Apple's iPhone cements its position as the 'smartphone of choice for business'

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple's chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer detailed Apple's leading position in the enterprise and among government agencies, noting custom corporate app development, mass device deployments and a recent new security clearance.


Obama


President Obama shown with an iPad 2 in 2011. Photo via The White House.


"iPhone continues to be the smartphone of choice for business," Oppenheimer stated in his prepared remarks during the company's quarterly earnings call. "Given the security and stability of iOS, enterprise and government customers around the world continue to deploy iPhone on their networks in ways that go far beyond personal productivity," he added.

"Companies have built tens of thousands of custom apps to improve every aspect of their business. Global companies including American Airlines, Cisco, General Electric, Roche and SAP have deployed more than 25,000 iPhones each across their organizations."

American's flying adoption of iOS devices

In June, American Airlines announced it had deployed more than 8,000 iPads and is now using Apple's touchscreen tablet as an electronic flight bag in the cockpit of its entire fleet of airplanes.

American became the first major commercial airline company to fully utilize tablets in all cockpits during all phases of flight, allowing it to eliminate 24 million pages of paper documents, save an estimated 400,000 gallons of jet fuel each year, worth $1.2 million, and help prevent back injuries among pilots who will no longer have to carry heavy bags full of paper flight manuals.


American Airlines iPad use


Credit: American Airlines

Cisco dumps Android tablet plans, partners with Apple

Cisco's enthusiastic adoption of iPhone is notable given that the company had earlier attempted to launch its own "Cius" Android-based tablet and Umi set top box, both oriented toward video conferencing.

In addition to steamrolling both products with FaceTime, Apple's iPhone and camera-packing iPods also helped to destroy the market for Cisco's Flip digital camera, just two years after the company had paid $590 million to acquire it.

Cisco had also earlier sued Apple over the name "iPhone," which it had used on a landline phone product. The two companies quickly settled the matter in 2007, and in 2010, Cisco further agreed to license the name "iOS" to Apple. Cisco had long used the brand "IOS" to refer to its own, unrelated router operating system.

GE & BYOD

General Electric's large scale adoption of iPhone began in 2008, leading to support for an employee pilot program to test support for one thousand new Mac notebooks and desktops beginning in 2011.

The "Bring Your Own Device" trend at GE has also occured at many other companies. Last year, Forrester expected corporate and government spending on Macs and iPads to increase 50 percent to $19 billion in 2012, even as PC spending was expected to slide from $71 billion year down to $69 billion.

Apple in the enterprise


Last spring, Oppenheimer also cited Roche as a major iPad customer, noting that "thousands of iPads are being deployed as mobile sales tools" by companies including Roche, Amgen and Bayer.

SAP uses Apple & vice versa

In 2010, the president of SAP North America Rob Enslin told a reporter that he traveled with only an iPad and a BlackBerry, adding that Apple's new iPad had almost allowed him to "run a paperless office." SAP was also noted to have developed an app to let managers approve shipping of customer orders, and the company said it had a handful of other apps planned.

Conversely, a report on Apple's investments in India noted that the iPhone maker relies on resource planning software from SAP to manage its complex overseas supply chain.

Here to help the government

Oppenheimer's comments also noted that "U.S. government organizations such as NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency are supporting and managing thousands of iPhones on their networks and continue to create both customer-facing and internal iOS apps."



Apple's products were on conspicuous display at NASA's JPL last year during the Mars Curiosity landing, when dozens of MacBooks, along with iPhones and iPads, were shown in use at the agency's Entry, Descent and Landing Operations team (above). iPhone holds a 62.5 percent share of the U.S. commercial market based on the latest quarterly data published by IDC.

NOAA made news early last year when it announced it was extending official support for iPhones and iPads while at the same time phasing out support for BlackBerry.

In parallel, the ATF announced similar plans to drop support for 3,800 BlackBerry devices after a decade of supporting the devices, and said it would primarily be migrating to iPhones for its staff including 2,400 special agents.

Oppenheimer also noted that, "in just this past quarter, iOS 6 was granted FIPS [Federal Information Processing Standard] 140-2 validation by the U.S. Federal Government and approval by the U.S. Department of Defense to connect to their networks."


crypto


via NIST Computer Security Division


The approval should help iOS adoption among other government agencies, although there has already been widespread support for iOS over the past year and a half since the General Services Administration added Apple's iOS to its approved purchasing list. And even prior to GSA approval, the U.S. Air Force's Air Mobility Command announced plans to buy as many as 18,000 iPads for use as cargo aircraft digital flight bags.

