Macs Landing on Corporate Desks, Led by iPhones and iPads

[ouimetnick]

Originally Posted by the8thark

They did. Xserve. And nobody bought them. So Apple discontinued them.

Apple never advertised or tried marketing the Xserve. Same with the Mac Pro. Its kinda obvious that if you don't tell anyone about it... it won't get much attention.

[Icaras]

Originally Posted by samcraig

No one (today) is living in a post PC era. That's marketing speak and is convoluted at best.

There are definitely people living in a "post PC era" because I know some. Sorry, but I disagree.

[*LTD*]

Amazing what happens when workers actually get to *choose* what they want to enjoy and be productive with, rather than having IT drones foist something on them.

[AustinIllini]

As long as Dell laptops are super (SUPER SUPER) cheap, I imagine their dominance should continue.

[Eidorian]

Originally Posted by ouimetnick

Apple never advertised or tried marketing the Xserve. Same with the Mac Pro. Its kinda obvious that if you don't tell anyone about it... it won't get much attention.

You noticed the complete lack of XServe ads in those freebie IT "pro" magazines.

[Mr. Retrofire]

Originally Posted by lilo777

Why would any corporation choose to use iMacs? Apple does not offer corporate friendly desktop designs. More importantly, corporate hate to be dependent on a single supplier (and as far as I know nobody but Apple sells iMacs). Add to this OS/X being a consumer-oriented OS with no enterprise features to speak off, lack of roadmap, unserviceable designs and it's clear that any increase in iMac sales is a result of iOS halo effect that won't last.

Apple has a great chance with Mac OS X 10.8 and new hardware designs 2013/2014. Let us hope, they use it. The current iToy design of the hardware & OS is not enough (MBPs & MP excluded). Besides that, OS X needs a new file system like Windows 8, and other user-friendly innovations (like Mac OS X 10.5; Time Machine, for example). A serious change of the Lion GUI is also necessary (colors are important).

[*LTD*]

Apropos . . .

http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/stor...ss-phones.html

Apple ousts beleaguered RIM's BlackBerry as top business smartphone

“Apple has ousted Research in Motion’s BlackBerry as the top smartphone for mobile workers, according to the latest research from wireless specialist iPass,” James Rogers reports for TheStreet.
“The company’s survey of more than 2,300 employees at 1,100 businesses reveals that more than 45% of mobile workers now use iPhones, up from 31% last year,” Rogers reports. “BlackBerry users, however, slipped to 32%, down from 35% in 2010.”

Rogers reports, “Google Android phones, it said, almost doubled their presence in the business market between 2010 and 2011, clinching a 21% market share and pushing Nokia, Symbian out of third place.”


Rogers reports, “Speaking during the [company's October 18, 2011] earnings conference call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that 93% of the Fortune 500 are either deploying or testing the device, up from 91% in the prior quarter. ‘iPhone continues to be adopted as the standard across the enterprise,’ he said, noting that Lowe’s(LOW_) is rolling out over 40,000 iPhones with a custom-built application that lets employees check inventory levels.”

--------------------------------------------------------

• ”[iPhone is] kind of one more entrant into an already very busy space with lots of choice for consumers … But in terms of a sort of a sea-change for BlackBerry, I would think that’s overstating it.” – RIM half-CEO Jim Balsillie, February 2007

• ”The most exciting mobile trend is full Qwerty keyboards. I’m sorry, it really is. I’m not making this up.”- RIM half-CEO Mike Lazaridis, May 2008

• “We’ve now passed RIM. And I don’t see them catching up with us for the foreseeable future. They must move beyond their area of strength and comfort into the unfamiliar territory of trying to become a software platform company… RIM has a high mountain ahead of them to climb.” Apple CEO Steve Jobs, October 18, 2010

[Newton70]

Not surprising. The company I work for has over 10,000 employees globally. Almost everyone I know with a corporate phone uses the iPhone. iPads are also being deployed now, mostly with senior management. While all computers are still based on the wintel platform, there's been direct talks to open it up to Macs.

[Dweez]

My employer recently began to allow us to choose Macs over Windows laptops. Our IT organization, however, is Windows-only. So we are left to support ourselves.

I've been using my personal MBP as my work laptop for about 10 months, however my shiney new corporate MBP will be arriving here any day now.

[ericinboston]

Originally Posted by lilo777

Why would any corporation choose to use iMacs? Apple does not offer corporate friendly desktop designs. More importantly, corporate hate to be dependent on a single supplier (and as far as I know nobody but Apple sells iMacs). Add to this OS/X being a consumer-oriented OS with no enterprise features to speak off, lack of roadmap, unserviceable designs and it's clear that any increase in iMac sales is a result of iOS halo effect that won't last.

