Apple Working With More Than 40 Tech Companies to Make iPad a Better Work Tool

Apple is really trying its best to get iOS (focus: the iPad) into the large Fortune 500 companies.

The message is:
Stop using IT like in the early 2000's. IT departments were determining how the employee works by disabling features on desktop PC's.
Start using mobile IT. You, as the end-user have the force. IT departments focus on enabling mobility.

Apple is trying to let large companies change the way they look at IT. Enabling the employee is the key for Apple. But that is hard as most of the Fortune 500's are used to the IT being "guarded" by their IT departments.

Using an MDM combined with DEP & VPP helps the IT departments still feel "in control" of IT, even when using iOS devices. Once iOS 9 eliminates the need for an Apple ID on the iPad to push managed apps, the systems administrators will feel even more comfortable.

iOS is secure and easy to use. That is a great start for the employee.
Forced Mobile Device Management and the diminishing need for an Apple ID is a great start for the IT departments.

That's the software side of things....

Like others have questioned: do these Fortune 500's also want other "hardware"?
- Mouse support?
- Larger screen?
- More storage connectivity?
- More robustness?
- ..etc?

This is definitely Tim Cook leading Apple here. I can't imagine the same strategy being implemented by Steve Jobs.
 
I'll take that up. I've designed several intrinsically safe systems and the iPad has serious EM issues around their WiFi and screen driver circuits. The cellular versions have other issues where you cannot even access the proper grounds sans disassembling the device. To avoid a flame dialog, I am not responding to any reply where futher input using my expertise I consider billable hours.
 
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Lapidus said:
I would like to know what OS limits are you talking about?
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He is probably taking about lack of background processing with the device is turned off. Many industrial devices have less emphasis on functionality over ease of use and battery life. It is best to keep a consumer item like an iPad as a thin client connected to a custom industrial device doing the user passive computations.
 
Marx55 said:
Apple should make a Mac tablet. To be fully compatible with the Macs. Because iOS is not fully compatible and because iOS is a toy.
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Apple will not make a OSX hybrid tablet, Tim Cook and Apple executives have said a number of times that they don't like the idea and that they feel it doesn't work. I have to say I agree I prefer to use OSX on my Mac and IOS on my iPad, now that multitasking is in iOS 9 and works really well (public beta) I think it helps the iPad be a little more work friendly. I think Apple needs to release a bigger iPad and it will be even better.
 
I really like my iPad, because I use it as an eBook reader a lot, I happen to get a Surface Pro 3, is a nice slick computer, which I like too. One thing that the Ipad could have, is USB port, if they really want to get serious, about Ipad just being a tool that is more toy than work.

They should have an app, called File Finder, which would read the USB, I'm sure Apple never wanted to add this, because they figure if they add, the ability of USB, or flash memory cards, they will probably not sell people on getting the more expensive Ipads. I always bought the second highest memory option, of the Ipad, because I like to have at least more than 16 GB. But now that they have to actually branch out a little bit into the more serious business side, I think having USB port, and a file system would be huge.

I don't mind the Ipad for the majority of my use case, but for many things is quite limiting, not having a file system is really to me, why the Ipad is so hard to use seriously, and of course, someone said, make it so, that is type, and mouse friendly.
 
Apple needs to be more aggressive killing old product IMO. They should kill all current iPads when they announce new ones this year and start iPad mini 4 at $299 and iPad Air 3 and $399. iPads should start at 32GB and for $179 extra customers should be offered at $128GB model. Do that at Apple's table market share will leap back into life.
 
X38 said:
Three things left that I've wanted to see since iOS 1.0 to make it more useful for work:

1- A user and third party app accessible shared file space. Given the OSX guts, it should be trivial to make an iOS version of Finder. If security and stability are concerns, no need to make the entire file system user accessible, just a common storage space for user data.

2- Related to 1, the ability to connect external storage devices (like thumb drives) or connect to a computer and be seen as an external storage device so that files could be copied back & forth to the the user accessible file space.

3- Capability to work with off-screen pointing devices, such as a wired or wireless mouse or trackpad. The Mac based iOS development environment already does this in the iOS simulator, so it too should be a trivial addition.

The current workarounds for these deficiencies are unnecessarily clumsy and hold iOS back from reaching its full potential as a work tool.
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You read my mind, but you did better job explaining it.
 
icebiker76 said:
I realize this will never happen, but a proper stylus for note taking seems like a no brainer. I have to carry a surface 3 for math classes because apple is lost in its own dogma from 10 years ago.
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Absolutely - well said. Someone at apple needs to get off their high horse and at least offer the option...

One day they will...and it will 'work like magic'.
 
That's what I found missing years ago looking for a note-taking device:

1) Compatible with external USB devices, notably user data storage and input.

2) Built-in pressure sensitive digitizer.

3) Read and annotate PDF and office files from external storage.

4) A split-screen LaTeX app (code one side, compile other side)

5) Bigger screen.

When I talked to a genius he told me the iPad can't do PDF. There are workarounds possible for most of the stuff I want, but as @X38 said in his post, "unnecessarily clumsy".
 
Mac Fly (film) said:
Apple needs to be more aggressive killing old product IMO. They should kill all current iPads when they announce new ones this year and start iPad mini 4 at $299 and iPad Air 3 and $399. iPads should start at 32GB and for $179 extra customers should be offered at $128GB model. Do that at Apple's table market share will leap back into life.
Click to expand...

I work in education and we buy the older model iPads as they do what we need and they are a lot cheaper. We could not afford 1:1 iPad deployment if we had to buy the latest model.
 
