Given a choice, 46% of Citrix employees picked Macs
As an increasing number of Information Technology departments allow employees to choose what devices to use, a big percentage are picking Apple gear. Citrix reports that about 460 of a thousand workers in its program selected Macs.
A report by the New York Times profiling the trend toward companies' support of "bring your own device" policies noted that Apple's iPhone, iPad and MacBooks have "made major inroads" into the enterprise.
In contrast, companies like Dell, HP, and RIM that previously maintained a lock on the purchasing decisions of large companies through tight relationships with IT staff are now losing out, experiencing "stagnant or sinking" sales.
"This retreat is occurring because many of those companies are finding they just aren?t that good at selling to consumers," the report stated, citing Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes as saying, "You can basically outsource your I.T. department to Apple."
Reitzes added, "what you?re seeing is that Apple?s approach is winning, and it is tough for the others to keep up."
Companies save money in offering employees choice
In early 2010, AppleInsider profiled a "bring your own computer" program initiated by Kraft that allowed employees to pick the system they wanted to use, as long as it met certain minimum requirements.
The Times described the program as being favorably received by employees, and further noted similar shifts occurring at companies like Netflix and Citrix, the latter of which reported that when given a choice, 46 percent picked Macs.
"That was a little bit of a surprise," reported Paul Martine, the chief technology officer of Citrix. The company makes software that enables computing clients to access externally-hosted Windows applications on both Mac OS X and iPads. That in turn has helped Apple to find even greater adoption among other companies dependent upon Windows software.
Citrix reported that its "choose your own hardware" program has saved the company about 20 percent on each notebook computer over the past three years.
Not all choices equal
Many companies are not open to supporting just any hardware that workers might own. The report specifically named Wells Fargo Bank as stating that its employees are not allowed to connect to corporate networks with their personal devices.
However, the bank's chief information officer Jim Spicer did note that it has "expanded the choice of corporate-owned devices that it issues to employees to include more consumer-oriented products," saying "the biggest challenge we have today is making sure that we don?t chase every device that comes along."
That gives Apple an advantage with the iPad that it won't necessarily lose to other makers that make similar but less established or mature products, like Samsung's Galaxy Tab or Motorola's Xoom tablet.
A report by the New York Times profiling the trend toward companies' support of "bring your own device" policies noted that Apple's iPhone, iPad and MacBooks have "made major inroads" into the enterprise.
In contrast, companies like Dell, HP, and RIM that previously maintained a lock on the purchasing decisions of large companies through tight relationships with IT staff are now losing out, experiencing "stagnant or sinking" sales.
"This retreat is occurring because many of those companies are finding they just aren?t that good at selling to consumers," the report stated, citing Barclays Capital analyst Ben Reitzes as saying, "You can basically outsource your I.T. department to Apple."
Reitzes added, "what you?re seeing is that Apple?s approach is winning, and it is tough for the others to keep up."
Companies save money in offering employees choice
In early 2010, AppleInsider profiled a "bring your own computer" program initiated by Kraft that allowed employees to pick the system they wanted to use, as long as it met certain minimum requirements.
The Times described the program as being favorably received by employees, and further noted similar shifts occurring at companies like Netflix and Citrix, the latter of which reported that when given a choice, 46 percent picked Macs.
"That was a little bit of a surprise," reported Paul Martine, the chief technology officer of Citrix. The company makes software that enables computing clients to access externally-hosted Windows applications on both Mac OS X and iPads. That in turn has helped Apple to find even greater adoption among other companies dependent upon Windows software.
Citrix reported that its "choose your own hardware" program has saved the company about 20 percent on each notebook computer over the past three years.
Not all choices equal
Many companies are not open to supporting just any hardware that workers might own. The report specifically named Wells Fargo Bank as stating that its employees are not allowed to connect to corporate networks with their personal devices.
However, the bank's chief information officer Jim Spicer did note that it has "expanded the choice of corporate-owned devices that it issues to employees to include more consumer-oriented products," saying "the biggest challenge we have today is making sure that we don?t chase every device that comes along."
That gives Apple an advantage with the iPad that it won't necessarily lose to other makers that make similar but less established or mature products, like Samsung's Galaxy Tab or Motorola's Xoom tablet.
Comments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer
edit.. 'PC' is a marketing term originated by IBM and not to be confused (although that was the intention at the time) with the term Apple had pioneered 'personal computer'. I add this to avoid people wasting their time pointing out Apple used the term 'personal computer. first. I know! I said 'PC'!
The PC era is over. A Mac is NOT a PC. Nor was an Apple ][.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer
Are you sure that a Mac is not a PC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh
you get a virtual windows 7 instance on vmware or hyper-v or citrix. whichever platform we end up buying. probably vmware since they have clients for iOS and Android. you can access it on whatever computer you buy yourself
I think the Citrix receiver app is superior on Android than iOS.
does it support xendesktop 6.5?
citrix looks nice but very expensive compared to vmware. hyper-v is a no go until windows 8
The PC era is over. A Mac is NOT a PC. Nor was an Apple ][.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Personal_Computer
Here's an Apple ][ ad, and Apple calls their machines the hottest personal computers. They also call it the most personal computer.
