Apple, IBM forge enterprise alliance

Apple and IBM have announced a major and unexpected partnership agreement involving collaboration on enterprise applications, products and services.

The agreement will see IBM’s MobileFirst division selling iPhones and iPads preconfigured with the enterprise solutions to its business clients.

The two companies will also work to develop a new class of around 100 industry-specific enterprise apps and other products. Targeted industries will include retail, healthcare, banking, travel and transportation, telecommunications and insurance.

IBM will develop cloud services optimised for iOS, including mobile device management, security, analytics and mobile integration offerings.

Mobile management services to be developed under the collaboration will include a private app catalogue, data and transaction security services and a productivity suite.

In turn, Apple will develop an enterprise-grade 24/7 support tier for its AppleCare program, with IBM providing on-site services.

“For the first time ever we’re putting IBM’s renowned big data analytics at iOS users’ fingertips, which opens up a large market opportunity for Apple. This is a radical step for enterprise and something that only Apple and IBM can deliver,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement.

Apple and IBM were bitter rivals in the early days of the PC era - Apple compared IBM to Big Brother in its famous ‘1984’ ad for Macintosh computers. But the relationship thawed after IBM moved away from the consumer market.

Tim Cook meanwhile worked at IBM for more than 10 years before taking over as Apple’s CEO.

Image courtesy IBM