“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.
I’ve worked in a few global mega-corporates — where ‘enterprise solutions’ are needed for their technology — and in these days of locked-down log-in anywhere solutions they simply choose their computers on price … as cheap as possible!
The manufacturers of these corporate class computers — you know who they are — have razor thin margins and Apple simply do not compete in that game.
This article has a lot more meat than is evident in MDN’s abstract. I think the author makes a strong case for his thesis that Apple is not making a serious effort to meet the needs of large companies, either for Macs or iPhones. No doubt IT departments are reluctant to change. Inertia is one of the strongest forces in all human interactions. But to argue that it is the primary force, as MDN does, seems simplistic (and perhaps wishful). I agree with the author’s thesis that Apple is one of the most intentional of all companies and that it is no accident that they are not aggressively pursuing enterprise customers. A serious mistake in my view. They had a real opportunity the past few years and blew it.
Try installing a custom-built in-house app on all the employee’s iPhones.
Can’t be done. You can’t create custom applications and install them on handhelds.
There should be a way for developers to compile for iPhones and upload the app directly, without going through the app-store.
I think I got this whole thing figured out.
Apple is not supporting Flash.
Apple is not going after big business.
Here’s the reason. It has to do with viruses and secuity.
The contoversy about the Mac seemingly being more secure is the obscurity issue. I never believed that. I always believed there are a lot of Macs but Apple made their OS more secure by closing ports. That’s my opinion.
However, I think I figured it out. There are more viruses on PC’s/Windows not because of OS market share but because big business uses them. Who hates big business? Everyone (it seems). The hack attacks are not against Microsoft, it’s against big business.
Lack of Flash support – it’s all about security.
I think Apple is avoiding enterprise to avoid big business and the hatred that hackers/disgruntled employees have for big business/ex-employers.
My company has been attacked big time since we have had a big layoff. Many disgruntled employees were created I am sure. They are not attacking the OS, they are attacking the company.
I think this is why the Mac has not been the target of hackers because the effect it would have on big business is minimal.
How’s that theory?
So, for the individual that wants to use the same OS as big business, they suffer the hack attacks aimed at big business. Seems to me the smart individual would get a Mac. Seems to me the smart Apple would avoid big business. And I guess that is what Apple is doing.
In conclusion I submit that if all individuals used Mac and all business used PC, hence a 50-50 market share, there would still be no viruses on the mac OS and Windows would still be the target.
fobar
There is. Apple has an environment for enterprises that allows them to develop and deploy apps in-house without ever needing to go to the public, commercial App Store (Page 63 of the iPhone Enterprise Deployment Guide).
I love it when people just state things matter-of-factly without knowing much about the matter.
And Wingsy,
Is there a reason why you are repeating (almost verbatim) last paragraph of MDN’s take?
Erm… this business runs Macs and iPhones and is very happy indeed with them.
Ditto many, many, related enterprises of my acquaintance.
Mind you, we’re sales and creative types!
QED.
Gruman is a whore. If he still wrote for Macworld, he’d never admit to his “love-hate relationship with Apple.” The truth comes out. His credibility is shot. I see his name and a handful of other clueless parasites, less well-known than the Dvoraks and Enderles of this world, and know when to stop reading.
All the IT guys in my company are in the 25-35 age group and WILL NOT consider the Mac.
The rest of the world do not believe in the genius of Steve Jobs.
People think other kinds of devices like the ones made by Apple are just as good, some thing theirs are even better.
I believe Apple will continue to give small concessions that make their devices/macs work well in the enterprise, but only so far as Apple can retain control of when and how it upgrades its software and devices. Remember, much legacy code remains in Windows because businesses demand it. Individuals and small businesses can cope with rapid change and larger businesses (i.e., Enterprises) don’t like it at all. I prefer Apple keep it the way it is. Enable their Macs and devices so that individuals can use them in the enterprise, but don’t sell it as ‘enterprise ready’ and don’t cater to the enterprise.
The article is thin air. The MDN take is clearly on target. This can’t be hard to see, unless he doesn’t want to.
@me
“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’.”
UUHH how about WRONG! Pure fabrication. I use Cisco VPN and connect to my network which then provides authentication and encrypted transmission to my mail server, which hosts contact, and calendar data. No, I’m not using exchange, but it CAN and HAS been done there too. There are plenty of third party apps, ever hear of Oracle?
Your IT folks LIED to you..
fobar
There is an enterprise management utility and can install your own apps with it,
quote “Enterprise Distribution
For deploying proprietary in-house applications to authorized users in your company, the iPhone Developer Enterprise Program is available to companies with 500 or more employees.”
Of course SDK I can install manually your apps.
Read the info from the source NOT from blogs before writing
http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/
http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/integration/
http://www.apple.com/iphone/business/integration/#deploying
http://developer.apple.com/iphone/program/distribute.html
and develop with free tools
BB needs license for Mgmt tools and Dev tools, and knowledge is more scarce
Nothing is so simple as today’s daily online journalism makes it out to be. On one hand, Apple is changing and inventing culture, in a way they are betting on the future enterprise will not look like today’s enterprise makeup. One day my Mac, iPad, iPhone, etc. that I own or partly paid for by my company ought to be enough for me or the average worker to get work done wherever.
