Jamf CEO calls Apple Business Essentials a 'terrific opportunity'

AppleInsider

Apple's new entry into the mobile device management space, Apple Business Essentials, isn't a threat to Jamf -- instead, its CEO says it could represent a "terrific opportunity."

Credit: Apple

The Jamf chief executive, Dean Hager, told Computerworld on Friday that Apple's announcement of the new Apple Business Essentials Service is "good news." He said that "when Apple innovates, Jamf celebrates."

"We are going to fill the gap between what Apple builds and the enterprise requires," he said. "We see Apple Business Essentials customers as a new market of new small business coming up, and we will ensure our additional products sell well into that base and add extra value. We'll give them a path forward into more robust and scalable solutions."

According to analysts, that has long been Jamf's strategy. Although Apple Business Essentials may technically compete with Jamf's MDM solutions, analysts believe that Jamf has always succeeded when it enhances what Apple offers.

Hager agrees with that characterization, stating that Jamf actually grew when Apple released rival features or services. The company continually works to bridge the gap between Apple's platforms and the more complicated needs of larger enterprise customers.

In fact, Hager says that Apple Business Essentials makes sense as an MDM strategy because it fills the entry-level tier -- a space that does not require the features and complexity offered by Jamf's Apple Business Manager.

"These problems needed to be solved," he said. "This is going to raise Apple's profile in business. The weakest spot for Apple in business has always been for the small businesses who just want to get started."

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cia

Ah!  I was wondering why JAMF stock has been taking a nosedive the last few days...

kestral

Never build your castle in someone else's kingdom.

williamlondon

kestral said:

Never build your castle in someone else's kingdom.

Perhaps, but the reaction of the CEO is novel these days. Instead he could have pulled a Sweeney, if he were a narcissistic attention seeking whore.

georgebmac

He's fine

Apple's Business Essentials is a great, high quality addition to the business marketplace.   But businesses need far more than what Apple is offering.  So that leaves lots of room for companies like this to fill in the holes.

He and his company will likely do fine -- maybe much better as Apple expands the business market for them.

mbezzo

"a space that does not require the features and complexity offered by Jamf's Apple Business Manager."

This is incorrect - Apple Business Manager is a service provided by Apple that's used to assign Business-purchased devices to their MDM of choice, among other things.

mr lizard

kestral said:

Never build your castle in someone else's kingdom.

What, so Jamf shouldn’t be in the MDM market? What should they do instead, sell eggs?

michelb76

kestral said:

Never build your castle in someone else's kingdom.

Lol. Without tools like JAMF there would hardly be any Apple devices in large companies. Apple's Business Essentials is great for small to medium businesses, where JAMF or Intune is overkill. I can see companies go from ABE to JAMF when they grow.