JumpCloud, the popular cloud-based Directory service, has just released Conditional Access Policies to enable organizations to move to zero trust networking.
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Cybersecurity company Wandera found that some 23 iOS file-conversion apps used by three million people fail to use encryption, potentially putting the documents at risk.
All the apps in question were created by a single developer, Cometdocs, but Wandera says that the discovery raises a broader security issue…
Apple has published a support page explaining how to migrate Volume Purchase Program Purchasers to Apple Business Manager or Apple School Manager. The VPP launched in 2011 for app purchases but will be shuttered on 1st December.
If you have people in your organization who used to buy items through the Volume Purchase Program, you’ll now need to register them in the Business Manager or School Manager systems before the end of November…
Apple has announced that it is expanding the availability of Apple Business Manager and Apple School Manager features to new locations. The expansion covers China mainland, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Apple business and education customers using the Device Enrollment Program (DEP) or Volume Purchase Program (VPP) will need to upgrade to a new program no later than the end of November …
A pair of Apple marketing team members joined the Mac Admins Podcast this week to talk about Apple’s role in enterprise and business, the T2 chip found in recent Macs, and more. Topics included Apple Business Manager, adoption of Apple hardware by companies like SAP and IBM, and more.
Apple has announced a new partnership with leading customer relationship management company Salesforce.
Apple and Salesforce today announced a strategic partnership that brings together the number one customer relationship management platform and iOS, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, enabling powerful new mobile apps for business. Working with Apple, Salesforce is redesigning its app to embrace the native mobile platform with exclusive new features on iOS …
Apple has announced a new enterprise-focused partnership with SAP that it hopes will boost iPhone and iPad usage in the workplace. The Apple and SAP partnership follows an ongoing effort between Apple and IBM to create specific iOS apps for various industries and deploy iOS technology in the field. Apple’s latest effort will include an SDK, or software developer kit, in partnership with SAP that will let developers create business-specific apps plus offer resources for learning how to utilize iOS technology.
“This partnership will transform how iPhone and iPad are used in enterprise by bringing together the innovation and security of iOS with SAP’s deep expertise in business software,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO.
Apple previously partnered with SAP in a fundraising effort over iTunes during the peak of last year’s refugee crisis. According to today’s announcement, Apple and SAP will be using Apple’s developer language Swift to create the new enterprise software.
Six years ago today Steve Jobs introduced the iPad on stage in what was arguably one of the best product demos from Apple or any other tech company for that matter. The hype was tremendous but the demo was low key.
Jobs plainly explained why the iPad needed to exist and where Apple believed it fit between iPhones and Macs, then offered an almost hypnotizing demonstration of what using an iPad was like. Highlighting the intimacy of the tablet, Jobs demoed the iPad on stage while comfortably seated for a full 12 minutes. If you’ve never watched the demo or haven’t seen it lately, queue it up and see for yourself how much it stands out from nearly every other product introduction.
Six years in, the iPad has matured from a single product to a whole product line with multiple screen sizes, price points, and even accessories specific to the tablet. iPad sales peaked two years ago, though, and that peak’s clearly not temporary like many believe it is with the iPhone. Even with a whole new display size with the iPad Pro, Apple saw year-over-year declines with iPad sales last quarter.
So how exactly have iPad sales been changing over the years, what has Apple done to address the product category, and what opportunities remain for the tablet family?
For nearly half a decade, teams of hackers and programmers have worked tirelessly to crack Apple’s iOS software code in order to inject new features, themes, and applications. Now, a team led by noted former jailbreak developers Will Strafach, otherwise known as “Chronic”, and Joshua Hill, known as P0sixninja, is working to secure Apple’s mobile platform. The duo, along with a list of unnamed former jailbreak developers, has been working on a new comprehensive platform to secure iOS devices for both enterprises and consumers. Strafach provided us with a preview of the platform known as “Apollo,” the first security product from his new company Sudo Security Group.
