Apple rolls out revamped Mac in Business webpage with focus on success stories

Posted:
in General Discussion edited December 2015
Apple launched a redesigned Mac in Business webpage on Wednesday to better target its growing presence in enterprise, highlighting corporate success stories, a special section detailing its partnership with IBM and reworked marketing literature focusing on individual productivity apps.




It's "a brand new day for business," Apple boldly claims at the top of its new business-oriented Mac webpage, which now features testimonials from the likes of Intuit executive vice president and CTO Tayloe Stansbury.

In a special section near the top of the Mac in Business webpage, Apple cites statistics IBM recently presented at the JAMF User Conference in October, saying only 5 percent of users need phone support, compared to 40 percent for Windows boxes. According to Fletcher Previn, IBM's VP of Workplace-as-a-Service, the recent Mac rollout saves the company an average $270 per machine over Windows devices in deployment and security costs.

Apple goes on to say IBM currently has more than 130,000 Macs in circulation. IBM officials in July said they expect up to hand out 50,000 MacBooks to employees by 2015, with a total Mac count hovering between 150,000 and 200,000 once the program is complete.

Along with IBM's section, Apple pitches four main categories on its Mac in Business webpage, touting hardware and software benefits, compatibility with iOS devices, OS X platform features and ease of deployment. Interspersed throughout the page are endorsements from IT chiefs working at CDM Group and iVenturesHealth, Kelly Services and SAP.

Apple is pushing hard in the enterprise solutions space as it looks to expand beyond a saturated consumer market. During an interview in September, CEO Tim Cook said enterprise sales brought in $25 billion over the prior 12 months, amounting to 14 percent of Apple's revenue for the trailing year.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    Just looks like meat-free marketing fluff to me.  My Macs in Business questions: how do you keep a Mac from barfing resource forks on a Linux Samba server?  Is there any way to keep from havindpg double and triple entries for all contacts and calendar appointments?  Can the calendar app be less annoying when connecting to gmail hosted accounts?  Will preview suck again next OS update?

    i love the operating system, and I likely need to break down and rent Office 365 to get Outlook, but Apple really needs to sort out some very annoying enterprise bugs.
  • Reply 2 of 18
    Just looks like meat-free marketing fluff to me.  My Macs in Business questions: how do you keep a Mac from barfing resource forks on a Linux Samba server?  Is there any way to keep from havindpg double and triple entries for all contacts and calendar appointments?  Can the calendar app be less annoying when connecting to gmail hosted accounts?  Will preview suck again next OS update?

    i love the operating system, and I likely need to break down and rent Office 365 to get Outlook, but Apple really needs to sort out some very annoying enterprise bugs.
    Its a start... And with IBM fully  onboard both on the enterprise deployment end and software development end i am very excited and optimistic!
    I would not call it a meat free marketing fluff......
  • Reply 3 of 18
    The issue that they need to resolve for business is the remote desktop connection based on VNC right now.  They should license the Microsoft RDP protocol and implement a much more performant remote desktop application.  On the same network I have Remote Desktop running to another machine (which may be running slower because the monitor is turned off and therefore OS X stops using the GPU if I read right in the forums) -- and it starts out slower.... and the longer I am connected the slower it gets (if I leave it connected for a day the delay gets up to several seconds).... on a gigabit connection.

    I would prefer they change it to not "mirror" the current screen but to throw up a remote desktop and login of a separate session (which would allow multiple concurrent login sessions -- already built into the OS) -- similar to how MS RDP works (except MS locks the computer to the one logging in remotely).  

    I have to remote into a box (Windows) for my current workplace 12 timezones away, if it were a Mac - it would be brutal.


  • Reply 4 of 18
    It looks like Apple and/or IBM is taking Enterprise much more seriously this time around. Thank God.

    Meanwhile Microsoft is still busy picking lint out of their collective belly buttons.  Thank God.
  • Reply 5 of 18
    ksecksec Posts: 1,569member
    They will need a decent Mac Mini upgrade. Much more polishing on OSX El Capitan to even let Enterprise Consider it. Windows 10 on PC is still a much better choice at the moment.
  • Reply 6 of 18
    ksec said:
    They will need a decent Mac Mini upgrade. Much more polishing on OSX El Capitan to even let Enterprise Consider it. Windows 10 on PC is still a much better choice at the moment.
    A decent Mac Mini upgrade would be great.

    OS El Capitan is a better operating system to Windows 10 (IMHO) speaking as a Windows refugee.
    redgeminipachia
  • Reply 7 of 18
    ksecksec Posts: 1,569member
    bkkcanuck said:
    ksec said:
    They will need a decent Mac Mini upgrade. Much more polishing on OSX El Capitan to even let Enterprise Consider it. Windows 10 on PC is still a much better choice at the moment.
    A decent Mac Mini upgrade would be great.

