM enterprise is naturally large scale but not necessarily justifying largest-market-cap-in-the-world. apple's still going to need major consumer hits to keep growing. Apple has $574bn market cap last check, to IBMs $190bn. Apple would almost need to acquire IBM to move the needle, and selfishly, as an apple-convert, i hope they aren't actually considering that. would be a true shame for apple to stop building the consumer products of our dreams, to build some soul-less bullshit for "enterprise" courtesy of IBM. risk of the great dream dying. also big risk of the IBM culture and mindset infecting apple. i'm sure steve jobs would get a huge kick out of apple throwing a lifeline to IBM, thinking back to the 80s when IBM was "big blue" and a formidable technology competitor. i could see steve going ahead with this for kicks, which is about how i think apple is going to approach it. can't harm apple if they ring-fence the work, and don't let IBM management practices become apple practices.

AJ007 12y ago
I haven't read the book, but I saw a few of Cringely's blog posts. Very good. http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/04/decline-fall-ibm/ http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/04/decline-fall-ibm/ http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/10/analyzing-ibm-analytics/ http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/10/analyzing-ibm-analytics/ http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/15/ibm-back-ussr/ http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/15/ibm-back-ussr/
walterbell 12y ago
What is Apple's next big push? Wearable (motion processor in iPhone, iWatch) sensor monitoring of humans for medical, insurance and payments (iBeacon/BT), among other use cases for lifeform surveillance. Can Apple support the cloud analytics needed to process the large amount of human-generated, personal sensor data for the many enterprise verticals that will be transformed by this data? IBM has invested in "Smart City" initiatives, urban-scale control and coordination. Pick your favorite sci-fi movie. There is potential here to marry the personal operating system (Apple) and the city-state operating system (IBM). Earlier this year, IBM adopted an ARM-like approach to their Power architecture, licensing IP to "OpenPower" partners. For example, here's a $4.88 billion joint project on servers & software for smart cities in China. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-07/14/c_133482315.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-07/14/c_1334823... --- The joint project with Chinese firm Sichuan Huaxun Zhongxing Technologies Co. Ltd follows their announcement on May 18 that they will build a service center dedicated to the big data and cloud computing that is necessary for smart cities. ... "Cooperation with IBM will have an immense impact on the construction of smart cities in the world and fast-track the R&D level of high-end servers in China by 10 to 20 years," said He Wenjun, chairman of Huaxun Zhongxing Technologies. The smart city concept was invented by IBM. In 2012, China selected over 130 cities as pilot sites for a smart city program that will explore ways to foster a new type of urbanization. ---
- threeseed 12y ago
  >Can Apple support the cloud analytics needed to process the large amount of human-generated, personal sensor data for the many enterprise verticals that will be transformed by this data? No. Which is why they are looking to IBM to condense this "big data" on the server side and stream it to the iOS devices.
maximilianburke 12y ago
IBM doesn't make x86/x64 based servers, but they still make servers (IBM Power Systems) that run AIX, Linux, and i (previously OS/400).
lnanek2 12y ago
> IBM will act as a giant sales arm, and apple would fulfill whatever contract IBM can land It is OK to think that way re hardware. But it is backwards re software. IBM sold off almost all their hardware divisions (laptops, printers, storage) because they make their money on services. IBM is basically a consultancy nowadays. IBM is doing what they do here: selling software consulting services and solutions that run on Apple. Apple isn't going to do any development work for this at all.

by lmg643 12y ago

AJ007 12y ago

I haven't read the book, but I saw a few of Cringely's blog posts. Very good. http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/04/decline-fall-ibm/ http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/04/decline-fall-ibm/ http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/10/analyzing-ibm-analytics/ http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/10/analyzing-ibm-analytics/ http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/15/ibm-back-ussr/ http://www.cringely.com/2014/06/15/ibm-back-ussr/

walterbell 12y ago

What is Apple's next big push? Wearable (motion processor in iPhone, iWatch) sensor monitoring of humans for medical, insurance and payments (iBeacon/BT), among other use cases for lifeform surveillance. Can Apple support the cloud analytics needed to process the large amount of human-generated, personal sensor data for the many enterprise verticals that will be transformed by this data? IBM has invested in "Smart City" initiatives, urban-scale control and coordination. Pick your favorite sci-fi movie. There is potential here to marry the personal operating system (Apple) and the city-state operating system (IBM). Earlier this year, IBM adopted an ARM-like approach to their Power architecture, licensing IP to "OpenPower" partners. For example, here's a $4.88 billion joint project on servers & software for smart cities in China. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-07/14/c_133482315.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2014-07/14/c_1334823... --- The joint project with Chinese firm Sichuan Huaxun Zhongxing Technologies Co. Ltd follows their announcement on May 18 that they will build a service center dedicated to the big data and cloud computing that is necessary for smart cities. ... "Cooperation with IBM will have an immense impact on the construction of smart cities in the world and fast-track the R&D level of high-end servers in China by 10 to 20 years," said He Wenjun, chairman of Huaxun Zhongxing Technologies. The smart city concept was invented by IBM. In 2012, China selected over 130 cities as pilot sites for a smart city program that will explore ways to foster a new type of urbanization. ---

threeseed 12y ago
>Can Apple support the cloud analytics needed to process the large amount of human-generated, personal sensor data for the many enterprise verticals that will be transformed by this data? No. Which is why they are looking to IBM to condense this "big data" on the server side and stream it to the iOS devices.

maximilianburke 12y ago

IBM doesn't make x86/x64 based servers, but they still make servers (IBM Power Systems) that run AIX, Linux, and i (previously OS/400).

lnanek2 12y ago

> IBM will act as a giant sales arm, and apple would fulfill whatever contract IBM can land It is OK to think that way re hardware. But it is backwards re software. IBM sold off almost all their hardware divisions (laptops, printers, storage) because they make their money on services. IBM is basically a consultancy nowadays. IBM is doing what they do here: selling software consulting services and solutions that run on Apple. Apple isn't going to do any development work for this at all.