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Corporate America - run toward Apple - not away Posted: May 20, 2004 Daniel Reiss, President + CEO, Automated Terminal Systems, Inc. |
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George:
I always appreciate someone who is willing to acknowledge a mistake or an error in judgment. However, you miss the mark somewhat on three of your four "What it Means" points. Your observation in Point 1 has historically resonance. But for the reasons cited below, I would suggest that IT managers in large corporations should be running toward Apple, not away. Clearly, you are right-on with point 2 ¿ Consumer Electronics. Although I think that this is just the tip of the iceberg. And that is a clue with regard to what you are missing in 1, 3 and 4. The hoopla that surrounds the iPod and the iTunes Music Store obscures Apple's new "Stealth Marketing" strategy. And even in iTunes and iPod it is others that are doing the talking ¿ not Apple. But more importantly, the technologies that Apple as introduced or adopted across its product lines in advance of the rest of the industry indicate that the enterprise is targeted. You mention iSync and Bluetooth in Point 3 as though this is something that is about to happen and is limited to individual consumers ¿ it already has; and it is not. And you forgot Rendezvous. Zero configuration across servers, desktops and peripherals. That is why you are wide of the mark in Point 4. OS X already runs the majority of desktop applications in which corporate managers are interested. No need for Linux there. More importantly, Apple has adopted a middle ground that incorporates the best of Open Source [e.g., BSD Unix, Apache, OpenGL etc.] with proprietary foundation pieces and industry standard technology. All of this comes together with Apple's legendary ease of use and elegant integration. So back to Point 1. Corporate IT managers are looking for ways to integrate calendaring, communications and workgroup coordination. They should look not further than Apple. [Small example: we publish calendars with iCal for all projects as well as individual calendars and use .Mac so that any member of any team working on a project anywhere in the world [Windows or Mac] has access to its calendar. But there is more, OS X Address Book works interactively with iCal and iChat. So when I access the internet from any location in the world I can see immediately not only the project calendars, but also all of the team members working on those projects and whether they are available for an iChat session. Further, it they have iSight enabled, I am able to video conference with them. By the way, all of this capability costs us less than $150 per seat for the hardware and software is part of the OS. But there is more, with a Bluetooth enabled cell phone and a PowerBook I can connect to the internet even if my phone is in my briefcase. But I digress.] Underlying all of this is Apple's hardware. The G-5 is a true 64-bit RISC processor, not an add-on to an aging 8086 CISC architecture that has substantial technical problems. OS X is a true 64-bit Operating System that is capable of running 32-bit applications in that 64 bit environment. But the clue to the stealth campaign lies in what Apple has done with its servers and storage devices. Quiet & low-key with steady advances in power, scale and scope. And pricing way below anything offered in the WinTel world ¿ including an unlimited license at $999. The scientific, bio-tech and engineering communities have jumped on this ¿ where is corporate America? Still trying to get a different result by doing the same thing. And actually that is understandable, given its huge investment in WinTel hardware. But once IT managers realize that they will have to buy new hardware to take advantage of whatever Microsoft and Intel are offering, they just might realize that they should be buying Macs. And btw ¿ Tom Button [Microsoft's Corporate Vice President for the Windows Client] said as much at the recent WinHEC. Only he said "new PC", not new Mac.
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