    OS El Capitan is a better operating system to Windows 10 (IMHO) speaking as a Windows refugee.
    Yes, OSX is still better in many ways, but I am thinking aloing the line the incentive to switch.
  • Reply 8 of 18
    ksec said:
    They will need a decent Mac Mini upgrade. Much more polishing on OSX El Capitan to even let Enterprise Consider it. Windows 10 on PC is still a much better choice at the moment.
    IBM disagrees with you
    redgeminipachia
  • Reply 9 of 18
    A revamped "Mac for Business" page is ok. A revamped Mac to do business with would be so much better. Come on Apple, time to finally make it happen. 
    edited December 2015 palomine
  • Reply 10 of 18
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    ksec said:
    They will need a decent Mac Mini upgrade. Much more polishing on OSX El Capitan to even let Enterprise Consider it. Windows 10 on PC is still a much better choice at the moment.
    IMHO a Mac mini is a low end product designed to attract consumers on low budgets switching from a PC more easily by using their existing monitor, keyboard and mouse.  It also gained a niche for those with Macs already as a server for small LANs.  I don't see any relevance to Business or Enterprise.   I only purchased my first ever Mac mini in 2014 to have as a Crush server (in my case on the WAN) and I control it using ADR from other Macs on the LAN.  I have to say as a MBP and a Mac Pro user, it is very cute and fun but very limited and slow compared to the full blown Macs I have.
    edited December 2015
  • Reply 11 of 18
    blastdoorblastdoor Posts: 3,258member
    According to Fletcher Previn, IBM's VP of Workplace-as-a-Service, the recent Mac rollout saves the company an average $270 per machine over Windows devices in deployment and security costs.

    I suspect that title "VP of Workplace-as-a-Service" is a critical part of this. 

    Mac hardware is pretty high quality and less prone to goofy issues, for example trackpad wackiness. If the OS becomes more-or-less irrelevant for software and network compatibility issues (because everything is taking place "in the cloud"), then you might as well go with the best hardware. Maybe that's what IBM has done. 

    In other words, it's probably not at all accurate to make a blanket statement that "Macs cost less to maintain in the enterprise." It probably depends very heavily on the context. 
  • Reply 12 of 18
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    A revamped "Mac for Business" page is ok. A revamped Mac to do business with would be so much better. Come on Apple, time to finally make it happen. 
    What exactly are you inferring there with your first ever post?  What on earth is a Mac not able to do for business that a pile of steaming Windows Crap box can?  Don't forget Macs can also boot either directly into a Windows external drive (Enterprise can create Windows to Go drives easily) or run in a VM, as well as run Unix and Linux  plus the best OS in the world, OS X, too.  Plus you have the total integration with the only successful mobile OS there is out there. The ultimate computer.
    edited December 2015 nolamacguychia
  • Reply 13 of 18
    ksec said:
    They will need a decent Mac Mini upgrade. Much more polishing on OSX El Capitan to even let Enterprise Consider it. Windows 10 on PC is still a much better choice at the moment.
    Joanna Stern writes that the best PC to run Windows on is still a MacBook. 
  • Reply 14 of 18
    A revamped "Mac for Business" page is ok. A revamped Mac to do business with would be so much better. Come on Apple, time to finally make it happen. 
    like what? I run a Mini on the low end, but do serious software dev on a 27" iMac with an additional 27" monitor for my Windows VM. has a SSD and great vid card and it all runs super. and did I mention -- it's a mid-2011 model....four years old!!

    what at am I doing wrong?
  • Reply 15 of 18
    ksec said:
    They will need a decent Mac Mini upgrade. Much more polishing on OSX El Capitan to even let Enterprise Consider it. Windows 10 on PC is still a much better choice at the moment.
    Joanna Stern writes that the best PC to run Windows on is still a MacBook. 
    That kind of comment works both ways.  If businesses tell employees "You can have a Mac as long as it runs only Windows", would that be ok?
    edited December 2015
  • Reply 16 of 18
    Apple launched a redesigned Mac in Business webpage on Wednesday to better target its growing presence in enterprise, highlighting corporate success stories
    Where are these "corporate success stories"?  You mean the occasional quote sprinkled on the page?  Where are the in-depth company profiles like they have on the iPhone and iPad in Business pages?

    http://www.apple.com/ipad/business/in-action/

    Also, the top of the iPhone in Business and iPad in Business pages contain relevant links such as "In Action", IT, etc.  The top of the Mac in Business page has a Buy button.  What a great way to make your case  :D


    edited December 2015
  • Reply 17 of 18
    Just looks like meat-free marketing fluff to me.  My Macs in Business questions: how do you keep a Mac from barfing resource forks on a Linux Samba server?  Is there any way to keep from havindpg double and triple entries for all contacts and calendar appointments?  Can the calendar app be less annoying when connecting to gmail hosted accounts?  Will preview suck again next OS update?

    i love the operating system, and I likely need to break down and rent Office 365 to get Outlook, but Apple really needs to sort out some very annoying enterprise bugs.
    Microsoft needs to sort out some really annoying enterprise bugs.

    Fifteen years after the Y2K inception, Microsoft still doesn't have full control of the timekeeping service in primary domain controllers and as recently as last year issued a bulletin saying it should not be trusted for time-sensitive applications.

    Some enterprise applications continue to barf when presented with massive collaboration data.  Public folders were abysmally handled in Exchange, a situation which was somewhat fixed with SharePoint, though it still suffered indigestion in its DB management. But functionality was entirely upended in SharePoint 2013. Meanwhile, Microsoft responded to the hue and cry and keep the slated-for-retirement public folders, only to limit the amount of data that can be kept in them (prompting another bulletin) unless Exchange was moved to the cloud.



  • Reply 18 of 18
    Blaster said:
    Joanna Stern writes that the best PC to run Windows on is still a MacBook. 
    That kind of comment works both ways.  If businesses tell employees "You can have a Mac as long as it runs only Windows", would that be ok?
    yup. id rather have the best-in-class hardware than a knockoff (HP, Dell), any day. especially with virtualization. i speak from experience... i run Windows on my rMBP in my time, but i use the knockoffs for my day clients. the knockoffs struggle with simple things such as closing the lid to sleep -- have yet to see one work properly or as well as a MB.
    edited December 2015
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