Apple today has given its Mac in Business website a major design overhaul, introducing a new tagline that says it’s “a brand new day for business.” The design refresh comes on the heels of Apple and IBM’s enterprise agreement hitting more than 100 apps across 14 industries and 65 professions earlier today.
The enterprise apps partnership between Apple and IBM has reached the goal the two companies set of bringing 100+ MobileFirst apps to the business and professional sectors. Many enterprise customers of course use these in conjunction with existing consumer apps.
IBM today announced it has delivered more than 100 IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps, as part of its partnership with Apple, to transform work across 14 industries and 65 individual professions, from wealth advisors to flight attendants, first responders, nurses and retail buyers. Additionally, the companies are expanding the portfolio to new markets including consumer products, automotive, aging and chemicals and petroleum.
The companies plan to make future apps even more powerful …
Ahead of the release of the iPad Pro later this month, Apple executives have been taking part in a variety of enterprise-focused interviews, looking to convince the enterprise market of the device’s usefulness. Today, Apple’s SVP Eddy Cue sat down for a fireside chat with Dropbox CEO Drew Houston at the cloud storage company’s Open conference.
IBM noted recently that it had seen dramatically lower usage of IT support by those employees who switched from Windows PCs to Macs. Apple has now quantified the cost savings this has generated, noting that the combination of reduced support and increased residual values of Macs meant that IBM saved $270 for every employee who made the switch.
IBM employees are offered the opportunity to swap out their Windows machines for Macs whenever they are due an upgrade. The company has committed to buying 50,000 MacBooks by the end of the year, and Business Insider notes that it has so far deployed 30,000 of them.
IBM is not alone in its enthusiasm for Macs in the enterprise sector, observed Tim Cook during yesterday’s earnings call …
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After chatting with Tim Cook about Apple and the enterprise at BoxWorks today, Box took the wraps off a new app for business customers using the iPhone camera. Box Capture is an iOS-only app with enterprise-friendly features like security compliance built on Box’s mobile software development tools.
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BlackBerry is back in the news today as the company is making a move further into the enterprise mobility management space. BlackBerry is buying the Sunnyvale, California-based company Good Technology in an all-cash deal worth $425 million. For BlackBerry, the purchase is about investing into cross-platform mobile device management for enterprise customers, an increasing focus for the company since it’s reign as the top handset maker was stifled by iOS and Android.
Enhanced by Good, BlackBerry will expand its ability to offer a unified, secure mobility platform with applications for any mobile device on any operating system – supported with security that has been certified by governments around the world embedded in every component of the mobility infrastructure.
Included in Good’s portfolio of products is the Good Collaboration Suite for iOS and Android which includes enterprise-focused calendar, email, messaging, and document sharing apps for business customers.
In announcing the acquisition, BlackBerry notes that iOS makes up a majority of Good’s install base at 64% with Android and Windows Phone following. BlackBerry has also had its hand in more consumer-focused apps with BlackBerry Messenger for iOS plus a number of business-centric apps for the platform.
The two companies shared an executive Q&A to discuss the deal. Particularly interesting in that was Good CEO Christy Wyatt’s comments on wearables including the Apple Watch:
In addition to smartphones and tablets running iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry OS, Good will enable BlackBerry to add support for wearables. This is something we do today for both Apple Watch and Android Wear.
BlackBerry’s purchase of Good Technology comes as Apple itself grows its MobileFirst enterprise initiative with IBM and entering into a new agreement with Cisco to improve enterprise services for iOS users.
Apple CEO Tim Cook & Cisco CEO John Chambers today
Apple has announced a new partnership with Cisco that will result in a “fast lane” for enterprise customers using iOS devices on Cisco’s networks and push iPhone and iPad into Cisco’s enterprise environments. At a joint event today, Tim Cook reportedly said Apple is “all in on the enterprise” while calling the Cisco deal “the Holy Grail” of partnerships.