Secondly, like communism and racial laws in the past, we simply have to wait for the Windows IT *old guards* in today’s enterprise IT management to slowly die off (retire) for changes to occur, when younger and more progressive executive take over and stop the waste and insanity.
Thanks Predrag, nice to see accuracy.
People dont like change, and will lie and obfuscate to avoid having to change.
Also, if you have a point to make, you will often ignore the fact that the point has already been made. Thats another sweet human trait – ‘I MUST be heard.’
There are so many things to learn and memory is unreliable – for example, here in Europe, waving national flags = Fascism/totalitarianism.
In North America, they have no history of fascism or the Police State and therefore are condemned to experience it, despite all of the history that warns against it.
People dont listen, they dont read, they dont like change, and they dont learn from history.
Thats why life is fun – the challenge is to be aware of human frailty and become a better person.
The preponderance of Windows suggest we have a way to go….
I work with Apple, and I work in the enterprise – as well as a company Apple works with.
I can tell you that Apple indeed has very little interest in the BIG corporate IT world.
Sure, we have a lot of XSANs now, but that’s because we fought for and got them in spite of IT and Apple’s “whatever” attitude.
They’re helpful – don’t get me wrong – but they obviously are not trying to be HP here.
I’m OK with that. I enjoy my little piece of the IT pie – the piece that’s yummy and Apple-flavored!
@Derek in Milan:
n North America, they have no history of fascism or the Police State and therefore are condemned to experience it, despite all of the history that warns against it.
Agreed. Been saying that here [New York] for years… I’m a Brit so enjoy the vagaries and sometime idiocy, regarding world politics, of our cousins on this side of the pond.
But hell, I married one… so there are good yanks out there.
Businesses like to plan, they want product road maps 3 to 5 years out. Apple doesn’t do product road maps. Anyone know when the next MacBook Pro is going to be released?
Businesses like to dictate products, like no iSight, no wifi, no iTunes for office desktops. Apple doesn’t do customized products. Apple likes a simple product line.
Businesses like to conserve resources. Why rewrite software when it works for them. Apple likes to introduce new software technologies to improve work flow and will drop old tech when it suits them. Hypercard, Publish & Subscribe, etc.
Businesses like their pet proprietary standards. Apple likes to agitate for open global standards like webkit, AAC, h.264, dropping Flash.
Businesses like predictability. Apple isn’t predictable. Motorola 6800, PowerPC, Intel, Apple A4. Dropping floppies, adding USB & Firewire, various Apple display hook-ups. Apple likes to drop old tech and introduce new tech when they think it’s ready, not when it’s Enterprise customers give the OK.
Businesses (CEOs and CIOs) like to dictate and be recognized for the Kings they are. Apple doesn’t butt lick.
Apple has a very different approach to life, business, and marketing than — well, everyone else.
Apple has provided many technologies to allow their products to work in a typical enterprise (Active Directory, Exchange support in Snow Leopard and iPhone OS, SMB/CIFS, etc.)
Apple does not need to “push” their way into the enterprise. They are taking the “pull” approach and it’s working quite well.
A couple of years ago all Apple products were taboo in just about every company on the planet. In just the past 2 years there has been a huge change in perception regarding Apple and its products. The media, especially the traditional PC-focused media, is talking about Apple almost every day.
Apple has allowed the media and consumers to “push” on the business world to consider Apple products to be used for business use. So Apple does not need to make a big effort, and expense, to focus on the enterprise. They have the media and consumers to help them.
As businesses fold to the pressure of employees and the markets they will “pull” Apple products into their environment. There are many examples of companies (and entire countries for that matter) moving away from Microsoft products towards more “open” solutions.
It’s the applications that companies use that tie them to the Microsoft world. As more of those “traditional/legacy” applications are replaced with web-based solutions the client/server options become much more open companies will no longer have an excuse to stay with Microsoft. That will also allow Apple to get into the corporate world without doing much to get there.
“There should be a way for developers to compile for iPhones and upload the app directly, without going through the app-store.”
What a great idea! You should tell Apple.
Except…
They’ve offered that capability for the military and large enterprises for a while now.
Apple has no desire to try and out Microsoft in the enterprise, Ballmer has a huge crack sales thugs that handles nothing but enterprise IT sales. This Huge Microsoft crack sales thugs work in the shadows and back rooms and make deals that would well how shall we say are best describe as questionable and at worse would be outright criminal. When big companies start talking of not renewing their Microsoft agreements these thugs descend and start making all kinds of wild threats about License violations, fines, penalties and they basically tell CIO and CEO that Microsoft will cancel all of their current licenses and refuse to provide them with any new licenses for any products if they continue to explore alternate OS or Office Options.
Apple does not what to try and compete against the Microsoft sells thugs. No Apple would rather do it slowly and avoid the confrontation with the Microsoft henchmen for as long as possible . Apple is content to let business come to it and come to Apple they are, Small and Medium sized business are flocking to the Mac and Mac Mini servers.
