News

Apple-IBM Deal To Boost Enterprise Mobile Big Data Analytics

Companies emphasize bringing Big Data analytics to iPhone and iPad users.

• By David Ramel
• 07/17/2014

With the increasing use of Apple mobile devices in the enterprise, the recent pact between Apple and IBM promises to bring more Big Data analytics capabilities into the hands of mobile users.

The two companies emphasized right up front the goal of "bringing IBM's Big Data and analytics capabilities to iPhone and iPad" in their joint announcement this week.

IBM's Big Data know-how, combined with Apple's widespread mobile presence, will boost the ongoing trend of putting large-scale analytics into the hands of more mobile workers no matter where they are or what devices they're using.

The historic agreement between two former bitter rivals is yet another confluence of the hottest trends in development: mobile, Big Data and cloud.

One hot trend that isn't being augmented, however, is the overwhelming move to cross-platform mobile development to target multiple devices with one project code base. A new class of IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions for enterprises will include industry-specific apps, built natively just for Apple's iOS devices.

The partnership "draws on the distinct strengths of each company: IBM's Big Data and analytics capabilities, with the power of more than 100,000 IBM industry and domain consultants and software developers behind it, fused with Apple's legendary consumer experience, hardware and software integration and developer platform," the companies said.

IBM, which claims to have "the world's deepest portfolio in Big Data and analytics consulting and technology expertise," has been busy adding Big Data offerings to its cloud services, such as IBM Concert and Watson-powered "cognitive "computing" apps, along with other MobileFirst development products. Earlier this month, the company announced the IBM Navigator on Cloud for yet another Big Data service on its IBM Cloud marketplace

Now, more such services will be forthcoming. The new collaboration will result in "unique IBM cloud services optimized for iOS, including device management, security, analytics and mobile integration," the companies said.

Historically consumer-oriented Apple has been making some development news of its own lately, reinforcing resources for its new Swift programming language and unveiling a new iOS 8 SDK.

The 100-plus industry-specific, natively built apps for Apple devices that IBM will sell to its business clients will target retail, healthcare, banking, travel and transportation, telecommunications and insurance scenarios. IBM will also develop packaged products for device activation, supply and management.

Apple, meanwhile, will provide AppleCare service and support specifically tailored for the enterprise.

"The combination will create apps that can transform specific aspects of how businesses and employees work using iPhone and iPad, allowing companies to achieve new levels of efficiency, effectiveness and customer satisfaction—faster and easier than ever before," the companies said.

The new industry-specific IBM MobileFirst for iOS Solutions will start becoming available this fall and will continue to be introduced next year, the companies said.