IBM and Apple used to be sworn enemies, but a lot has changed since the early days of the Macintosh and the PC race. Both companies have committed to making Apple software and hardware a one-stop shop for businesses in what some consider one of the “most important and powerful tech partnerships” ever.
In an interview with CNBC, Tim Cook and IBM CEO Virginia Rometty discussed their mutual excitement about the “landmark” partnership.
In the 8-minute segment, Cook described how IBM and Apple “fit like a puzzle.” The tone of shared adoration between he and Rometty is quite different from Steve Jobs flipping off the camera outside IBM headquarters some 30 years ago.
“It takes the best of Apple and the best of IBM and puts those together,” said Cook, explaining why Apple chose IBM as a partner. “There’s no overlap. There’s no competition. They’re totally complimentary.”
Cook said he and Rometty have been talking for years about a potential partnership, and there have been teams within both companions assigned to investigating what the two could do together.
“We found a kindred spirit in IBM.”
“We know that we needed to have a partner that deeply understood all of the industry verticals, that had scale,” Cook said. “We found a kindred spirit in IBM.”
We’ll start to see new iOS software from Apple and IBM for enterprise starting in the fall, with more services slated to arrive next year.
You can watch the full interview with CNBC below. At the very end, the journalist asks Cook about Eddy Cue’s recent comment that Apple’s 2014 product pipeline is the best he has seen in 25 years at the company. “I’d agree with Eddy,” said Cook with a laugh.
Source: CNBC