With Apple’s support, Cisco will deliver experiences specially optimized for iOS across mobile, cloud, and premises-based collaboration tools such as Cisco Spark, Cisco Telepresence and Cisco WebEx in order to deliver seamless team collaboration and reinvent the meeting experience.
The Cisco partnership adds to Apple’s increasing effort at targeting business with iPhones and iPads. Last year Apple established a connection with IBM that has resulted in several dedicated enterprise apps for iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. Apple is also said to be working with over 40 companies to make the iPad a better tool for business.
Apple hasn’t officially confirmed its expected September 9th iPhone 6S event just yet, but we now know where Tim Cook will be at the end of next month. Box announced today that the Apple CEO will be joining Box CEO Aaron Levie for a fireside chat to open the enterprise cloud service’s BoxWorks conference in California. The conference runs September 28-30 at Moscone Center in San Francisco with Cook’s fireside chat set to take place on September 29th.
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Amid falling sales of the device, The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is working with more than 40 tech companies to make the iPad a more appealing work tool. Apple is reportedly working with officials from professionals in the business app market to train its own specialists to better sell towards workforces, which will lead to
Apple CEO Tim Cook with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty
Apple and IBM are continuing to develop their partnership first established just over a year ago as IBM announced today a new program to help large enterprises use Macs within their IT infrastructures. IBM’s MobileFirst Managed Mobility Services will allow its commercial clients to integrate Macs in their workplace with IBM supporting the deployment. Interestingly, IBM says it’s able to roll out the new program to commercial clients thanks to its own internal trial that we previously reported.
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Update: Our winner has been announced! Congrats!
Congratulations to Jaime Marin—the winner of the Bushel Challenge! Jaime manages Apple devices for a mid-sized produce company that specializes in providing quality fruits and vegetables for their customers, 365 days of the year. They’ve been able to utilize features from Bushel such as Wi-Fi configuration, app deployment, password policies, and more to streamline work processes for the team.
Thanks to all who participated in the Bushel Challenge—we hope you had a little fun along the way! While there’s only one lucky winner, everyone who participated can still manage up to three devices for free, for life. If you missed the Challenge, head on over to Bushel to learn more and get started for free today.
If you need to deploy iOS or OS X devices to your employees or organization, having cloud access to setup, deploy, and manage your fleet these days seems like a no-brainer. That’s why our go-to recommendation is Bushel, a super easy-to-use and slick web-based app that offers cloud access to deploying and managing Apple devices. The perfect supplement to Apple in the workspace, Bushel — created by JAMF Software — is a few steps ahead of the game. In this article, we walk you through how to use Bushel (which is free for up to 3 devices) to manage your fleet of Apple devices.
In special collaboration with 9to5Mac, Bushel is also offering a challenge to businesses: Try out Bushel and get entered to win free Bushel for life, as well as a free iOS device for your company.
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Apple and IBM today unveiled 10 new enterprise apps across several industries including tools for government inspectors, business travelers and managers, and field service professionals for the first time. The latest apps bring the number of iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch apps built for the enterprise under Apple’s IBM MobileFirst for iOS partnership to 32 in total. Here are the new apps joining the list today:
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Apple today updated its webpage for its enterprise app solutions to show that a few of the apps have been updated with Apple Watch support. Apple first launched the MobileFirst for iOS solutions last year through a partnership with IBM and most recently added 9 new apps in March bringing the total up to 22 across several industries.
The first three of Apple’s enterprise apps to receive Apple Watch support include: Hospital RN, Field Connect and Incident Aware.
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Back in May of last year, Google started enforcing a policy that requires Chrome extensions be hosted on its Chrome Web Store, but only on Windows. The goal was to prevent malware hidden in extensions installable from outside its store, and it even started disabling extensions already installed on users’ systems that weren’t hosted on the Chrome Web Store. Now, Google says it will bring that requirement to Mac Chrome users over the coming months, as well as the Chrome developer channel for Windows that wasn’t previously enforcing the policy:
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