Ford Transitioning From BlackBerries to iPhones for Employees

[MacRumors]

Ford Motor Company is planning to transition its corporate employees from BlackBerry to Apple, providing approximately 3,300 workers with iPhones by the end of the year, reports Bloomberg. According to Ford spokesperson Sara Tatchio, Ford is also aiming to get iPhones into the hands of an additional 6,000 corporate employees over the course of the next two years as they transition from flip phones.

To oversee the switch to iOS devices, Ford will hire a mobile technology analyst, with one facet of the job involving the "global deployment of corporate iPhones." In her statement to Bloomberg, Tatchio highlighted the iPhone's ability to meet both the personal and secure business needs of Ford's employees as a reason for the switch.

"We are going to get everyone on iPhones," Tatchio said. "It meets the overall needs of the employees because it is able to serve both our business needs in a secure way and the needs we have in our personal lives with a single device."

Having all employees on the same smartphone will improve security and simplify information technology management, Tatchio said. Ford is making "no extra investment" to convert to iPhones, other than the cost of replacing the devices, she said.

While the iPhone and the iPad are already used by more than 98 percent of Fortune 500 companies, Apple is aiming to make significant strides in the enterprise market in the coming months to bolster its penetration numbers, and Ford is likely to be just one of many companies transitioning to Apple devices in the near future.

The Cupertino company has recently formed a partnership with IBM to "transform enterprise mobility" through a series of new business apps and services for iOS devices, and the deal will also see IBM selling Apple devices to its corporate customers, which is bad news for BlackBerry.

During Apple's most recent earnings call, CEO Tim Cook suggested the company was aiming to get iPhones, iPads, and Macs into the hands of more people, with enterprise marking a "huge opportunity" for growth.

Article Link: Ford Transitioning From BlackBerries to iPhones for Employees

 

[Zxxv]

Apple to Ford...

You can have iPhone painted any colour you want so long as it is black.

 

[MattMJB0188]

Forcing your employees to use such a small device...NOT COOL.

 

[bushido]

the company my dad works at uses iPhones now but iTunes is blocked on their thinkpads ��

 

[SpyderBite]

Forcing your employees to use such a small device...NOT COOL.

Huh? These employees are coming from Blackberry global phones and Sprint flip phones.

I'd say they'll be quite happy with the iPhone screen size.

 

[lewisd25]

Great opportunity to off load some excess iPhone 5c inventory...

 

[MOFS]

I imagine that Apple's deal with IBM will only fuel more confidence in business support for the iOS ecosystem.

 

[proline]

Apple to Ford...

You can have iPhone painted any colour you want so long as it is black.

Don't know why people think that's funny. Back when Ford made a small number of models with few options and instead focused on quality they did a lot better and had a much stronger market position to show for it.

As for this decision, makes perfect sense. Businesses can't rely on a company that could go bankrupt any day (like BB) and they need a company that offers long-term support. With Apple, you can run the same software and apps on any phone up to 4 years old while still having the latest security updates. No Android vendor can beat that- after a couple years on Android you'd have 30 different models running 10 different OSes, many of which with known flaws that will never be fixed.

 

[MattMJB0188]

Huh? These employees are coming from Blackberry global phones and Sprint flip phones.

I'd say they'll be quite happy with the iPhone screen size.

Not when there are even larger devices out there.

 

[gavroche]

Apple to Ford...

You can have iPhone painted any colour you want so long as it is black.

Don't know why people think that's funny. Back when Ford made a small number of models with few options and instead focused on quality they did a lot better and had a much stronger market position to show for it.

I think it is funny. Of course, the joke presumes that you are familiar with Ford's original statement/joke about buying fords in any color, so long as its black.
No need to take his joke so... seriously....

 

[Traverse]

Ford productivity just dropped. I foresee a lot of Angry Birds and Monument Vally.

 

[Fred Stein]

Forcing your employees to use such a small device...NOT COOL.

iPhone 6

 

[decimortis]

Can I apply for the job of analyst?
I can guess real good.

D.

 

[MellowFuzz]

Not when there are even larger devices out there.

Since they're only in the preparation stage, the iPhone 6 will be available long before any actual transition. Also, I imagine they'll want to ask IBM what they have up their sleeve.

 

[maflynn]

Wow, didn't see this coming - more bad news for blackberry.

 

[min_t]

As long as they don't cause my iphone 6 to be delayed cause the have to meet the needs of these bulk purchase buyers, I'm ok with that.

 

[chrono1081]

Switching from Blackberry and other non-iOS devices was the best thing our company did.

We didn't need to support phones anymore.

 

[proline]

I think it is funny. Of course, the joke presumes that you are familiar with Ford's original statement/joke about buying fords in any color, so long as its black.
No need to take his joke so... seriously....

Everyone is familiar with Ford's original statement. There's nothing witty or clever about being the guy that repeats a joke everyone's already heard.

 

[Four oF NINE]

Looks like Ford really did have a better idea for once.

 

[gnasher729]

Not when there are even larger devices out there.

Would be cruel to force employees to schlepp say one of these Samsung monstrosities with them.

Seriously; Ford can order these 6,000 phones from Apple and the employees can take them out of the box, turn them on, and all Ford's security settings, corporate email and apps and so on will automatically be installed.

 

[Mugambo]

Whenever I see Apple being the biggest stake holder on a Pie Chart, I always used to wonder seeing the smaller section of the Pie Chart belonging to Blackberry wondering "who the hell is still using a Blackberry".

This answers it.

Thanks

 

[Fred Stein]

Big indicator

Big indicator, leading indicator, of Apple in the enterprise. IT will fall in love with Apple.
1) They can get rid of expensive PBX and their clunky phones. One phone for all employees no matter where they are. I've seen IT charged $100 monthly by service providers just for the wire to the desk.
2) A huge percent of office workers could use an iPad vs a PC. Their work is all host (internal or cloud) based.
3) combining the above means one OS for all mobile, in-house phones, and screen based work for large classes of employees - Nice.
4) Secure - and securable - certainly more than Android and Windows.
5) IBM reselling AppleCare (Macs and iOS) and building Cloud services.
6) Microsoft supporting Macs with device-based and cloud-based "Office".

 

[ChrisCW11]

Huh? These employees are coming from Blackberry global phones and Sprint flip phones.

I'd say they'll be quite happy with the iPhone screen size.

They will only be unhappy about the terrible on screen keyboard experience.

 

[A MacBook lover]

I thought blackberry was dead?

 

[Orlandoech]

I thought blackberry was dead?

Since when? They've been dying, big difference.