Apple & Big Blue…Whooda thought it?

This may date me a bit, but I remember the 1984 Superbowl commercial where the hammer gets thrown through the big brainwash screen. Then, the brainwasher was IBM and the hammer thrower was Apple. It represented the beginning of the Mac vs. PC battle that has raged steadily ever since. That same year is when Steve Jobs defiantly proclaimed Apple would not go quietly into that good night while “Big Blue” dictated terms to the entire personal computing world.

Fast-forward 30 years.

Tim Cook and Virginia Rometty (CEO of IBM) sit down with CNBC to discuss their new partnership for the creation of hardware/software solutions targeting the mobile enterprise.

What a difference 30 years makes. IBM abandoned the personal computer business years ago. The sale of its ThinkPad division to Lenovo in 2005 marked the end of 24 years of consumer electronics business. IBM has since gone back to its roots, focusing on enterprise solutions. Most recently it has been tooting the “Big Data” horn more loudly than anyone. So where does Apple fit into Big Blue’s plans for world domination?

Well, your guess is as good as mine. Maybe not, why else would you be reading this?

My view from 50,000 feet: IBM has big corporate customers clambering to shift to the “post PC” world. Apple makes the best portable devices that have, so far, only begun to penetrate the enterprise market. I know, Tim Cook says that over 90% of Fortune 500 companies use iOS devices and over 80% of the Global 500 do the same, but what does that really mean? Do over 90% of Fortune 500 companies standardize their mobile infrastructure on iOS or have a few executives pressured their IT departments to let them BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)? I suspect it is a mixture of the two [much] more heavily favoring the latter scenario. If my suspicions are true, that leaves a huge, virtually untapped market for iPhones and iPads. IBM, by promoting and selling iOS devices as part of their overall enterprise strategy, could provide the necessary catalyst Apple needs to move into the corporate market in a big way.

Apple all but surrendered the enterprise a few years ago by discontinuing their Xserve and XSAN platforms. It makes sense that if they can’t get in from the top (through the datacenter) then maybe they should try the bottom via end user mobile devices.

All things considered, this could be a big win for both companies. IBM rightfully boasts about having the best “big data” solutions. It only makes sense to make those enterprise tools available to users via the best, most secure mobile devices.

For us old-timers (those of us who remember the nascent stages of the Mac vs. PC war), the dichotomy of an Apple and IBM partnership is a difficult concept to grasp. Reason tells us it is right, but sentiment makes it seem soooooooooo wrong!

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