"Combining sales to business, government and education customers," Oppenheimer concluded, "iPhone holds a 62.5 percent share of the U.S. commercial market based on the latest quarterly data published by IDC."
«13

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 51


    And this was done without iOS 7, which makes big strides in mobile device management and enterprise features. I predict things will only get better for Apple (and worse for BB or Android ).

  • Reply 2 of 51
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member


    It was sheer brilliance to employ an illuminated logo on the lid of Apple's notebook computers, with the orientation seen today.


     


    This at the Higgs boson announcement:


     



     

  • Reply 3 of 51
    mhiklmhikl Posts: 471member
    Funny (as in strange) that we don't hear about these kinds of adoptions, deployments, supporting with Android? It's a befuddlement. Head scratcher. Moment for pause. So many questions race through one's head in search of answers. I wonder if Android has an app to answer such queries. Of course it is not Apple's need to wonder why, so I doubt we'd find the answer in an app, from there.
  • Reply 4 of 51

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mhikl View Post



    Funny (as in strange) that we don't hear about these kinds of adoptions, deployments, supporting with Android? It's a befuddlement. Head scratcher. Moment for pause. So many questions race through one's head in search of answers. I wonder if Android has an app to answer such queries. Of course it is not Apple's need to wonder why, so I doubt we'd find the answer in an app, from there.




    Herd who is adapting/deploying androids can be found at places like slickdeals.net! shhhh lol

  • Reply 5 of 51
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mhikl View Post



    I wonder if Android has an app to answer such queries.


     


    They do!


     


    https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox&hl=en

  • Reply 6 of 51
    boeyc15boeyc15 Posts: 986member
    Well... Good for them. But the DoD and the largest aerospace company in the US.... No iPhone and iPad is limited to certain apps only. Sigh.
  • Reply 7 of 51
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by boeyc15 View Post



    Well... Good for them. But the DoD and the largest aerospace company in the US.... No iPhone and iPad is limited to certain apps only. Sigh.


     


    If that's the case then I suspect Apple isn't too many iOS versions away from being allowed onto the DoD networks (provided they have a desire to be).  Blackberry's have been for awhile and Samsung phones with KNOX are allowed.

  • Reply 8 of 51
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,404member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by IQatEdo View Post


    It was sheer brilliance to employ an illuminated logo on the lid of Apple's notebook computers, with the orientation seen today.


     


    This at the Higgs boson announcement:


     



     



    I'd be careful in drawing the conclusion that nearly 100% of the computer users at the announcement were Mac users: it's quite possible that the Windows PC types were just embarrassed to be caught on camera using their PCs at such an important event.....image

  • Reply 9 of 51
    constable odoconstable odo Posts: 1,041member
    I hate to say this but Apple is still considered a doomed company. Wall Street has given Apple a less than 50% chance of surviving as a successful business by 2015. Google's Android is just too powerful a mobile OS for iOS to remain relevant. It's amazing how many investors there are who are betting that consumers will stop buying Apple products to buy low-cost Android products. They claim that consumers have no reason to buy high-cost Apple products when most Android devices are just as good if not better and cost half the price. Cheap plastic is seen as just as good as metal and it's a lot lighter and doesn't dent.
  • Reply 10 of 51
    iqatedoiqatedo Posts: 1,823member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    I'd be careful in drawing the conclusion that nearly 100% of the computer users at the announcement were Mac users: it's quite possible that the Windows PC types were just embarrassed to be caught on camera using their PCs at such an important event.....image



     


    ...and some of those users, being no doubt predominantly science and engineering types (and we know what they are like), might have been running windows and linux on their systems. A convert to the Mac once told me that his new iMac was the best pc he'd ever had. (He's since dropped windows altogether, having been weened off it.)

  • Reply 11 of 51
    zozmanzozman Posts: 393member


    I work in the Australian Parliament House (its like the White House of Australia).

    I'm in the IT area, we are currently giving the bigwigs iPads & iPhones, for every 50 iPhones they get, maybe 2 requests for Galaxy S4s, maybe 2 for the BB Z10s. Support & setup time on the iPhone is less than 1/2 that of the other phones, at least!.

