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There’s been plenty of consternation among a healthy number of channel partners about Microsoft’s Office 365 plans. The successor to BPOS is Microsoft’s cloud plan in terms of Office applications. But the company’s plans to offer resellers a commission and not let them handle the billing has many a channel partner telling Channel Insider they’re not interested. TalkinCloud and MSPMentor have provided some valuable coverage of the issue. TalkinCloud this week provided a great dissection of the issues, the players and how a group of partners are looking to create a group to compete against Office 365. And MSPMentor has posted a great FAQ about Microsoft’s Office 365.
But it’s not just Microsoft’s cloud plans that are causing some partners to feel trepidation about the move to the cloud. Following HP CEO Leo Apotheker’s debut at the helm of the company, explaining his cloud strategy at a recent analyst event, many partners were left wondering where they fit into HP’s cloud plans. SearchITChannel did a good job of laying it out, quoting one partner as saying: “We need to hear the tactical stuff. What is our role? No one’s making a business off the cloud right now, at least none of us, so my question is, what’s happening now?”
Perhaps HP will come forward with some answers to that next week during its HP Americas Partner Conference in Las Vegas. Watch this space.
Meanwhile, its been days since people started lining up to buy Apple’s iPad 2 at Apple stores. But in spite of the fact that Apple’s iPad was initially pitched at a consumer audience, just try traveling on business without spotting multiple iPads in use. On the plane, at a conference, wielded by executives giving keynotes. Business people have them and are taking them everywhere. Channel Tech Center recently did a nice job of listing just why the iPad 2 is good for the channel.
