Apple to Discontinue Fleetsmith Enterprise Device Management Service on October 21

[MacRumors]

Apple later this year will discontinue Fleetsmith, its mobile device management (MDM) solution for administrators needing to manage fleets of Apple devices.

The company announced the decision in a support document, in which it says that as of April 21, 2022, it has discontinued new signups for Fleetsmith. Existing Fleetsmith customers can continue to use the service until October 21, 2022.

After that date, customers will no longer be able to log into the service and devices will no longer receive configuration profiles from the Fleetsmith server.

The nature of MDM is that it lets customers securely and wirelessly configure devices, whether they're owned by the user or their organization, and Fleetsmith lets users oversee a fleet of Apple products, automatically managing apps, settings, and security preferences while implementing best practices for IT and security.

Apple acquired the enterprise security software in June 2020, and many Apple devices have a built-in framework that supports mobile device management.

To help customers migrate from Fleetsmith to other MDM solutions before its discontinuation, Apple has provided support documents for choosing an MDM solution and planning your MDM migration.

Article Link: Apple to Discontinue Fleetsmith Enterprise Device Management Service on October 21

 

[DHagan4755]

They bought Fleetsmith only to later shut it down? ? Hmmm...

 

[DHagan4755]

Apple Business Essentials doesn't seem like a suitable replacement for Fleetsmith.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

They bought Fleetsmith only to later shut it down? ? Hmmm...

No, they will likely continue to use the backend/technologies but re-structured as Business Essentials.

 

[DHagan4755]

No, they will likely continue to use the backend/technologies but re-structured as Business Essentials.

I've been of the opinion that Apple Business Essentials is the first salvo in Apple building out a comprehensive MDM akin to JAMF, Filewave, etc. You can say, "naw, they wouldn't do that." But remember Sherlock? ?

 

[DHagan4755]

Simply put, Apple needs something as integrated as Google Workspaces manages Chromebook & Android devices. They needed it yesterday.

 

[TriBruin]

No, they will likely continue to use the backend/technologies but re-structured as Business Essentials.

See I never understood this acquisition. Apple shouldn't need the backend technology from an MDM vendor. Apple writes and publishes the MDM protocol for other MDM vendors. Apple even built a "reference" MDM, Profile Manager, for MDM vendor to understand new MDM commands. Apple Business Essentials is an "MDM protocol" only MDM, even for macOS. There is no agents running on the computer.

I've been of the opinion that Apple Business Essentials is the first salvo in Apple building out a comprehensive MDM akin to JAMF, Filewave, etc. You can say, "naw, they wouldn't do that." But remember Sherlock? ?

We'll see, but ABE has a LONG way to go before it can adequately manage Macs in an Enterprise environment. For iOS devices it is probably fine, but as long as it does not offer an macOS agent it will never be as featured as Jamf, Kandji, or others.

Simply put, Apple needs something as integrated as Google Workspaces manages Chromebook & Android devices. They needed it yesterday.

On the iOS side, I think ABE is a good start. But, I am glad that Apple doesn't have one solution. There are a lot of good (and not so good) MDMs in the industry. Including some that are cross-platform (Workspace One, Intune) and some that are Apple only (Jamf, Kandji).

 

[Blackstick]

It’ll be interesting to see how this pans out. Apple uses Jamf to manage their own Macs internally. I always ask our Jamf rep if they’ve been acquired by the Fruit co. yet ?

 

[bradman83]

No, they will likely continue to use the backend/technologies but re-structured as Business Essentials.

That's exactly what Apple did with Dark Sky - bought it, shut it down, kept the back-end in place. Which is a shame, because while they've added Dark Sky features to the Weather app it's still not nearly as good as the Dark Sky app was. (That and Dark Sky had, you know, an actual iPad app).

 

[bviktor]

Simply put, Apple needs something as integrated as Google Workspaces manages Chromebook & Android devices. They needed it yesterday.

More like Azure + Active Directory. Google is an afterthought compared to those.

I find it ridiculous that Apple makes it constantly harder and harder to make their consumer devices enterprise-ready. As if they're actively preventing corporations from migrating to Apple.

 

[Dreamail]

They bought Fleetsmith only to later shut it down? ? Hmmm...

Remember Shake?

Best compositing software in the world at the time. Apple bought it, realized it's too much work to port to 64 bit - and shut it down - while promising that they will come out with something much better in future. 12+ years later we are still waiting...

All the while Foundry's Nuke made the world's number 3 compositing software into the world's number 1 high-end compositing solution - while still having the inferior UI, IMHO.

 

[02-serious-stent]

Apple is either going to announce some at WWDC or it has abandoned the Enterprise/Education/Business market which is insane considering the shift to BYOB.

 

[thawk9455]

We'll see, but ABE has a LONG way to go before it can adequately manage Macs in an Enterprise environment. For iOS devices it is probably fine, but as long as it does not offer an macOS agent it will never be as featured as Jamf, Kandji, or others.

