Apple's enterprise strategy playing out

Cleve Nettles
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March 05, 2009
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Yesterday's news that a few heads were rolling in Apple Enterprise sales was probably a downer for those of us working on corporate Apple products.  The shift, however, in Apple's Enterprise strategy is best explained by a questioner at the CIO Summit:

“With platforms like the Google phone and iPhone coming out, it’s really tough to continue to stand behind Windows Mobile when our employees are bringing these consumer devices into our environments,” the questioner explained. “And in your presentation you put Windows Mobile right in the center there, but it was a phone that doesn’t work in America and an operating system that you haven’t released. I’m wondering what your commitment is to continuing to get newer versions of the operating system in our hands so that we don’t have to fight this battle on the ground.”

Ballmer: "soon"

Just making the better consumer product sometimes works better than hiring salespeople for busting down corporate walls.

 

 

Comments (13)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 05, 2009 - 9:09am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5oGaZIKYvo

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 06, 2009 - 4:10pm

He compares the Motorola "Q" phone running Windows Mobile 5, with the 1st Generation iPhone.

Ouch, no wonder people are jumping away from Windows Mobile faster than they abandoned Osborne in the 1980's.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 05, 2009 - 9:26am

Bah, why CIOs need to "fight this battle" is beyond me. As a sidekick to the CIO in a very large IT organization, we know that we're not in the business of "Fighting Battles". We're in the business of getting things done and making sound IT decisions.

There is zero reason for us to "fight users", or to "fight for or against" competing platforms. Only the crappiest CIOs need to "fight battles".

Windows created a crappy mobile platform, and has decisively lost. There is no way that we will be fighting this poorly designed battle for Microsoft. Microsoft would need to fight it all for themselves, by making an exceptionally good and proven product.

There is no way I'm going to be spending precious cycles battling for the benefit of nobody in my company.

Kingston (not verified) | March 05, 2009 - 5:36pm

I'd like to say thank you sir for posting your thoughts. That is the most intelligent statement posted in the Comments section I have read on 9to5mac.

As an IT Manager, one of the biggest forms of resistance I get from other IT staff (previous and current) is when I try to work with the user community to deliver IT services that meet their needs and workflow. Why would I care if they wanted to use an iPhone if it just works?

I don't know, maybe it's that whole control thing that they have. Pathetic and childish really.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 05, 2009 - 11:24am

Steve Ballmer, the Dick Cheney of computerdom

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 05, 2009 - 11:59am

MS will fight to make a better product and Apple will fight to keep theirs on top. There can only be benefit for I.T. Depts to get reliable products.

Blad_Rnr (not verified) | March 05, 2009 - 12:43pm

When a CIO has to figure out how to defend a crappy phone running a crappy OS, then they need to question why they are the CIO.

If a user is more productive using an iPhone, then what's the problem? Sure, money and time is an issue, but IT departments serve one purpose: to serve the other users in the company. Period. Obviously they need to make suggestions in regards to security when the average CEO doesn't understand those kinds of issues. But when one of the partners at my company asked for an iPhone (and they did), I immediately asked, "Want that in white or black?"

And in the end they got an iPhone for me! See how it works? :-)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 05, 2009 - 12:47pm

MS tells every one how cool there OS is (mobil/desktop/server) and all it's features
It will have all that that every one have, plus some extra.
.
But it wont be out before a year or two from now.
....And by that time every one else have moved on and is again ahead of MS.
.
.
You can say that MS is looking at what other can provide now, and then aim to compeat whit that. Even if they know it will take them 5 year to make there product.
And when they are done. They can't understand that everyone else has moved on

Attk | March 05, 2009 - 5:25pm

 I just want to see MS go down in flames...  I'm enjoying every stupid comment Balmer makes!!!  They can't last forever at this rate.

MAS (not verified) | March 05, 2009 - 6:51pm

Competition is a great thing! Let the best product/platform win...
Apple/Google are forcing MS to change their future technology and that translates to a win/win for us the consumer.

MS has dominated the IT world for decades, now others are catching up but you can be sure MS won't stand still...

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 05, 2009 - 8:56pm

I feel bad for Ballmer, you guys are too hard on him

Sam (not verified) | March 06, 2009 - 2:47am

Instead of 9to5mac Noob should that name be Stevie B. by any chance. Ballmer's a c**k.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | March 07, 2009 - 4:44am

Six major versions have come and gone, and it still does not sound an alert when new mail arrives that gets filed into a subfolder by a server-side rule. So if you're an organized person who has rules and subfolders for important e-mails, you're boned.

An entirely obvious and incredibly useful feature, but only available as a third-party product right now.

But what does Microsoft concentrate on? Tarting up their GUI to make it look sort of like the iPhone's, but not so much that people mock them for copying the iPhone. Fresh coat of paint, same outhouse underneath.

And they still wonder why they are getting their asses kicked?