Apple, IBM Partner to 'Transform Enterprise Mobility'

Tech giants Apple (AAPL) and IBM (IBM) yesterday announced a global partnership to “transform enterprise mobility.”

IBM will bring its big data and analytics capabilities to iPads and iPhones and sell these devices with industry-specific solutions to enterprises.

“iPhone and iPad are the best mobile devices in the world and have transformed the way people work,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a prepared statement. “We’re putting IBM’s renowned big data analytics at iOS users’ fingertips, which opens up a large market opportunity for Apple. This is a radical step for enterprise and something that only Apple and IBM can deliver.”

Apple and IBM will provide several enterprise mobility solutions, including:

Karen Davis, IBM’s director of external relations for its global business services division, told Talkin’ Cloud the partnership will help meet the needs of chief information officers (CIOs) worldwide.

Many CIOs’ enterprise mobility needs are “unfulfilled,” Davis said, but Apple and IBM will work together to develop more than 100 applications to serve businesses in various industries.

“The partnership’s a game-changer,” she said. “We’re quite clear about what this partnership represents. It’s going to change the way people work.”

IBM President Ginni Rometty noted the partnership will allow iPad and iPhone users to leverage her company’s big data and cloud expertise.

“We are delighted to be teaming with Apple, whose innovations have transformed our lives in ways we take for granted, but can’t imagine living without,” she said. “Our alliance will bring the same kind of transformation to the way people work, industries operate and companies perform.”

Share your thoughts about this story in the Comments section below, via Twitter @dkobialka or email me at [email protected].