Maybe, but for all any of us know, macOS 13 has an integrated "agent" built into the OS.

I'd be pretty frustrated that Apple is acting like migrating from one MDM to another is some trivial task though. Shutting down both Profile Manager and Fleetsmith isn't some minor thing for anyone that was actually using them, even on a small scale.

 

[Silencio]

More like Azure + Active Directory. Google is an afterthought compared to those.

I find it ridiculous that Apple makes it constantly harder and harder to make their consumer devices enterprise-ready. As if they're actively preventing corporations from migrating to Apple.

The entire Microsoft cloud-based management stack, Azure AD + InTune. Definitely more powerful and more complex than anything Apple would offer.

It's fine if they offer ABE as a basic, entry level MDM for small businesses, but they don't need to compete against Jamf.

 

[thawk9455]

Apple is either going to announce some at WWDC or it has abandoned the Enterprise/Education/Business market which is insane considering the shift to BYOB.

Or they realize this is a market they don't need to be in and others can provide a quality service. They decided they didn't need to provide directory services anymore too, Active Directory was a good enough solutions, etc.

Apple is still very much a product company too. As long as they make MDM viable on their devices, there isn't a need for Apple to offer the service. Offering solutions was more important when MDM was new enough that it needed to be proven, it's a much more mature market now.

 

[MysticCow]

Apple: We want your business’ business!

Also Apple: You won’t get any help from us in getting set up for using our products in your business!

 

[chrfr]

Apple is either going to announce some at WWDC or it has abandoned the Enterprise/Education/Business market which is insane considering the shift to BYOB.

There are plenty of solutions available in those markets without having to rely on Apple's capricious policies toward enterprise. Apple really has not been in these markets prior to yesterday and today's announcements. Fleetsmith is/was a small player in the MDM business, and Profile Manager/Server even smaller (fortunately, as it was not a reliable product.)

 

[Onelifenofear]

Remember Shake?

Best compositing software in the world at the time. Apple bought it, realized it's too much work to port to 64 bit - and shut it down - while promising that they will come out with something much better in future. 12+ years later we are still waiting...

All the while Foundry's Nuke made the world's number 3 compositing software into the world's number 1 high-end compositing solution - while still having the inferior UI, IMHO.

Problem was that Shake was Overtaken quickly by Nuke, Fusion, Flame and Smoke and Shake didn't have the the core for a proper 3D compositor. It was awesome but given the small amount of customers I can see why they did.

Apple would never have kept up what the insanity of updates that Nuke has had over last 10 years.

 

[Spock]

With this going away and MacOS server going away and WWDC just around the corner, I think Apple has a plan. I think that jamf better be prepared to be Sherlocked...

 

[chrfr]

With this going away and MacOS server going away and WWDC just around the corner, I think Apple has a plan. I think that jamf better be prepared to be Sherlocked...

Jamf, Microsoft, VMware, and others are already in this space with huge installed bases combined. Apple isn't going to move into this business as there's really nothing they can offer that the existing tools don't already do.

 

[Spock]

Jamf, Microsoft, VMware, and others are already in this space with huge installed bases combined. Apple isn't going to move into this business as there's really nothing they can offer that the existing tools don't already do.

It won't happen fast but you know that Apple will be able to integrate better and force themselves into the market.

 

[VictorTango777]

Apple: We want your business’ business!

Also Apple: You won’t get any help from us in getting set up for using our products in your business!

Mac users in enterprises: Apple should not support enterprises. Apple doesn’t need them.
The same Mac users saying to enterprise IT departments: You need to support me!

 

[Mr. Dee]

I think Apple does these acquisitions more for the talent than anything else. Also, they want to maintain a symbiotic relationship with the companies in this space like Microsoft with Intune and Jamf. Servers and networking for them I feel is a distraction. Even their back end was being managed by either Microsoft, Google or Amazon at some point. Business Essentials might be their closest getting back in space and they know who they are targeting - no IT shops.

 

[BlendedFrog]

Maybe, but for all any of us know, macOS 13 has an integrated "agent" built into the OS.

I'd be pretty frustrated that Apple is acting like migrating from one MDM to another is some trivial task though. Shutting down both Profile Manager and Fleetsmith isn't some minor thing for anyone that was actually using them, even on a small scale.

PM is not an MDM solution, nor has it ever been. Even Apple has said it is not an MDM solution and should never be used in a production environment.

 

[BlendedFrog]

The entire Microsoft cloud-based management stack, Azure AD + InTune. Definitely more powerful and more complex than anything Apple would offer.

It's fine if they offer ABE as a basic, entry level MDM for small businesses, but they don't need to compete against Jamf.

Except that MS has been using JAMF for their underlying macOS management. I'm surprised that JAMF continued to allow Intune to use their technology once they went public.