You hit a lot of nails on the head...here are some more (and still not a complete list):

1)Apple has no enterprise quality Tech Support
2)Apple has no servers
3)Apple's my-way-or-the-highway approach to 100% Apple does is not an approach any company likes
4)Apple's OS compared to Windows...there's really no enterprise class software (client or server) that runs on Mac...and developers are not going to start building Mac OS enterprise apps anytime soon.
5)Apple has clearly marketed themselves as a consumer-based company. Apple is more of a Sony than a Dell or HP. Macs really seem to be Apple's side business and have for the past 10+ years.


The iMacs are very nice consumer machines...but in the enterprise they just don't fit on any kind of true adoption. A few sprinkled here and there.

[jontech]

I was just appointed Apple support for my fortune 400 company. For years we were Windows only but the iPad and iPhone have made inroads for Apple.

So now I get free Apple gear

[*LTD*]

Originally Posted by Dweez

My employer recently began to allow us to choose Macs over Windows laptops. Our IT organization, however, is Windows-only. So we are left to support ourselves.

Given what using a Mac is like, that should be sufficient, at least in the interim.

[toddybody]

Very cool. At PricewaterhouseCoopers we have to use lenovo thinkpads with XP...and Lotus Notes.

[Mr. Retrofire]

Originally Posted by macomrade

Yes, why would any corporation want to harness a reliable, scalable, and secure UNIX-based solution in the workplace?

...with glossy displays (the iMac display, the Apple Cinema Display). Yeah, right!

[ericinboston]

Originally Posted by ouimetnick

Apple never advertised or tried marketing the Xserve. Same with the Mac Pro. Its kinda obvious that if you don't tell anyone about it... it won't get much attention.

excuses excuses.

And you're trying to tell me Apple launched a product and NEVER advertised? Yeah, right. I saw the ads for years.

[steve2112]

Originally Posted by ericinboston

Corporations don't give out $500 laptops (presuming you mean Wintel laptops).

Yes, companies may get a crazy discount if they buy 10,000 laptops...but they still are not $500.

The average priced Wintel laptop is probably about $800 after discount. And of course there are A LOT of factors that could contradict my statement...brand, volume, employee need (developer vs. CEO vs. customer service vs. admin).

In fact, I don't know a single person that's ever bought a $500 laptop...they are pretty much worthless and intended for extremely light usage. Average Wintel laptops purchased by consumers are probably $650-$900 these days.

This is true. With most vendors I have dealt with, the enterprise line of products tend to be way better than the typical consumer level stuff. Dell's Optiplex desktops tend to be better than the cheap consumer level lines. Their Latitude and Precision notebooks also tend to way better than the cheap Inspirions and similar models. And most of them cost more than $500, simply because they built better.

[AustinIllini]

Originally Posted by Mr. Retrofire

Apple has a great chance with Mac OS X 10.8 and new hardware designs 2013/2014. Let us hope, they use it. The current iToy design of the hardware & OS is not enough (MBPs & MP excluded). Besides that, OS X needs a new file system like Windows 8, and other user-friendly innovations (like Mac OS X 10.5; Time Machine, for example). A serious change of the Lion GUI is also necessary (colors are important).

A new file system is necessary? Why? Apple plans on unseating Outlook, Word, and Excel for Mail, Pages, and Numbers? Maybe, I guess. I don't see Mac unseating Microsoft at their own game (enterprise software)

[samcraig]

Originally Posted by *LTD*

Amazing what happens when workers actually get to *choose* what they want to enjoy and be productive with, rather than having IT drones foist something on them.

Amazing? No. Not at all. It's pretty boring and par for the course.

Originally Posted by *LTD*

Given what using a Mac is like, that should be sufficient, at least in the interim.

You clearly aren't in IT. As "easy" as Mac computers are - they still require support - both for the machine and for the user. Any person that states otherwise is living in fantasyland.

[chrmjenkins]

Originally Posted by dokujaryu

NASA recently allowed people to chose their platform. Macs are blowing up all over the place now, they are having a hard time keeping up with demand.

Oh my god. Is it faulty power supplies? Apple should be ashamed.

[kingtj]

I work in corporate I.T. myself, and quite frankly, I'd be ecstatic if employees here started asking for Macs and we got permission to issue them!

When purchasing, you're typically asked to go get bids from 3 different suppliers. Plenty of people will sell you a Mac. I could go to PC Mall or PC Connection for example, or Micro Center or Insight. Any number of authorized Apple resellers might be willing to give me different offers on a corporate purchase - especially if it was a large system order. We even have a local Apple reseller in town (Mac HQ) who would do such a thing, probably even throwing in free delivery and setup if I wanted it.

And trust me, no medium to large-sized business I know of cares how "serviceable" a design a computer has, any more than they care how serviceable the design is of the microwave oven or mini-fridge they bought for the break room.

