The Apple deal with IBM has shown us a whole new side of Tim Cook — the gushing, hype-laden, excited-but-still-vague Tim Cook who says things like “kindred spirit,” “huge opportunity,” and “radical step for enterprise.” Who peppers his speech with words like “profound,” “complementary,” “landmark” and “thrilled.” Now, I’m a big fan of Tim Cook, but when he uttered this, “We fit together like a puzzle, and so this is profound. It is landmark. It’s historic,” my mouth dropped open and I felt compelled to look away.
Didn't Apple's press release make the exclusivity clear enough?
"a new class of more than 100 industry-specific enterprise solutions including native apps, developed exclusively from the ground up, for iPhone and iPad"
Great point. Still, the thing about that phrase that bothers me most is that it doesn't say, "developed from the ground up, exclusively for iPhone and iPad." As it's written, "exclusively" seems purposely vague in what it's supposed to be modifying . . . and if it was 100% locked in stone, well, based on the years I've followed both Apple and IBM, both companies tend to be far more specific when there is something truly exclusive -- and I think they would have hammered home this point: These apps are not only going to be FIRST on iOS, they will be the only full-featured mobile interface to IBM's suite of enterprise apps AT ALL.
To me, everything I read about this screams that IBM won't ignore Android or Windows if customers want their enterprise apps to be available for any mobile device. Better on iOS? Almost certainly. But truly exclusive to iOS? I'll believe it when I see it . . . and then see that exclusivity last longer than 6 months. (And frankly, if the exclusivity does last longer than 6 months, I believe the culprit would be a lack of customer demand for some level of Android or Windows-based parity in the apps -- not willpower from IBM to only support the best OS and hardware for the job.)
Of course, I wish IBM and Apple _will_ make these apps exclusive . . . and see IBM not bother to develop for Android or Windows. I would love to see that clarity of messaging.
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IBM Is a ‘Kindred Spirit’: Whoa, Tim Cook, Whoa
Posted by: Chris Maxcer July 25, 2014 06:22 AMThe Apple deal with IBM has shown us a whole new side of Tim Cook — the gushing, hype-laden, excited-but-still-vague Tim Cook who says things like “kindred spirit,” “huge opportunity,” and “radical step for enterprise.” Who peppers his speech with words like “profound,” “complementary,” “landmark” and “thrilled.” Now, I’m a big fan of Tim Cook, but when he uttered this, “We fit together like a puzzle, and so this is profound. It is landmark. It’s historic,” my mouth dropped open and I felt compelled to look away.
"a new class of more than 100 industry-specific enterprise solutions including native apps, developed exclusively from the ground up, for iPhone and iPad"
To me, everything I read about this screams that IBM won't ignore Android or Windows if customers want their enterprise apps to be available for any mobile device. Better on iOS? Almost certainly. But truly exclusive to iOS? I'll believe it when I see it . . . and then see that exclusivity last longer than 6 months. (And frankly, if the exclusivity does last longer than 6 months, I believe the culprit would be a lack of customer demand for some level of Android or Windows-based parity in the apps -- not willpower from IBM to only support the best OS and hardware for the job.)
Of course, I wish IBM and Apple _will_ make these apps exclusive . . . and see IBM not bother to develop for Android or Windows. I would love to see that clarity of messaging.
--CM