Apple CEO Tim Cook has once again been talking up the company's enterprise aspirations calling it a "real business"
First reported by USA Today, Cook was talking to Box CEO Aaron Levie about its enterprise partnerships and made a big play of the fact that Apple saw enterprise sales of $25 billion (around £16.5 billion, or AU$35.6 billion) in the last 12 months and that it is "not a hobby" for those at Apple HQ.
During the 30 minute interview, Cook continually mentioned the fact the enterprise could provide a big boost to its bottom line. He also boasted that the security of Apple products, a unified OS and ecosystem, and constant advances in mobility are the reasons why its products are popular with enterprises and consumers alike.
Partnerships
What's more important than even that to Cook? Partnerships with established players in the enterprise space of course.
"If you think back in time, Apple and IBM were foes. Apple and Microsoft were foes," Cook said. "But if you look at it, Microsoft and Apple can work on more things together. It is great for our customers. That is why we do it. I don't believe in grudges."
In that sense, Apple last year gave up on its long standing rivalry with IBM to announce a new partnership centred on enterprise apps that fuses IBM's strength in data and analytics with Apple's wildly popular iPads and iPhones.
There are now scores of different enterprise ready MobileFirst apps designed by the two that cover everything from time and travel to loan servicing and safety. IBM will eventually build over 100 apps as part of that deal.
That was before Apple also announced a wide ranging partnership with Cisco that makes Apple devices even more useful to those in the enterprise. All of this will do Apple's enterprise efforts no harm and make sure that Cook keeps those looking at the bottom line very happy indeed.
