“Bolstered by Windows Vista’s travails and the advent of OS-neutral Web apps, the Mac is no doubt on the rise in business. Even IT pros have begun warming up to the Mac. After all, a business-class MacBook Pro costs the same as a business-class Windows PC, so there’s no cost disadvantage to buying Mac hardware,” Gruman writes. “And I hear consistently from IT folks who manage both Macs and PCs that Mac hardware tends to fail less frequently than PCs do and that its OS is more stable than Windows, translating into lower internal IT support costs.”
Gruman wonders, “So with Mac OS X Snow Leopard’s and iPhone OS 3.0’s improved business capabilities,why isn’t Apple doing better in the enterprise?”
“I believe the answer is simple: Apple has intentionally created a glass ceiling it has no intention of shattering. My conversations with Apple employees over the past decade have always been off the record when it comes to the topic of Macs in the enterprise. The company has had no intention of signaling any active plans to serve the enterprise,” Gruman writes. “In a sense, Apple views enterprise sales as ‘collateral success’ — a nice-to-have byproduct of its real focus: individuals, developers, and very small businesses (designers, consultants, and other ‘knowledge worker’ types).”
Gruman writes, “Apple is nothing if not determined and intentional. Not investing in the enterprise capabilities in the Mac and iPhone, nor investing in the ecosystem to support them, has to be intentional. Apple is clearly engaging small businesses with Snow Leopard and iPhone. Any large company is welcome to adopt Apple’s technology, but that’s just an extra cherry on top for Apple — not its goal.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: We believe it’s less Apple’s disinterest than entrenched, aging IT doofuses who have been incorrectly ceded too much decision-making responsibilities and who are unable or unwilling to deploy Macs and iPhones that will save their companies money while increasing worker productivity (please see related articles below). Thankfully, these luddites are nearing retirement age in droves. The next wave of IT people will come to work with their iPods, iPhones, and MacBooks and things will change for the better after years of Windows frustration, stagnation, insecurity, and waste.
Remember: One of the largest, most successful companies on earth, with over 35,000 employees worldwide, and a market cap greater than IBM’s, greater than Google’s, and greater than HP’s and Dell’s combined, is all-Mac and all-iPhone: Apple Inc.
Isn’t it great to read some jag-off spout off and make accusations without any proof whatsoever? With low standards like that I’ll bet I could be a reporter too!
Apple won’t compromise their principles and shoot for the lowest common denominator.
Slowly but surely each business sector will come around.
I find it hard to believe that Apple’s hunger for profit would continue to ignore this sector. I beieve there are quiet projects in the works.
@Gotta Love it
Where in Western Pennsylvania are you from?
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And this writer should never be trusted by anyone, even if true, for running his mouth about trusted ” off the record” conversations. Trust, is basis of any ” off the record conversation” once you blanber like an old hag and gossip like a fishmonger, you don’t deserve the “off the record” confidence of anyone.
Not making business the first priority is different from not letting it succeed. I believe the answer is simpler still; Windows-entrenched IT departments and people who only think ‘the cheaper the better’. Those Apple employees he was referring to may have meant that Apple doesn’t plan to pander to business any time soon.
Funny, I’m reading this on the iPhone my large national company has provided me. They don’t officially support my Mac, but I use it exclusively now. Their thinkpad is just an expensive paper weight on my desk.
If a company gets too dependent on enterprise sales then they lose control of their product to some degree – kind of like when Walmart starts telling suppliers/manufacturers how they want the product changed, “or else”.
I assume Apple wants to avoid having to accommodate some large enterprise who thinks, “no, no it HAS to work the way we want”.
Apple relates better to consumers, that’s all. Just because the Supreme Court says Enterprise are people too, doesn’t mean we all get touchy-feely and sing Kumbaya.
They wait their turn, just like the rest of us.
Windows NT = job security. Oh, I meant Windows 2000, er.. I mean Windows XP, well, actually I mean Vista, or no, I meant to say Windows 7. Ya, that’s right, Windows NT.
NoSpamMan:
Quite right…Apple doen’t spout off, or need to advertise and publish it’s efforts or intentions…action speaks louder than words and talk is cheap. It would be great of in this era of loud mouth gossip and inuendo everyone else would take a lesson from this mode of apperandi and instead of running their mouths with no substance, they actually earned their keep and produced usefully…
No, it’s the idiots in IT departments that swear Appletalk is chatty, there is no enterprise virus software for Mac, they are too expensive, there is no software for them and no management software.
I actually had this happen to me a few years ago. Boy did I have fun refuting every bit of his lies. Made him look like a class A jerk.
So the big company did buy more Macs.
Why do you give this hit whore credence?
Shouldn’t there be a “Think before you click™” disclaimer?
I know of a large company with 34,300 employees that runs it’s entire business on Macs. From all my dealings with them they seem to do quite well, both in their online stores and their retail stores. If one can do, they all can.
