Companies are now big customers of Apple


The New York Times has a piece looking at how Apple is leveraging iPads and iPhones in the enterprise. iOS has proven to be stable and secure compared to Android. Companies are deploying custom and service-based apps on devices to better run operations and serve customers.

Interesting, apparently there may be some conflict within Apple on serving business customers versus end consumers.

Apple's increased attention to business customers has not come without internal angst.

"Apple totally recognizes that their products are being used in a workplace context and not just at home," Mr. Gillett said. "But they are rabidly focused on making the world better for individual users. They have a strong fear if they begin to think too much about their enterprise customers, they will compromise the consumer experience."

Microsoft historically has put its focus on IT departments as their customer rather than the end users. This often drives development towards helping IT people doing their jobs more so than the actual users.

To me a way for Apple to resolve this conflict is to help business focus on enabling front-line workers to better serve their customers. This should align well with consumer's needs.