The iPad problem in enterprise (if there is one) centres around the following two points:

1. The perception (or reality?) that iOS is too closed and locked down and therefore difficult to deploy custom applications and push updates through independent of the App Store.

2. The requirement to use Macs to develop iOS applications.

Both are significant but this second point is the main limiting factor in my opinion. If the iPad is an independent device and capable of being used and managed without a Mac then a Mac shouldn't be required to develop for it.

Corporate IT may be comfortable in supporting devices like an iPad but likely baulk heavily at having to acquire and support Mac computers with OS X, even just for programmers, within their organisation.

Apple needs to make its development tools (XCode) cross platform. Specifically release it for Windows. I've known programmers and this is by far the biggest limiting factor to greater corporate support.

These points seem fairly obvious to me. I'm not sure why there's so much complaining or discussion about other factors. The iPad is a great device, but if Apple wants greater corporate adoption they'd be wise to consider the above points.

A side benefit would also be supporting Mac development on PCs which could be the "gateway" to more Mac support as well.
 
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Want the iPad suitable for work? Very easy Apple, and you know it already: make it run OS X rather than iOS. But then, with OS X you won't be able to control users as much as with iOS. So, it's a balance between getting money from controlling your users (so that everything they do in their lives must be done through Apple technology), or getting money from they buying their products because they love them (like in the Mac days). How bad does Apple smell nowadays, how bad.
 
X38 said:
Three things left that I've wanted to see since iOS 1.0 to make it more useful for work:

1- A user and third party app accessible shared file space. Given the OSX guts, it should be trivial to make an iOS version of Finder. If security and stability are concerns, no need to make the entire file system user accessible, just a common storage space for user data.

2- Related to 1, the ability to connect external storage devices (like thumb drives) or connect to a computer and be seen as an external storage device so that files could be copied back & forth to the the user accessible file space.

3- Capability to work with off-screen pointing devices, such as a wired or wireless mouse or trackpad. The Mac based iOS development environment already does this in the iOS simulator, so it too should be a trivial addition.

The current workarounds for these deficiencies are unnecessarily clumsy and hold iOS back from reaching its full potential as a work tool.
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In one word: OS X.
 
This whole things sounds very much like a UX process.

Step one is to interview your clients.

Step two is to research your users. What are their needs? What are their goals?

Step three will be lots of designing and R&D with more feedback from users along the way.

Step four will be a releasing a new iPad Pro for the enterprise market and either a new OS or updates to iOS.

I mean....Is this really that hard to see? Everyone needs to calm down. The current iPads are a stop-gap solution while they conduct this research and build new hardware. I am sure Apple will be rewarding them for their troubles in the future....
 
Make it cheaper. Too expensive for business. Business doesn't care about using diamond-encrusted tools.

More flexible hardware. Some businesses might want a bigger screen or more battery life along with cheaper materials or materials that withstand a drop on the floor.

Same goes with software along with peripheral compatibility and legacy support.
 
I can't speak for everyone but back in the day, iWork, iBooks, Procreate and iDraw really helped me thorough college. If we could have a decent port of Solid Edge or 3DMax, The iPad would totally replace my laptop.
 
simonmet said:
The iPad problem in enterprise (if there is one) centres around the following two points:

1. The perception (or reality?) that iOS is too closed and locked down and therefore difficult to deploy custom applications and push updates through independent of the App Store.

2. The requirement to use Macs to develop iOS applications.

Both are significant but this second point is the main limiting factor in my opinion. If the iPad is an independent device and capable of being used and managed without a Mac then a Mac shouldn't be required to develop for it.

Corporate IT may be comfortable in supporting devices like an iPad but likely baulk heavily at having to acquire and support Mac computers with OS X, even just for programmers, within their organisation.

Apple needs to make its development tools (XCode) cross platform. Specifically release it for Windows. I've known programmers and this is by far the biggest limiting factor to greater corporate support.

These points seem fairly obvious to me. I'm not sure why there's so much complaining or discussion about other factors. The iPad is a great device, but if Apple wants greater corporate adoption they'd be wise to consider the above points.

A side benefit would also be supporting Mac development on PCs which could be the "gateway" to more Mac support as well.
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#2 is right on the money. Last 3 companies I worked for would not even consider iPad for corporate integration since there are no Unix/Windows development tools. Funny thing is, the fortune 50 company I work for now gives iPad to all senior managers and above as a perk, but with nothing installed...
 
polbit said:
#2 is right on the money. Last 3 companies I worked for would not even consider iPad for corporate integration since there are no Unix/Windows development tools. Funny thing is, the fortune 50 company I work for now gives iPad to all senior managers and above as a perk, but with nothing installed...
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yeah I completely agree (as mentioned). This is my experience too. It's the single biggest factor limiting (potentially much) greater corporate penetration.

As a side note and minor number 3, I was surprised that iOS still lacks system-wide ICC colour profile support. Apple markets iPad as a tool for photographers and editing but without this it's a deal breaker for serious work or even just colour accurate viewing of photos. iPad has a great screen and this seems like something that should be easy to implement.

Currently only a select few dedicated apps can support custom profile viewing from hardware calibration.
 
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The iPad seems to be a unique use case where even older models still satisfy the primary use cases. So long as you do not over-update the OS and stay within one level of the original purchase, the hardware capacity and software bogginess seems to align well.

Thus while sales are brisk, they do seem to decline over time from its peak where market adoption was the key metric. I hope to see older models increasingly used in kiosk mode so they are not attached to individual users, but replace legacy PC's and POS units.
 
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