Apple controls presentation in IBM partnership as salespeople use Macs, Keynote to push iOS in enter

Posted:
in General Discussion edited February 2015
While Apple and IBM's enterprise partnership is specifically about iOS devices, Apple has also insisted that IBM's salespeople use Mac hardware when making their pitches to customers, ensuring that the company's tightly integrated ecosystem remains in focus.



IBM's salespeople have been forbidden from using Windows PCs or other devices, analyst Steven Milunovich of UBS said in a note to investors on Monday. When courting potential customers, IBM salespeople are reportedly required to "only" use Mac hardware and also to use Apple's own Keynote software for any presentations.

To Milunovich, this information dictates that Apple is in control in its relationship with IBM. The two longtime rivals now target very different markets, and their lack of direct competition has made for a unique and advantageous partnership.

Milunovich sees potential upside to the Apple-IBM deal, as Apple needs help in marketing its products to enterprise customers, while IBM is looking to gain a foothold in the mobile space.

As part of the deal, IBM has been developing enterprise-focused applications for iPad that are designed to cater to businesses' targeted needs. The first ten applications released by IBM were so-called "vertical" apps, which target specific businesses in a more narrow fashion.




Those first, vertical applications focused on banking, retail, and airlines. But with more than 100 industry apps in the works, Milunovich has learned that IBM is also planning to add so-called "horizontal," or broader appealing enterprise apps over time.

Specifically, IBM is said to be working on horizontal apps such as supply chain capabilities, which he believes will further bolster the MobileFirst for iOS initiative.

With iPad sales on the decline, Milunovich admitted that Apple's tablet sales need help to return to growth. In his note on Monday, he suggested that the rumored 12.9-inch "iPad Pro" could potentially play into Apple's ongoing enterprise push.

UBS has maintained its "buy" rating for AAPL stock with a 12-month price target of $130.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 47
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post

    IBM's salespeople have been forbidden from using Windows PCs or other devices, analyst Steven Milunovich of UBS said in a note to investors on Monday. When courting potential customers, IBM salespeople are reportedly required to "only" use Mac hardware and also to use Apple's own Keynote software for any presentations.

     

    Say this to someone in the industry in 1980; see how hard they laugh.

  • Reply 2 of 47
    I seriously doubt the spin on this analyst's interpretation of events. It's in the interest of both companies, therefore IBM would be eager to use Apple hardware to advance sales.
  • Reply 3 of 47
    Say this to someone in the industry in 1980; see how hard they laugh.

    I'm confused by the use of Mac hardware instead of Apple hardware.
  • Reply 4 of 47
    Originally Posted by SolipsismY View Post

    I'm confused by the use of Mac hardware instead of Apple hardware.



    Maybe they don’t use iOS. :p

  • Reply 5 of 47
    solipsismy wrote: »
    I'm confused by the use of Mac hardware instead of Apple hardware.

    Y'know, that Mac company...the one those Job and Wiz guys started.
  • Reply 6 of 47
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    Because everyone thought IBM would be using Dells and PowePoint to pitch iOS in the enterprise? :rolleyes:
  • Reply 7 of 47
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post





    Y'know, that Mac company...the one those Job and Wiz guys started.



    What's a Mac? You mean an Apple ///, right? Or have they come out with that secret Lisa project yet?

  • Reply 8 of 47
    xixoxixo Posts: 450member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post

     

     

    Say this to someone in the industry in 1980; see how hard they laugh.


     

    In 1986 I was an IBM mainframe systems programmer.

     

    I purchased an AppleLine3270 which allowed me to connect a Mac512K to the mainframe. (it was $2000 in 1986 dollars. It cost almost as much as the Mac128K that had been upgraded to 512k). 

     

     

     

    Using MacTerminal, I could use the Mac as a mainframe terminal and (later) download data into spreadsheets (Microsoft Multiplan). 

     

    I could also (with a pair of $400 9600 baud modems) work from home.

     

    The IBM customer engineers were fascinated by the Mac. "Yeah, I think I saw something similar in our labs up in Armonk" commented one. They thought it was really cool.

     

    My boss later warned me that the IBM sales engineer for our account (county government) had been to see the director of the IT department. He told the director "Are you sure this guy is a team player? We can't be responsible if his Apple system damages the mainframe."

     

    They made me disconnect it.

     

    Yes, times have changed. Apple makes more selling phones than IBM makes selling mainframes.

     

    (Note, the AppleLine 3270 was bigger than a phone book, if anyone remembers those, and 3x as heavy)

  • Reply 9 of 47

    I can understand asking reps to use Macs and OSX, but requiring presentations to be created and presented using Keynote, geez.  Many of us have been using Powerpoint for a long time, it takes time to switch to making presentations with something else and still be able to make professional looking material with deadlines.

  • Reply 10 of 47
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by techguy911 View Post

     

    I can understand asking reps to use Macs and OSX, but requiring presentations to be created and presented using Keynote, geez.  Many of us have been using Powerpoint for a long time, it takes time to switch to making presentations with something else and still be able to make professional looking material with deadlines.


    PowerPoint is such a pile of crap though, I can't imagine any forward thinking person would be too depressed about switching.

  • Reply 11 of 47
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member

    It makes perfect sense for them to only be using Apple hardware, especially if they're selling iOS to business customers.

     

    If I had a big company, I would fire anybody who used PC hardware and I would fire anybody who used Android phones, as the users of such devices are clearly not compatible with the goals and ideals of the company. Of course, such people wouldn't have been hired in the first place, so there would probably be no need to fire them afterwards, if such preventative precautions and noble measures were taken.

