Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed that their enterprise sales for the past 12 months were $25 billion or almost 14% of the company’s revenue. This revelation from Cook came in a one-on-one interview with Box CEO Aaron Levie, reports USA Today.
No grudges against Microsoft
Apple has successfully created a dominant position in the consumer space and has bolstered its position in enterprise with the help of strategic partnerships, including a tie-up with old rival IBM. IBM via its “MobileFirst for iOS,” helps in selling a wide range of business software solutions running on Apple hardware. Such efforts are making inroads into education and are contributing to Apple’s revenues.
“If you think back in time, Apple and IBM were foes. Apple and Microsoft were foes. But if you look at it, Microsoft and Apple can work on more things together. It is great for our customers. That is why we do it. I don’t believe in grudges,” Cook says.
In June, Box also partnered with IBM to bring its cloud collaboration smarts to products like MobileFirst for iOS. SVP of Product and Platform at Box Chris Yeh told AppleInsider that its first app offerings are could be available by the end of the year.
Apple needs partner to push enterprise offerings
Cook said enterprise represents a major area with massive potential for growth. Apple has a unified hardware and software ecosystem, which is a plus for business deployments, but it needs to partner with already established companies in vertical markets such as IBM and Cisco. In August, Apple collaborated with Cisco to push its products to corporate customers.
“We’re in the early days of what we can do,” Cook said. “My gosh, we haven’t started yet.”
Earlier this month, Apple unveiled a new 12.9-inch iPad designed for the corporate market. The U.S. firm is positioning it as a replacement for a laptop computer with the promise of desktop performance in a tablet.
Nevertheless, Apple is a consumer company at the core. So when asked about sales of the latest iPhones announced on Sept. 9, Cook said it was an “incredible weekend,” adding that the company sold a record 13 million iPhone 6S and 6S Plus handsets when they went on sale through Sunday.
