Apple and IBM have partnered to develop new business apps and sell iPhones and iPads to corporations.
The alliance, announced on Tuesday, is intended to give Apple – long a force with consumers – greater presence in the business market. IBM, meanwhile, brings a wealth of contacts in company IT departments along with an understanding of what workers need.
The two companies will develop 100 apps for the enterprise for the iPhone and iPad. A new AppleCare service will also be created to help users with the apps. IBM will also add a variety of its services on top of those tool including its security, analytics, device management and cloud services. The goal is to let businesses and employees using iPhones and iPads be more efficient and effective.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement that the marriage of IBM’s analytics and Apple’s iOS systems “opens up a large market opportunity for Apple.” Already, 98 percent of the Fortune 500 companies and over 92 percent of the Global 500 companies use iOS devices in their businesses, the companies said.
Ginni Rometty, IBM’s CEO (IBM), said that people may take Apple’s (AAPL) innovations “for granted, but can’t imagine living without.” She added that the partnership with IBM will transform the “way people work,” how “industries operate and companies perform.”
In an interview with CNBC, Cook and Rometty discussed their enthusiasm for the partnership, which Cook described as “a multi-year journey.” Cook said that the reason to partner with IBM was because they have “scale” and a “lot of dirt under their fingernails.”
“This is all about unlocking mobility and enterprise,” Rometty said. Asked about an example of who may benefit using the new apps, she mentioned the airline industry and pilots who could get data about fuel use.
