After announcing a partnership with Apple back in 2014 to help bring enterprise apps and more to iOS, IBM today announced plans to accelerate the initiative with new ‘Garages’ that will serve as dedicated physical spaces to aid its corporate customers with the development of the MobileFirst iPhone and iPad apps:
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United Airlines is the latest company to work with IBM through their MobileFirst partnership with Apple to develop a suite of enterprise iOS apps. IBM says the enterprise iOS apps will be analytics-driven and run on over 50,000 iPhones and iPads used by “front-line employees” of United Airlines.
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 …
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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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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Apple CEO Tim Cook with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty
Through its MobileFirst for iOS initiative, Apple and IBM have added 8 new enterprise apps for designed exclusively for iPhone and iPad. The latest apps developed as part of the partnership between the two companies include two new industries: healthcare and industrial products. The 8 new apps brings the total of MobileFirst for iOS apps to 22, while the two new industries now totals 10 including banks, law enforcement, travel, and retail. Here are the latest iPhone and iPad enterprise apps from Apple and IBM.
Following the release of the MobileFirst suite of iOS enterprise apps last year, the result of a new partnership between Apple and IBM, today the companies are rolling out the apps to the Japanese market.
The companies haven’t made an official announcement yet, but sources close to the situation say seven apps are arriving for Japanese customers today.
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Following an announcement earlier this year that Apple was teaming up with IBM to deliver a number of enterprise solutions, today Apple has officially announced the first wave of iOS apps being released through the partnership. As part of IBM’s “MobileFirst for iOS,” Apple and IBM today announced 10 new apps designed specifically for businesses including banking, retail, insurance, financial services, telecommunications and for governments and airlines.
“This is a big step for iPhone and iPad in the enterprise, and we can’t wait to see the exciting new ways organizations will put iOS devices to work,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The business world has gone mobile, and Apple and IBM are bringing together the world’s best technology with the smartest data and analytics to help businesses redefine how work gets done.”
The apps launching today through the partnership include Plan Flight and Passenger+ for the travel industry, Advise & Grow and Trusted Advice for the banking and financial industries, Retention (insurance), Case Advice and Incident Aware for government, Sales Assist and Pick & Pack for retail, and Expert Tech for telecommunications industries. Apple notes that the apps offer customizable experiences and are “managed and upgraded via cloud services from IBM specifically for iOS devices.”
In addition to the new apps, which Apple described in more detail in its press release below, Apple noted other services that will go hand-in-hand with the apps. Those include integration with IBM’s Mobile Platform and Enterprise solutions as well as AppleCare for the Enterprise, Apple’s new business specific tech support service introduced as part of the IBM deal.
Apple’s full press release is below:
A new report from Reuters citing sources at Apple familiar with the company’s plans for future corporate offerings has unveiled new details on the Cupertino corporation’s efforts to recruit business clients and software developers. According to these sources, Apple is currently courting companies such as Citigroup, ServiceMax, and PlanGrid (among others) to augment its current IBM enterprise agreement.
The exact nature of the proposed partnerships between these companies hasn’t been confirmed yet, but the general idea is similar to the IBM arrangement. ServiceMax, a company that creates solutions for managing field technicians, and PlanGrid, which allows construction workers to share blueprints with each other, will both agree to roll out Apple hardware with custom software to their clients.
Following the announcement earlier this year that Apple and IBM would be teaming up to provide custom enterprise iOS software and services to businesses, the Cupertino-based company has finally published its enterprise support webpage.
The page advertises features of the program such as one-hour response times for urgent support issues and a personal account manager at Apple, as well as advantages like next-day device replacement and on-site service hardware service. Twenty-four-hour support will also be available to partner employees.
