IBM - page 2

Macs make life easier at IBM

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IBM
IBM and Apple, together at last.
Photo: Apple

You might not think of IBM as a Mac-friendly place to work, but Fletcher Previn, VP of Workplace-as-a-Service at IBM might beg to differ.

Previn used to think like you do: that Apple PCs are more expensive, they’re challenging to support, and require a ton of re-training for help desk staff (who serve a 50,000 employee global work force on Windows PCs)

Turns out, that’s all fairly inaccurate.

IBM’s bulk buy of 200,000 Macs isn’t enough for Tim Cook

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Steve Jobs and IBM
Steve Jobs sends a message to the competition
Photo: Andy Hertzfield

IBM became Apple’s largest corporate customer this year when it agreed to buy 50,000 MacBooks from Apple, but according IBM’s chief information officer Jeff Smith, the company will more likely end up purchasing between 150,000 to 200,000 Macs when all is said and done.

In an internal IBM video, Smith describes how he and Apple CIO Niall O’Connor struck the deal that will see 50-75% of IBM’s workforce switching from Lenovo ThinkPads to Macs. Apparently that’s not good enough for Tim Cook though, who asked IBM VP Fletcher Previn, “well, what about the other third?” when the company told the Apple CEO of the massive bulk order they were planning.

Watch the video below:

Apple and IBM reveal 10 new enterprise apps for iOS and Apple Watch

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IBM
IBM has 10 new enterprise apps for iOS users.
Photo: Apple

Apple and IBM have been collaborating on creating an excellent suite of apps for the iPhone and iPad over the past year, but starting today, IBM’s MobileFirst apps are adding support for Apple Watch.

The Apple and IBM partnership revealed today that it’s created 10 more apps that cover everything from managing employee shifts to helping government inspectors get all the data necessary while out in the field.

Take a tour of the new apps below:

Tim Cook hobnobs with tech power players in Sun Valley

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Tim Cook and Pinterest's Ben Silbermann

Tim Cook and Eddy Cue were in Sun Valley, Idaho this week for Allen & Co’s annual gathering of the richest and most successful people in media and technology. The gathering includes multiple days of hobnobbing with fellow elites where Cook has become a staple for the past two years.

Last year Apple’s CEO made headlines by telling a reporter to throw her Samsung away. This year Cook was mum when reporters asked him questions, but he was spotted chatting with some of his fellow tech titans, like Microsoft founder Bill Gates:

Samsung outranks Apple where it really hurts… in the patent department

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In an effort to prevent rivals from stealing its ideas, Apple patents everything it invents — from the iPhone and the iPad, to app icons and even “magic” tactile gloves. But compared to its biggest competitors, Apple’s patent portfolio from 2015 looks surprisingly bare.

Microsoft, Sony, Google, and LG have all outrank Apple in the patent department this year, while arch rival Samsung has absolutely crushed it.

Apple and IBM team up to help Japan’s senior citizens

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Apple's iPad business may not turn around any time soon. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The news marks the next step in Apple's relationship with IBM. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac

Apple is teaming with IBM and Japan Post on a pilot scheme that will hand up to 5 million iPads out to elderly people in Japan by 2020, to help them keep in touch with their families, physicians and community.

In addition to existing iPad apps like FaceTime and Messages, the tablets will come loaded with custom IBM apps designed to help remind senior citizens to take their medication, exercise regularly, and maintain a healthy diet, while also allowing direct access to community support services such as grocery shopping.

IBM’s Jeopardy!-winning A.I. will revolutionize Apple health data

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Steve Jobs and IBM
A lot has changed since Steve Jobs flipped off IBM 30 years ago. Photo: Andy Hertzfeld
Photo: Andy Hertzfield

IBM has announced a new alliance with Apple (among other companies) to utilize its acclaimed Watson artificial intelligence system to provide personalized insights regarding health data.

For those who don’t remember, Watson was the IBM A.I. which famously defeated two former winners on the gameshow Jeopardy! in 2011 to receive the first place prize of $1 million.

By linking up with Watson, Apple not only solidifies its existing relationship with IBM, but also gains a very powerful ally in its quest to revolutionize the way we think about mobile health with the Apple Watch and iOS 8 Health app.

Meet the 8 new Apple + IBM enterprise apps introduced today

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IBM
Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Apple’s partnership with IBM has birthed eight new enterprise apps that the companies announced today on Apple’s Business apps page. The new MobileFirst apps focus mostly on healthcare by providing hospital techs and nurses new methods to access patients records, log data and track progress.

Along with the four new healthcare apps, IBM and Apple also created apps for insurance agents, flight attendants, retailers and industrial production.

Take a quick tour of the new apps below.