     

    I have a dream. I dream of a world where mankind is not equal. There would be Apple users, and then there would be everybody else.

  • Reply 12 of 47
    apple ][ wrote: »
    If I had a big company, I would fire anybody who used PC hardware...

    Your IT department is going to a tough time with only using Mac minis and the new Mac Pros for servers.
    I have a dream. I dream of a world where mankind is not equal.

    Oh, I think we're all sufficiently and painfully aware of your racism and bigotry.
  • Reply 13 of 47
    I have been with IBM since 2001. I started using my Mac at work since the day our agreement with Lenovo expired (which forced us to use Lenovo laptops for five years after we sold them our PC division). At the time, everyone looked at me suspiciously and they expected our IT department to come hard on me for using unauthorized equipment. However, since nothing happened, a few adventurous employees started joining me and the number of Mac users started to grow. After a while, the Mac was tolerated, although we were warned we were on our own, and that no support would be provided. Right now, the situation has improved, as there is more formal support for some services (VPN, e-mail, etc.) and in some countries you can get partial reimbursement for your Mac if you choose not to use a company provided PC, but that is far from universal.

    Last year, most sellers (people who interact with customers, both salespersons and technical pre-sales resources) were provided iPads and we have seen an increasing number of internal applications ported to the iPad. However, there is no instruction to avoid using a PC or Windows machine whatsoever. Therefore, the news is simply not true.
  • Reply 14 of 47
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     

    PowerPoint is such a pile of crap though, I can't imagine any forward thinking person would be too depressed about switching.


     

    It is more of a backward-compatibility issue than the quality of the software. Often, someone working in a given market has a lot of existing slide decks that they pull from when making new presentations, or receives slides from people in the industry. Keynote's import feature is OK, but there are still inevitable errors and manual tweaking which must be done. Eventually you reach 'critical mass' with the new software, but it takes a while.

  • Reply 15 of 47
    apple ][apple ][ Posts: 9,233member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by SolipsismY View Post





    Your IT department is going to a tough time with only using Mac minis and the new Mac Pros for servers.



    I admit that servers and what happens in IT depts are not one of my specialties. I had desktop systems and laptops more in mind when I wrote my post, as those are visible items that everybody can see.

     

    I might be willing to make an exception for the server room, as long as it was hidden, and the IT employees there had to sign non disclosure agreements, promising to never reveal anything about what happens behind those closed doors.

  • Reply 16 of 47
    This is so obvious, it's amazing it's news.

    You wouldn't want to see your Ford sales guy driving home in a Chevy.

    Glad to see Apple controlling their Brand/Image in such a responsible way.
  • Reply 17 of 47
    solipsismy wrote: »
    Your IT department is going to a tough time with only using Mac minis and the new Mac Pros for servers.
    Oh, I think we're all sufficiently and painfully aware of your racism and bigotry.

    I dont think using Macs puts you in a different race.
  • Reply 18 of 47
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheWhiteFalcon View Post

     

    PowerPoint is such a pile of crap though, I can't imagine any forward thinking person would be too depressed about switching.





    Originally Posted by afrodri View Post

     

     

    It is more of a backward-compatibility issue than the quality of the software. Often, someone working in a given market has a lot of existing slide decks that they pull from when making new presentations, or receives slides from people in the industry. Keynote's import feature is OK, but there are still inevitable errors and manual tweaking which must be done. Eventually you reach 'critical mass' with the new software, but it takes a while.


    I don't care how long you've been using Powerpoint, Keynote is miles above anything Powerpoint can deliver. If you absolutely can only use Powerpoint, I believe Keynote can export a degraded version for Powerpoint. The Apple/IBM connection is about the best of both companies, it has nothing to do about IBM integrating with anything related to Windows or Android. IBM can run on linux but that's ac close to Android as it's going to get. My daughter can't wait for Epic to be fully compatible with Macs and iOS devices, since she's tired of dealing with garbage implementations of Epic on window laptops. As for Keynote, when was the last time you saw Apple do a presentation using Powerpoint. Everything they've done in the last decade+ has been on Keynote.

  • Reply 19 of 47

    It's instructive to see what Edward Tufte, the high guru of these things, has to say about Power Point - devastating.

     

    http://users.ha.uth.gr/tgd/pt0501/09/Tufte.pdf

     

    As one who gave innumerable pitches during my career, I ended up doing presentations that as a minimum did not show any bullets, but I didn't go far enough.

     

    I came to the realization that the average audience member was hit with three things - the visual graphic / photo on the projected slide, the associated text on the slide, and the words that the presenter was speaking.  Totally impossible for the audience to follow all three simultaneously, and as they concentrate on one of those, the other two are lost.  If the audience is reading your text, they are not listening to you, etc.

     

    My style was to show pictures with absolutely minimal text, and then speak.  Text on a Power Point slide is a big mistake in my mind.

     

    And yes, I know about handouts and all that.   Don't hand out your pitch, hand out something totally different that can be read.

     

    Take a look on the first page of the link as to what Louis Gerstner did in a meeting when he first became president of IBM.  He understood.

     

    It's also instructive to go back to some of Steve Jobs' best keynotes and see how he did things.  Sure, it was a projected set of slides but again no bullets.  Lots of trivially simple graphics.  Very effective.  And he didn't talk to the slides, he talked to the audience.

  • Reply 20 of 47
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    Because everyone thought IBM would be using Dells and PowePoint to pitch iOS in the enterprise? image

     

    I bet Apple wants to avoid what happened when it was discovered the Windows marketing team had used Macs and iMove to create an ad (or more?!)

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