For the last year and a half, Apple and IBM have been working together to provide their enterprise customers with iOS apps that are custom-made just for them, and this morning, the two companies announced that more than 100 of these apps have been developed. Apple has never been able to find nearly as much success in the enterprise market as it has in the consumer market, which is why it decided to team up with IBM, a company that specializes in the enterprise market. Obviously this partnership has proven successful, as Apple and IBM have secured enterprise partners across 14 different industries and 65 different professions.
Ever since it was announced in mid-2014, the Apple and IBM partnership, IBM MobileFirst for iOS, has been trying to woo business customers with a range of apps made just for them. On Wednesday, the two companies announced the initiative had been fruitful, producing more than 100 enterprise-focused apps that work across iPads and iPhones. Not available to just anyone on the App Store, these products are tailor-made for corporate teams and work alongside IBM’s corporate analytics, security and cloud-based services. As Mashable noted when the partnership launched, the move was a new one for Apple, which has traditionally focused on individual tech users. Like Uber, which recently created an embedded app for work chat service HipChat, consumer-focused tech companies are increasingly partnering with enterprise-friendly heavyweights such as IBM to go after the business market. Katharyn White, vice president of the Apple and IBM partnership at IBM Global Business Services, told Mashable the company was excited to hit the 100 app milestone, but said the number was secondary to the achievement of having an impact across 14 industries and 65 individual professions, from travel to telecommunications and healthcare.
