An Apple consultant once told me he’d love to come back in a next life as a fly on the wall in Apple’s research and development department. So would a lot of equities traders, given the company’s stellar stock market performance as it creates devices people want to buy.
Increasingly, “people” also means “businesses” as computer buyers shed outdated notions of Apple products as arts-focused and consumer-oriented. And while I understand Apple’s appeal to media consumers and other “fun” aspects of the company’s success, I like to write about what Apple means to businesses.
For instance, Macs will runs Microsoft Windows and, thus, any Windows-only software. Even that traditional barrier is eroding thanks to trends like cloud computing and growing libraries of professional Mac software, including the long-absent design tool AutoCAD.
And just as people brought BlackBerries into businesses years ago, they’re now pushing iPhones on IT departments to take advantage of sophisticated business apps running on Apple’s sleek handheld hardware
The iPad may turn out to be Apple’s star business performer, as organizations ranging from business consultancies to retail stores to media outlets use them successfully.
Full disclosure:
- I use a MacBook Pro and an iPod Touch, complete with specialized business software like DayLite (billed as an “Exchange killer” for small Mac-based businesses) plus native Apple programs, along with Microsoft Office for the Mac.
- I’m not anti-Microsoft, by the way. While I confess to abandoning Windows, I admire the strides that systems like SharePoint continue to make in the enterprise. Office is still a strong package. I even poke fun at Apple from the Microsoft point of view in the introduction to this article. Microsoft ain’t out of the picture yet.
For insights on the business (and other) uses of Apple products, check out these articles.
And if you’d like to know more about Apple’s success, check out this immodestly titled article (not written by me): Invincible Apple: 10 Lessons From the Coolest Company Anywhere