A low power, low heat, Unlimited client, No per/user Microsoft tax, that is cost effective & $1000.00, the Mac Mini Servers are popping up in use everywhere for everything. Apple knows that they just can’t jump into the Big Enterprise market, Ballmer elite sales thug henchmen would mug and beat the crap out of Apple’s tiny sales staff. Apple’s got the right approach and the right attitude toward Big Enterprise Customers. Soon enough there will be enough backdoor Macs in Big Enterprises that the CIO and CEO will develop a backbone and start tossing the Microsoft sales thugs out by the ears.
Every time I read something about “enterprises” I give thanks that I don’t work at such a dismal endeavour.
Predrag: I think MDN stole my post! I didn’t see their last paragraph when I read their take. (And before I posted.)
Everytime someone brings up the “Macs in the Enterprise” topic, I feel compelled to point out just how entrenched Windows, in general, and Internet Explorer, in particular, are in big business. My employer runs at least three mission-critical software packages that require IE to run. The advantage is that such software requires no installation on the PCs that use it, but the downside is that you are not going to move away from Windows and IE. You can’t.
I think that Apple understands that making a big push toward enterprise adoption is not a good value proposition. What they could achieve wouldn’t be anywhere near worth the amount of money they’d have to throw at it.
I say, leave it alone. Let Windows be known as the crusty old OS everyone uses at work.
——RM
The article actually makes a number of solid, substantive points. Apple isincreasingly enabling it’s devices to work in enterprises, but very large multi-site enterprises don’t yet have all the management tools for the Mac/iPhones that they rely on with Windows and Blackberry. I think Apple will slowly be adding at least the core elements, especially for the iPhone (where they think they have the greatest opportunity). But, right now, they are more focused on small and medium sized businesses.
It seems to me that this is basically true. Apple has incorporated some elements into their products to make them more enterprise ready, but they are not going to base their strategy on that market. Rather, their strategy is based on the consumer market and they will not compromise that for getting into the Enterprise market.
Microshit may have built their OS marketshare dominance on enterprise, but that era required that. I don’t know the numbers on this, but then enterprise was the fruitful ground for adopting computers because of cost. That then drove consumers to use the same at home, etc.
In this era, computing devices have fully penetrated the consumer market. Apple does not need enterprise to be very successful with a device, esp on that can interact with OSX or Windows, eg iPhone (which is probably another reason why iPad is better off with an iPhone-like OS – users of any OS that runs iTunes can use it and still sync it to their computers).
I’m sure Apple would love to make more money from enterprise, but I think they are first about making great products with the assumption that people will buy them. I know there is a lot of under the hood stuff that would not necessarily affect consumer use, but that means investing the time of Apple engineers on addressing enterprise problems/issues rather than consumer only issues and time making every IT department happy.
Finally some intelligent discussion and feedback – Amen.
Here’s a thought.
What has more potential market share? Business or the individual user?
Businesses usually have one computer per employee. Some households have 1 or two in the workforce and only a fraction of households have a job (well, maybe a big fraction
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />. yet how many households have multiple computers for spouse and children that aren’t employed let alone multiple computers for head of house?
Just a thought. Perhaps Apple is sticking with a strategy that has the biggest potential.
Apple has a whole group just dedicated to marketing products (some very specialized) to governments. That means federal agencies, military and Indian tribes — all “businesses” — the people’s businesses.
When the iPad finally arrives you will very soon thereafter see them in businesses large and small.
New apps will make them almost indispensable in some business situations.
It will be another outflanking of Microsoft.
(Bill gates and another Microsoft executive exchanged emails after the introduction of iTune about how it caught them flat footed and that they were “smoked” by Apple)
It’s “dejavu all over again”!
Well all the client companies I have worked for over the past year have started allowing iPhones in their businesses. This includes some financial institutions.
There is a client company where the IT people I have consulted to for years have started offering iPhones. They were so Windows based, I never thought I would see the day. I was in their IT dept one day about 6 months ago when a new CEO marched in and demanded iPhones – first week he was on the job.
So my point is Apple doesn’t have to market it’s products to business. It’s becoming a User oriented market. Mac users are moving into executive roles. They’re educated about IT and electronics and they know what they want.
@ maclouie
I think the business opportunity is large, in terms of numbers of units. However, pricing and profit margins are the real issue here.
Apparently Apple has the >$1000 market in the US totally sewn up – 90% last quarter – and they don’t want to sell cheaper computers.
So where do they go from here? They can’t realistically expect to continue market growth in PC’s in the long term as they can only do that by ‘creating’ more premium customers. Or they can continue to grow their business exponentially by going into new markets, as they did with the iPod, Itunes Store, iPhone, AppStore and soon the iPad and iBooks Store.
I can very well believe that Gruman is right. Everyone with eyes to see and ears to hear will notice that Apple hasn’t done much to attract the IT crowd, whether or not they’re (the IT crowd, that is) shortsighted.
@breeze:
Any employee with beans to spill who talks to a reporter “off the record” has earned what is coming. Why talk to a reporter if the reporter shouldn’t use the info? There is no such thing as off the record. You might castigate the reporter for not telling the employee, IF he didn’t. But it’s the employees responsibility not to spill the beans. This is how it works and how it always has worked.