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I think I'm missing something. These sounds like generic industry apps, but Fortune 500 companies don't use generic apps, they use stuff tailored to their busi

by smackfu 12y ago

I think I'm missing something. These sounds like generic industry apps, but Fortune 500 companies don't use generic apps, they use stuff tailored to their business. It says they are customizable, but that's a lot easier said than done.

lnanek2 12y ago
Tailored is exactly what IBM wants. They are basically a consulting and services company nowadays, having let go most of their hardware divisions after analyzing their business and deciding they weren't profitable. They will be exceedingly happy to sell you consultants time to tailor the apps for you, in fact, if the app didn't require tailoring, they probably wouldn't want it in their line up.
- johnward 12y ago
  I'm an IBM consultant. A large portion of our revenue comes from services. I'd say it would be correct to classify IBM as a Consulting and Services company now. More so than software and hardware. We still do a lot of software but the bread and butter is consulting. We're basically exiting low margin hardware businesses. Also the original comment is correct that most enterprises don't want out of box solutions. They almost always want something customized. I still don't know very much about the IBM and Apple deal. It almost seems like Apple is trying to leverage the IBM brand to get into enterprise business but we'll have to see how it plays out.
- chiph 12y ago
  I'm amazed by that decision (to leave the hardware & software biz). Look at Apple -- that's pretty much all they do, and they have a $650B market cap, 4x that of IBM.
  - rjayatilleka 12y ago
    I suspect Apple and IBM's software and hardware businesses have different margins. Another comment said that IBM still does some software work, but has basically exited 'low margin hardware' business. Whereas Apple's software is nearly all free (and used to supplement hardware sales) while their hardware is extremely expensive for consumers and has huge margins.
  - smackfu 12y ago
    It's not simply that Apple is in the hardware biz, it's that Apple has a strategy for the hardware biz that enables 40% margins. They're an outlier. None of their hardware competitors have that. If someone could show IBM a strategy for their hardware that had those kind of margins, I bet they would stay in hardware.
- raptormissle 12y ago
  I see you decided to pull something out of your ass then do a simple search. 26 Billion of their 2013 revenue came from Software division 14 Billion came from the Systems and Technology division 2 Billion came from the Global Financing division
jayvanguard 12y ago
My thoughts as well. This looks like a hodge-podge of app ideas that got created in some brainstorming session. Then instead of focussing on a real product line they build 20 of them and are trying to see what will stick when they throw them against the wall. Which really means what can they use as bait to get big consulting contracts since no-one will ever use these off the shelf.
steedsofwar 12y ago
I use to freelance for a large investment bank. They had one large open source initiative, that had two offerings: one that was completely open source, and less powerful and the second enterprise class and highly customised for there needs. When i left they started a new project, making iOs apps, that would make use of employees phones, rather than dish out expensive (basically hired the phones) blackberries. Again this was customised, security and restrictions and what not.

by smackfu 12y ago

lnanek2 12y ago

Tailored is exactly what IBM wants. They are basically a consulting and services company nowadays, having let go most of their hardware divisions after analyzing their business and deciding they weren't profitable. They will be exceedingly happy to sell you consultants time to tailor the apps for you, in fact, if the app didn't require tailoring, they probably wouldn't want it in their line up.

johnward 12y ago
I'm an IBM consultant. A large portion of our revenue comes from services. I'd say it would be correct to classify IBM as a Consulting and Services company now. More so than software and hardware. We still do a lot of software but the bread and butter is consulting. We're basically exiting low margin hardware businesses. Also the original comment is correct that most enterprises don't want out of box solutions. They almost always want something customized. I still don't know very much about the IBM and Apple deal. It almost seems like Apple is trying to leverage the IBM brand to get into enterprise business but we'll have to see how it plays out.
chiph 12y ago
I'm amazed by that decision (to leave the hardware & software biz). Look at Apple -- that's pretty much all they do, and they have a $650B market cap, 4x that of IBM.
- rjayatilleka 12y ago
  I suspect Apple and IBM's software and hardware businesses have different margins. Another comment said that IBM still does some software work, but has basically exited 'low margin hardware' business. Whereas Apple's software is nearly all free (and used to supplement hardware sales) while their hardware is extremely expensive for consumers and has huge margins.
- smackfu 12y ago
  It's not simply that Apple is in the hardware biz, it's that Apple has a strategy for the hardware biz that enables 40% margins. They're an outlier. None of their hardware competitors have that. If someone could show IBM a strategy for their hardware that had those kind of margins, I bet they would stay in hardware.
raptormissle 12y ago
I see you decided to pull something out of your ass then do a simple search. 26 Billion of their 2013 revenue came from Software division 14 Billion came from the Systems and Technology division 2 Billion came from the Global Financing division

jayvanguard 12y ago

My thoughts as well. This looks like a hodge-podge of app ideas that got created in some brainstorming session. Then instead of focussing on a real product line they build 20 of them and are trying to see what will stick when they throw them against the wall. Which really means what can they use as bait to get big consulting contracts since no-one will ever use these off the shelf.

steedsofwar 12y ago

I use to freelance for a large investment bank. They had one large open source initiative, that had two offerings: one that was completely open source, and less powerful and the second enterprise class and highly customised for there needs. When i left they started a new project, making iOs apps, that would make use of employees phones, rather than dish out expensive (basically hired the phones) blackberries. Again this was customised, security and restrictions and what not.