They care about overall reliability statistics, which means every time one of those Windows PCs gives a user problems and it has to be re-imaged or have malware removal run on it? That's a mark against its reliability. Macs are generally pretty reliable computers from the hardware angle too. Like anything, you can find exceptions -- but there's certainly no reason I'd believe the average iMac, Mac Pro or even Mac Mini would experience higher failure rates in hardware than anything else I might buy for the purpose.

To be fair, "lack of roadmap" is something that irritates software developers. If I worked for a company that coded and supported its own custom software, I'd definitely take the argument into consideration, if the developers were complaining about it. For everyone else? I think it's a bogus complaint. Apple currently uses the same Intel CPUs everyone else does, so most delays and expected release dates for new systems revolve around Intel's roadmap, utlimately. If you're worried about more details on the smaller changes? Keep up with sites like this one, and you'll know as much as anyone about what's LIKELY to happen next. It's not like Dell or HP gives me advanced previews of new models, many months before they're ready!

Originally Posted by lilo777

Why would any corporation choose to use iMacs? Apple does not offer corporate friendly desktop designs. More importantly, corporate hate to be dependent on a single supplier (and as far as I know nobody but Apple sells iMacs). Add to this OS/X being a consumer-oriented OS with no enterprise features to speak off, lack of roadmap, unserviceable designs and it's clear that any increase in iMac sales is a result of iOS halo effect that won't last.

[lilo777]

Originally Posted by rnizlek

How is the Mac Mini not a "corporate friendly desktop design?" Everyone who walks into my office at work (which is probably 95% Windows and 5% Macs) loves my Mac Mini and wants one - purely for the space they save on desks. As an IT administrator, I've found Mac Minis ideal for deployment in a business environment.

And giving employees the choice to use Mac isn't "being dependent on a single supplier" as many employees will also choose to use PCs. Becoming an all-Mac shop presents issues, but that's not what any of these companies are doing, nor should they. In my opinion, the best computer for business use is the one that an employee feels they are most productive using.

As per my above post, though, I do agree that some business oriented features are sorely lacking from Mac OS.

This is how you save space on your desk (in order of efficiency):

* you use special furniture that has special compartments/shelves for computer
* you buy a PC that can be placed in vertical position



* you attach small PC to the back of your monitor:



* you buy Mac Mini

[a.gomez]

Originally Posted by lilo777

Why would any corporation choose to use iMacs? Apple does not offer corporate friendly desktop designs. More importantly, corporate hate to be dependent on a single supplier (and as far as I know nobody but Apple sells iMacs). Add to this OS/X being a consumer-oriented OS with no enterprise features to speak off, lack of roadmap, unserviceable designs and it's clear that any increase in iMac sales is a result of iOS halo effect that won't last.

335 Million Windows pc in 2011
16 to 17 million OSX pc in 2011

329,000 windows PC at GE
1,000 osx pilot program at GE

Basically most do not.

[ericinboston]

Originally Posted by macomrade

Yes, why would any corporation want to harness a reliable, scalable, and secure UNIX-based solution in the workplace?

Ummmm...as has been for thousands of years...even if something is deemed the
"best" (as defined in a billion ways) doesn't mean it will dominate or win.

If Wintel servers weren't reliable for the last 20+ years, they wouldn't be alive. If they weren't scalable, they wouldn't be alive. If they weren't secure...if they weren't affordable...etc.

There are plenty of Unix-based boxes in corporate America...but alas, for a lot of reasons, Apple is not one of them.


Even if Apple does a complete 180 and touts to the world "We are bringing back Mac servers! We are going to launch corporate-focused selling!" nobody will buy. Apple never should have killed off the server line. Folks that were cut off will not trust Apple. Folks that are prospects won't trust Apple.

Apple has never, EVER, been friendly with businesses. Which is fine. But I think it's a pretty stupid policy being a computer company...oooops...WAS a computer company.

[Consultant]

Originally Posted by ericinboston

You hit a lot of nails on the head...here are some more (and still not a complete list):
<snip>

You obviously don't understand the fact that just about all Fortune 500 companies are using Apple iOS devices.

Surely Apple don't support enterprise, and thus is destined to fail.

[ericinboston]

Originally Posted by lilo777

This is how you save space on your desk (in order of efficiency):

* you use special furniture that has special compartments/shelves for computer
* you buy a PC that can be placed in vertical position

Image

* you attach small PC to the back of your monitor:

Image

* you buy Mac Mini

1)A very high percentage of businesses that use Desktops purchase the slimline/small form factor desktops...they are quite small but not as small as a Mini. The price is still extremely cheap.

2)A very high percentage of businesses, over the past 10 years, have moved away from desktops and gone to laptops...for lots of reasons.


Physical space is rarely a concern...even back in 2001.