After unveiling a partnership with IBM back in July this year — designed to combine IBM’s enterprise data specialties with Apple’s iOS hardware and software — Apple today announced the first 10 of its iOS apps released as part of the agreement.
In a press release, Apple’s Phil Schiller describes it as a “big step for iPhone and iPad in the enterprise,” and notes how “Apple and IBM are bringing together the world’s best technology with the smartest data and analytics to help businesses redefine how work gets done.”
The apps launching today as part of IBM’s “MobileFirst for iOS” include Advise & Grown and Trusted Advice for the banking and financial services industry, Plan Flight and Passenger+ for the travel industry, Pick & Pack and Sales Assist for retail, Retention for insurance, Expert Tech for telecommunications, and Incident Aware and Case Advise for government and law enforcement. More information about what each of the mobile apps does can be found here.
IBM clients who have already announced support for MobileFirst for iOS include Citi, Air Canada, Sprint and Banorte.
Today’s tools are the initial offerings in what will eventually be more than 100 industry-specific apps from the Apple-IBM partnership. The partnership was also designed to deliver IBM cloud services optimized for iOS, a new branch of AppleCare tailored specifically for the business world, and new packaged offerings from IBM for device activation, supply and management.
The relationship between IBM and Apple is a landmark one for two companies that have previously been competitors. While IBM has never managed to be as successful in the consumer market as Apple has, so too is Apple keen to continue expanding into the enterprise market. While there has been some success doing this, tools like the ones released today will most certainly help.
