Tech giants Apple and IBM have announced a business partnership that will see the two firms co-develop business-centric apps for iPhones and iPads.
Further more, IBM will start selling business clients Apple’s mobile devices pre-installed with the new software.
“It’s hard to be sure without more details,” said Ken Dulaney, an analyst at the tech consultancy Gartner. Enterprises need special features to protect their applications and the associated data. Our understanding is that IBM now has special access rights to certain security features on the devices that others will not have access to.
This permits IBM to offer applications and services through Apple devices that behave more like the software businesses have long built on Windows platforms.
“But unknown things include what apps will be produced and what is the financial arrangement between the firms.”
The firms’ press release provides limited detail about what the first “IBM MobileFirst Platform for iOS” apps will do, beyond saying they would draw on IBM’s expertise at analysing large amounts of information to help “retail, healthcare, banking, travel and transportation, telecommunications and insurance” among other industries make efficiency gains and take advantage of the cloud.
This is a fresh attempt by Apple to take advantage of Blackberry’s decline and an appetite from the business world for an alternative to Microsoft’s products.
Source: BBC