  • Reply 12 of 51
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Constable Odo View Post



    I hate to say this but Apple is still considered a doomed company. Wall Street has given Apple a less than 50% chance of surviving as a successful business by 2015. Google's Android is just too powerful a mobile OS for iOS to remain relevant. It's amazing how many investors there are who are betting that consumers will stop buying Apple products to buy low-cost Android products. They claim that consumers have no reason to buy high-cost Apple products when most Android devices are just as good if not better and cost half the price. Cheap plastic is seen as just as good as metal and it's a lot lighter and doesn't dent.


     


    Do you have a source for that?  Apple would have to make multiple mistakes of Ballmer sized proportions to put them out of business in three years.


     


    The more I think about it.  I don't even think Ballmer could put Apple out of business in three years if he were CEO.  It would take government level ineptitude to pull off a financial disaster of that scale.

  • Reply 13 of 51
    I hate to say this but Apple is still considered a doomed company. Wall Street has given Apple a less than 50% chance of surviving as a successful business by 2015. Google's Android is just too powerful a mobile OS for iOS to remain relevant. It's amazing how many investors there are who are betting that consumers will stop buying Apple products to buy low-cost Android products. They claim that consumers have no reason to buy high-cost Apple products when most Android devices are just as good if not better and cost half the price. Cheap plastic is seen as just as good as metal and it's a lot lighter and doesn't dent.

    Are investors leading or trailing indicators? Because most of them are herd followers: If a stock is going up, they don't want to be the last to buy, if a stock is going down, they don't want to be the last to sell.
  • Reply 14 of 51
    kdarlingkdarling Posts: 1,640member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    ... and help prevent back injuries among pilots who will no longer have to carry heavy bags full of paper flight manuals.


     


    Heh.  That one always gets me.  Most airline pilots seem to use rolling bags, instead of carrying them.


     



     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by mhikl View Post



    Funny (as in strange) that we don't hear about these kinds of adoptions, deployments, supporting with Android? 


     


    Well, you're certainly not going to hear about them here :)    


     


    The military has used certain Android phones for a while.  The FBI and the Navy are starting to deploy Samsung phones with the Knox secure kernel, which was written by NSA and allows separate personal and secured partitions.


     


    Companies have deployed Android tablets for their internal engineers, field techs and sales personnel.  They just don't talk about it a lot, although here's one article about Verizon from early last year.


     


    Heck, when American Airlines got 8,600 iPads for its pilots, it also got 16,000 Galaxy Notes for every crew member to use.


     


    I do think the iPad is more popular right now, in part because buying Apple has become "safe", like the old saying from not long ago, "Nobody gets fired for buying IBM."   Apple also tends to keep the same general models longer, which enterprises like.

  • Reply 15 of 51
    American Airlines should get their pilots to lose 40#'s each....just start with one green smoothie a day!

  • Reply 16 of 51
    And this was done without iOS 7, which makes big strides in mobile device management and enterprise features. I predict things will only get better for Apple (and worse for BB or Android ).

    Agreed! I didn't think iOS6 was all that bad, until I saw iOS7! I know ur talking about "under-the-hood" improvements, but the aesthetics sure look grand! :)
  • Reply 17 of 51
    iqatedo wrote: »
    It was sheer brilliance to employ an illuminated logo on the lid of Apple's notebook computers, with the orientation seen today.

    This at the Higgs boson announcement:

    <img alt="" class="lightbox-enabled" data-id="28761" data-type="61" src="http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/28761/width/500/height/1000/flags/LL" style="; width: 500px; height: 281px">


    Great observation...I've seen the photos of university classrooms where 90% of the laptops sport the apple logo...And anytime I spot one in a movie, I tell GF, "Apple!" I never really equated it with, Someone actually thought that thru! Silly me! :)
  • Reply 18 of 51
    I'd be careful in drawing the conclusion that nearly 100% of the computer users at the announcement were Mac users: it's quite possible that the Windows PC types were just embarrassed to be caught on camera using their PCs at such an important event.....:lol:

    Funny! :)
  • Reply 19 of 51

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by KDarling View Post


    Heh.  That one always gets me.  Most airline pilots seem to use rolling bags, instead of carrying them.


     




     


    Here's what American Airlines VP Patrick O'Keeffe said: "We’ve reduced the single biggest source of pilot injuries, carrying those [40-pound] packs."


     


    Oops. The article was correct on this point. Do you concede?

  • Reply 20 of 51

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by christopher126 View Post



    Great observation...I've seen the photos of university classrooms where 90% of the laptops sport the apple logo...And anytime I spot one in a movie, I tell GF, "Apple!" I never really equated it with, Someone actually thought that thru! Silly me! image


     


    Why, doesn't she recognize the logo?

Sign In or Register to comment.