When Apple announced that it would discontinue Xserve by the end of January, it wasn’t much of a surprise to the vast majority of enterprise customers that care about those products. Xserve was the also-ran in the marketplace. And it’s clear now that Xserve didn’t cut it. But in the process, Apple showed that it has no desire to be an enterprise-focused firm.
Apple’s Mac OS X operating system is fine for consumers. But when it comes to enterprise customers, the OS falls short in a big way. And for now, it seems that Apple doesn’t care all that much. The company is just fine delivering new versions of Mac OS X with consumers in mind. Its next update, Lion, is proof of that.
Windows 7 has caused Apple to change its stance on the enterprise. When Windows Vista was on-sale, Apple realized that it had a chance to capitalize on the corporate world, since firms didn’t want to adopt the new operating system. But with Windows 7, it’s clear now that Microsoft still has a firm grasp on the corporate world. And Apple has now resigned itself to the realization that the future is in the consumer market.
Apple’s iPad is great for consumers, but enterprise customers are having some trouble deciding if they should deploy the company’s tablet in their operations. For its part, Apple doesn’t seem willing to make that decision easy. The company hasn’t made the iPad more enterprise-friendly. And it’s asking companies to either accept the iPad’s enterprise shortcomings or go elsewhere.
Much like the iPad, Apple’s iPhone is a take-it-or-leave-it kind of device. The smartphone is a decidedly consumer-focused product that could potentially provide a productivity issue when employees get their hands on it, and download all the programs available to it. But by not making the iPhone more BlackBerry-like, Apple has shown once again that if the enterprise wants its smartphone, it will need to accept the device’s issues.
Steve Jobs is widely regarded as an exceptionally successful CEO. But that doesn’t mean that his success is universal. Quite the contrary, the Apple chief is extremely successful in the consumer space, but its enterprise success has been limited. Realizing that, Jobs doesn’t seem like the ideal candidate to make Apple look towards the corporate world.
Apple might have no choice but to focus its efforts on consumers and ignore the enterprise. As noted, the company has been cornered out of the enterprise. And its best successes have come in the consumer market. Realizing that, it can either try to capitalize on the business world or continue to succeed in the consumer space. When given those two options, the decision seems obvious.
Apple seems to be focusing more of its efforts on entertainment than it has in the past. And when it comes to appealing to corporate customers, entertainment is not one area that the enterprise responds well to. With the iPad becoming more and more entertainment-friendly, the company seems to be showing that it’s content to focus on consumers—and ignore enterprise customers.
RIM is undoubtedly a major player in the mobile market, but it’s clear now that the company is on the way down as Google and Apple continue to do a better job of appealing to customers. In the process, Apple is getting the support it needs to believe that its consumer focus is more beneficial to its business than an enterprise focus. After all, if the enterprise was as lucrative as the consumer market is, Apple would be trying to be more RIM-like. But it isn’t.
When it’s all said and done, Apple realizes that the enterprise market is becoming more consumer-like by the day. Companies are now considering deploying iPads. They are warming to the idea of offering iPhones in their operations. And it’s all being done on Apple’s terms. Apple seems to realize that. So, why shouldn’t it turn its back on the enterprise for now? Corporate customers are doing a fine job of doing what Apple wants.