50 years ago, this amazing event showed us the future

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The 1964-65 World's Fair in New York was mid-century snapshot of American industry and a first-look at technological wonders we take for granted today. Photo: worldsfairmovie.com
The 1964-65 World's Fair served up a midcentury snapshot of American industry and a first look at today's technological wonders. Photo: After the Fair

Mitch Silverstein would have many visions of the future in 1964 and the first would appear in full-color wonder, his big 6-year-old eyes staring back at him in disbelief.

He was seeing himself on a color television at the RCA Pavilion at the World’s Fair at Corona Park in Queens, New York.

“It left such a big impression on me,” Silverstein said. “That was a first for most people because that was a pretty major technological step.”

For all the things the New York World’s Fair of 1964-65 was said to get wrong, the fair showcased several technological wonders that, some 50 years later, we take for granted.

Apple and IBM add three more apps to MobileFirst portfolio

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IBM
Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Apple and IBM’s partnership to bring iOS apps into the workplace produced 10 apps last year. Today at Mobile World Congress, IBM announced that it is launching three more MobileFirst apps aimed at the banking, airline, and retail industries.

The three new iOS apps are available for deployment and customization starting today. The apps are part of Tim Cook’s initiative to change the way people work by giving companies access to high-quality iOS apps. IBM says its clients for the MobileFirst apps include American Eagle Outfitters, Sprint, Air Canada, Banorte, and more than 50 others.

Here’s a quick look at the three new apps:

New Apple partner IBM prepares for another round of layoffs

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Tim Cook announcing Apple's partnership with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty last summer. Photo: Apple
Tim Cook announcing Apple's partnership with IBM CEO Ginni Rometty last summer. Photo: Apple

Update: Downplaying reports about the size of its impending layoffs, IBM says it will let go of only “several thousand people,” not the much-larger number reported by Forbes. We’ve updated this story and its headline to reflect IBM’s statements.

Things aren’t going well for IBM. Six months into its partnership with Apple, Big Blue is reportedly preparing for the largest corporate layoff in history.

After nearly three years of quarterly revenue decline, IBM is preparing to ax a staggering 111,800 employees, according to Forbes. Saying it does not respond to “ridiculous” rumors, IBM says the layoffs will be much smaller than that. How the layoffs will affect the company’s business with Apple remains unclear.

Which massive hard drives are too big to fail?

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Looking for a new hard drive? Stay away from 3TB units. Photo: Backblaze Media

One year ago we were given some insight into which hard drives last the longest thanks to Backblaze media’s analysis of the tens of thousands of hard drives in their data center. The company uses regular consumer-grade hard drives due to the cheaper costs to power their unlimited storage offerings for customers, and this year they’re back with a new study revealing which 4TB hard drives are too big to fail.

After spinning 41,213 disk drives in its data center, Backblaze crunched the numbers at the end of 2014 to find that if want a hard drive with the lowest failure rate possible, go with an HGST drive.

Apple’s new hire set to lead enterprise push like never before

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Gene testing, coming soon to an iPhone near you. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
The iPhone: coming soon to a business near you. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Mac
Photo:

Apple is serious about getting its products into the enterprise market — and to prove it, it’s calling in the services of longtime Hewlett-Packard executive John Solomon to take charge.

Solomon’s precise job title and role at Apple are unclear, but according to the well-connected Re/code, he will be helping Apple “boost sales to big companies and government agencies with large technology budgets.”

Why Apple’s IBM partnership was the biggest tech news of 2014

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Steve Jobs and IBM
A lot has changed since Steve Jobs flipped off IBM 30 years ago. Photo: Andy Hertzfeld
Photo: Andy Hertzfield

2014 will go down as one of the biggest years in Apple history. The stock hit record highs. The company’s first wearable was revealed. And Apple dropped $3 billion on its biggest acquisition ever. But of all the huge news Apple dropped in the last 12 months, nothing is likely to have as big an impact as the previously unthinkable announcement that Apple and IBM buried the hatchet and partnered up.

The move was significant not only for the historic aspect of the two rival tech titans uniting, but also for how it will impact all of us in the workplace. In his final note of the year, top Apple analyst Horace Dediu dubbed the IBM partnership “the most significant technology news of 2014.”

That may sound ridiculous considering how much hype Apple Watch is getting ahead of its release, but Dediu points to the first wave of apps created by the partnership. These offer an early indication of just how transformative the relationship could be. For the first time, enterprise apps are being designed for their users (the employees) rather than their employers.

Just take a look at the difference between IBM’s new Expert Tech app compared to the closest equivalent from Oracle, and see which one you’d rather work with:

IBM, Intel and Cisco come out against net neutrality

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Photo: Ken Fager/Flickr
Photo: Ken Fager/Flickr

Some of the biggest companies that power America’s Internet, including Apple’s new enterprise partner IBM, have come out in opposition of President Obama’s proposal to reclassify broadband as a “Title II” service.