Can you guess the company?
Gruman is quite correct in saying “Not investing in the enterprise capabilities in the Mac and iPhone, nor investing in the ecosystem to support them, has to be intentional.”. Unless you care to make the argument that Apple doesn’t realize that such an investment might trigger further sales? Unless you want to accuse Apple of rank stupidity?
Didn’t think so.
Apple knows which services are required to get a toe in the door, which are required to run a single-platform business, and which are required to grab up the sub-$600 market most of those cubicle-bound desktops consist of. They invest in the first two and let the third languish. They don’t sell CHEAP computers. Not as long as Jobs is in charge. Why invest in them?
Apple does have a salesforce dedicated to selling to the enterprise. Axel Springer Verlag, a worldwide publishing company based in Berlin, Germany, uses only Macs. Not because they came in the back door, but because the Apple salesman came in the front door. Another large enterprise customer that many people may have heard about is the US Army. (Put http://www.army.mil in Netcraft and see what pops up.)
The enterprise market doesn’t require magazine and TV ads. The consumer market does. Apple is mum about the former and talks about the latter to preserve the corporate image it chooses to project.
it’s simple.
Either apple spends money to then discount for enterprise. Or they could used the money to make an iPhone or an iPad
I choose the latter
Just today in the news here in Switzerland:
The governement’s debacle with Windows-Vista – the switch from XP to Vista is going on for two years, and that stuff still isn’t working – it cost though around 40’000’000$ for the tax payer, and the funny thing is, that now most of their employees are going back to XP. And regarding IT-Doofus: the “IT-specialists” from the governement do not consider to move to another system like the Mac or Linux, no, they think they might try with Windows 7. A friend of mine works at this at the governement, and she told me she brings her private MBP from home to work for years, because she needs to work rather than waste her time with that stupid IT-team and their crappy computers…
See the article here, unfortunately in German (but has a nice picture of vista…):
http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/Bundesbeamte-rebellieren-gegen-Windows-Vista/story/19786278
We have about 70000 employees around the world. I asked about the iphone and the answer was no … no if ands or buts. I asked why and the response was ‘with blackberries, we can keep the NOC inside our firewall, under our protection. Apple won’t allow authentication/setup to any but them’.
No iphone for us. On a humorous note, we did start writing apps for the military.
“Even IT pros have begun warming up to the Mac”.
Really? Then my IT department is evidently short of pros.
I hope all of us who love Apple will remember to say MDN’s last two sentences to any Doze gamer or IT flak whenever they trot out that old tired saying that Apple only sells “toy” computers, or the iPhone isn’t enterprise-ready.
There are already signs of change in businesses adopting Macs and iPhones.
Apple doesn’t need to twist anyones arms to make the switch. After microsofts Vista debacle many companies have seen the light and have already started the switch.
Apple looks at it different. Get them in school, the moms and dads, as soon the sweeping out of Microsoft is unstoppable.
Simple, cheap, and you do not even have to break a sweat.
Enterprise customers don’t go to the Apple Store and Best Buy and compare price tags. They look at the total cost of ownership and the cost of employee downtime when computers don’t work. Macs aren’t expensive when you look at them that way.
In the case of servers, Microsoft charges for client access licenses (CALs), but Apple does not. That means just the acquisition price of an Xserve can be on the magnitude of $10,000 less expensive than a Windows-based server. Apple’s rack-mounted servers are not exactly designed for consumers.
OS X is compatible with Active Directory and Exchange, and you can add a Mac to a Windows domain. I’ve done it. Just like a Windows PC, if a user logs on with their domain credentials, the Mac creates a user account for them. I’ve done that, too. In my experience, Macs are more compatible with Windows networks than Windows is!
Apple went to all the trouble of having OS X certified as UNIX 03. That’s not exactly a selling point for consumers. There is no such thing as Active Directory Home Edition or Exchange Basic Edition. These features are for the enterprise, and only for the enterprise.
The Apple Store has no salesforce and checkout line, yet they move more merchandise than Tiffany’s, in terms of dollars per square foot. So don’t assume that Apple is not in the enterprise just because they don’t crow about it.
Another fact of being dependent on large corporations for your business: they will demand discount pricing when placing large orders. Can you imagine Apple and Wal-Mart negotiating? Neither side would move! And what about companies which require three bids before being able to issue a purchase order? That’s a little difficult to do when buying Macs, since Apple price controls its products. Sure, you could have Apple, MacMall, and ClubMac give bids, but what’s the point?
Apple enjoys a very nice profit margin. It’s strategy is to make cool computer and mobile products that consumers want and that provide a great user experience. More business users will come on board as more consumers use Apple products and want to have the same user experience in the workplace.
Apple isn’t focusing on big business because it doesn’t have to, and doesn’t want to.