The network administrator basically told me I was on my own and refused to support me. I said no problem. He's a hardcore Linux guy. Our network runs Win2k3 w/AD.
3 years of using a mac here in the office, he finally bought an Macbook Pro, and an iPad. Hell froze over. His rationale was that he might as well start learning how to use them since it seems everyone is using some kind of Apple product nowadays.. very true. In the back of my mind, I think he just liked how slick my workstation is and that in the three years of using it, I never once had to ask him to resolve a problem with it.
'nuff said.
It is clear from the NYT article that the small departments who have this option are the tech types, not your common users. Cmon, Kraft foods has more than 800 employees, right?
Also, if you read the original article carefully, it appears that these BYOD programs are probably opt-in. Thus the 46% who chose Apple may be only the percentage of the users who opted into the BYOD program to get their choice of hardware, and possibly OS. There are likely many more who opted out and accepted a standard company-provided wintel device. I cannot imagine they force every employee to shop for their own hardware and get it serviced on their personal time.
Does anyone have more definitive info about whether these programs are opt-in?
I'm the only one in the company using a Mac (2011 MBA) at work. Just hooked it up to my new Thunderbolt LED Cinema Display.
The network administrator basically told me I was on my own and refused to support me. I said no problem. He's a hardcore Linux guy. Our network runs Win2k3 w/AD.
3 years of using a mac here in the office, he finally bought an Macbook Pro, and an iPad. Hell froze over. His rationale was that he might as well start learning how to use them since it seems everyone is using some kind of Apple product nowadays.. very true. In the back of my mind, I think he just liked how slick my workstation is and that in the three years of using it, I never once had to ask him to resolve a problem with it.
'nuff said.
I'm in a roughly analogous situation. I fought incredibly hard to get the right to use a Mac at work, and now that I've managed to show IT that their fears about having a Mac on the company network were unfounded, there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel for other people in my company who would like to use a Mac at work. I wonder how many of us "green shoots" there are in companies around the world. It's not inconceivable that we may reach a tipping point within the next year or two and see a wave of Macs invading businesses.
Misleading summary of the NYT article.
It is clear from the NYT article that the small departments who have this option are the tech types, not your common users. Cmon, Kraft foods has more than 800 employees, right?
Does anyone have more definitive info about whether these programs are opt-in?
The Citrix program is only for certain employees & departments, not all. According to WIkipedia as of 12/2009, Citrix had 4800 odd employees, that number has definitely grown in the almost 2 years since that figure.
Given the 4800 number, 460 choosing Macs is actually a little over 10% of employees, definitely not close to half the employees.
I think more and more companies will not have a choice to make the change, as CEO and other important people in the company who have clue start demanding the IT depart to support apple products.
The company I work for now is the only company that never allowed me to use my Macs. One company I world for did not stop me but heavy discourage anyone from using mac, their IT policy was they would not support any support calls you had if they knew you had a mac. No big deal I support myself, others brought in their mac too and mostly supported themselves too. Then the IT tried to convince management that macs were bad and required special support. Well the mac user asked how many support calls they got from any of us mac users over the 2 or 3 years they claim it was an issue for them. The answer was like 10 calls from about 100 users compared to the thousands of calls they got from the 1000 employees on Windows and Unix machine. management, than asked why they could not convert the other 1000 employees to mac, the IT department was not looking too good at that point.
As an increasing number of Information Technology departments allow employees to choose what devices to use, a big percentage are picking Apple gear. Citrix reports that about 460 of a thousand workers in its program selected Macs.
I suspect that this underestimates demand for Macs.
Most of these programs give the employee a fixed stipend. So if, as people here argue, Macs are more expensive, it actually costs the employee more of their own money to choose a Mac.
So, I'll live with the company-issued Windows 7 machine (keep your XP/Vista to yourself), just keep your policies and third party software (do I really need 5+ third party applications running in the background for features that are baked right into Windows???) to yourself.
Windows: 86.58%
Mac: 5.62%
http://www.netmarketshare.com/os-mar...e.aspx?qprid=9
Desktop: 92.88%
Mobile: 7.12%
http://gs.statcounter.com/#mobile_vs...-201008-201108
Yep, PCs are doomed.
Oh look the trollZZZ are out!
It is entirely possible that one way to understand the idea of the PC era being over, is that there is now viable choice available. You don't need a PC now, but can use one, or a Mac, or a phone, or a tablet. Thus the "PC only" era is threatened. Your numbers don't show that, they show the reality of the past.
The day Ford made the model T the horse and buggy era was over. But the horse and buggy numbers still took a while to lay down and die...
Here's an Apple ][ ad, and Apple calls their machines the hottest personal computers. They also call it the most personal computer.
Funny that ad was produced before typesetting on a computer was developed. The type in that ad is awful.