In an open letter written to the FCC, Congress, and Senate leaders, over 60 of the biggest companies that build the technology that make the Internet possible have advised that such a “dramatic reversal” in policy would significantly hurt their businesses. The list of companies include Intel, IBM, Qualcomm, Cisco, Corning and tons of others who aren’t going to let the FCC’s big decision next year go down without a fight.

Here’s the full roster of anti-Title II companies:

Apple and IBM launch first wave of enterprise apps

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IBM
The first wave of apps marking the partnership of Apple and IBM are here. Photo: Apple/IBM
Photo: Apple

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.”

25% of Thanksgiving shoppers relied on iOS devices to bag a bargain

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iPhone owners may not exactly be sleeping on a bed of money, but they still spend more online. Photo: AMC

The availability of cheap smartphones and tablets might mean that Android has a larger market share than iOS, but iOS users certainly spend more.

Analyzing sales trends from Thanksgiving, IBM notes that iPhones and iPads were responsible for far more payment activity online, with average orders worth $118.57 compared to $95.57 for Android.

But that’s not where iOS’s sales triumph ends. iOS also generated more site traffic at 36 percent versus 16 percent for Android. Even more impressive, iOS devices accounted for 25 percent of all sales — next to a minuscule 7 percent for Android.

Ex-Apple exec Jean-Louis Gassée on why the IBM/Apple partnership is different

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Steve Jobs and IBM
A lot has changed since Steve Jobs flipped off IBM 30 years ago.
Photo: Andy Hertzfield

In a new blog post, famed ex-Apple executive Jean-Louise Gassée has given his thoughts on the recent IBM and Apple strategic alliance. And while Gassée notes that most strategic alliances don’t work, he thinks the Apple/IBM one will work out… in favor of Apple, that is.

Google & HP are in talks to create an enterprise version of Siri

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Photo: Apple
Photo: Apple

Apple’s mega deal with IBM could give it a death grip on the enterprise market, but according to a report from The Information, Google’s Android team has been deep in talks with HP on ways it can push Android deeper into enterprise itself.

Using Google Now’s voice-search powers, the Android unit and HP have been discussing the potential of creating a mobile search product nicknamed “Enterprise Siri,” that could access financial data, product inventory, and more to become the perfect Siri-like tool for enterprise customers.

Does Apple’s deal with IBM signal ‘the end of desktop?’

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Does the iOS-centric IBM-Apple deal equal the end of the road for desktops? Absolutely it does, if you believe Bob Tinker, CEO of the newly-public company MobileIron.

Discussing the recent alliance between the two tech giants during his company’s first earnings call, Tinker pointed to the IBM-Apple deal as something of a signal moment for mobile. “I think of it as a positive that IBM’s committed to building mobile apps for enterprises, switching away from Windows to mobile platforms,” he noted.

“This signals the end of the desktop era. IBM once made a deal with Microsoft in the late 1980s that ushered in the era of the desktop, and now they’re ending it with Apple.”

Enemies no more: Apple and IBM unite to make iOS the king of enterprise, this week on The CultCast

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This time on the CultCast: rumored new Apple tech could give weeklong battery life to future iPhones; why your grandma will love the new iTunes; after a 30-year feud, Apple and IBM kiss and make up; Kim Kardashian’s iOS app makes way more than it should; Beats brings the marketing magic back to Apple; and we pitch our favorite apps and tech then vote on which one’s best—it’s an all new Faves N Raves!

Hem and haw your way through each week’s best Apple stories! Stream or download new and past episodes of The CultCast now on your Mac or iDevice by subscribing on iTunes, or hit play below and let the chuckles begin.

Our thanks to TextExpander for supporting this episode! TextExpander for Mac saves you time and effort by expanding short abbreviations into frequently-used text, pictures, code blocks, and more, and it’s an application we use every single day. Try it out for free at Smilesoftware.com/cultcast.


Siri’s new partner, a selfie toaster and the rest of this week’s hottest news

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Long-time rivals Apple and IBM partnered up this week to work together on enterprise software, but what does this mean for Siri? If Apple’s trusty voice assistant gets together with IBM’s extremely intelligent A.I. Watson, it could be a beautiful “relationship.”

Watch today’s Cult of Mac news roundup to hear all the latest news and rumors about this potential Apple-IBM hookup, possible trouble in the iPhone 6 sapphire glass pipeline, a toaster that burns your selfies into bread and the rest of the week’s biggest stories.

Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.

IBM’s Watson could merge with Siri

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watson-siri

IBM and Apple’s new enterprise partnership is already being called one of the “most important and powerful tech partnerships ever.”

But outside of selling more iPads, iPhones and Macs in business, what else could Apple get out of the deal, which was announced Tuesday? According to a new report, Watson — IBM’s Jeopardy-winning A.I. capable of understanding natural language.