Amanda brings up some interesting and valid points that I hope to add some color to. Keep in mind that this is an attempt at clarifying information and not meant to be confrontational.
On Dec 24, 2008, at 5:06 PM, Amanda Walker wrote: But every large organization has the experience of Apple being "tone deaf" to its requirements...
This is where I would like to ask folks to take a new look and new position when working with Apple if you are an Enterprise Customer. Back in 1997/98 when Steve came back and Apple was rebuilding, the focus was squarely on eliminating the unnecessary / unproductive Projects / Teams / etc. to tighten up the company and get back on track. As the company continues to grow both physically in size and through maturity of existing and new products, the scope and focus has broadened slightly, but is still always focused on the "User" and the Experience.
Any large focused company must listen to its users, but cannot (and in some cases should not) implement every feature requested. Vendors must ensure that their products truly mature and drive towards an integrated solution. It is easy, but negligent in my opinion, to just add every request as yet another switch or nob within the interface -- you get bloat and out-of-control products. Taking the necessary time to hear/discuss all the external input (such as the folks on this list), tracking and leveraging emerging technologies, overlaying with internal feature plans and refinement for simplicity for the "User" is indeed integral to the critical path.
It may not be fair for folks to consider Apple "Tone Deaf" simply because a specific feature or capability is not there right now directly from Apple. That is where there are business opportunities from third-party developers. As is the case with Windows, not every service/application that is used by everyone on Windows comes from Microsoft. There always has and always will be an opportunity for third-party developers to provide solutions that do not come directly from any of the OS vendors.
This is not limited to just federal/military--it's also true for higher ed (where I worked long ago) and private sector (where I work now). It's not just Mac OS X features--it's true for everything from ordering Macs to IT operations to the iPhone.
The Apple Enterprise Sales Division is there to provide you with many ways to purchase your products - direct (Acct Mgr / Online Sales), resellers, etc.. If the process for purchasing is not working for you and others, please ensure your Sales Team knows about that and they will work with you. There are many ways to purchase the iPhone for businesses and many organizations have contracts directly with AT&T on which they buy the iPhone. Otherwise, you can go to:
Apple is fundamentally a consumer product vendor. It sells to individuals, and it builds products for individuals and small workgroups.
I am sure some will disagree with me, but let me try to articulate this slightly different ....
Apple has always been "User Focused" which folks immediately correlate to "consumer". Some "Enterprise" products are "IT ONLY Focused" and pretty much forget about the user experience - Users are frequently not even considered. Much to the surprise of many folks in IT, IT should not exist for the purpose of IT, but rather for the purpose of the "User".
The Apple Enterprise Sales Division sells to the Enterprise and not to individuals. Try not to confuse the Enterprise Sales Division with the Apple Retail Division or the Online Store.
Its marketing is completely consumer-driven.
TV / Print Marketing is focused on simple concepts easily communicated in that type of media - (i.e. 30-second commercial).
Web-based Marketing and Field Marketing is clearly focused on the specific customer.
If you haven't checked things out in a while, go to the top level at:
Or specifically, IT Solutions at:
As it happens, these same products do work very well in enterprise environments, and Apple has built some capabilities into Mac OS X and the iPhone in order to keep them from being rejected outright by enterprise customers (Smart Card support for the DoD, Kerberized NFS for customers like Google, Exchange connectivity in the iPhone for most enterprise email systems, XServe LOM so it would be usable in a data center, etc.), but at a strategic and management level, enterprise customers are consistently treated as a secondary market.
I would check Apple's 10-K Report (5-nov-2008)
Executive Overview The Company designs, manufactures, and markets personal computers, portable digital music players, and mobile communication devices and sells a variety of related software, services, peripherals, and networking solutions. The Company's products and services include the Mac line of desktop and portable computers, the iPod line of portable digital music players, iPhone, Apple TV, Xserve, a portfolio of consumer and professional software applications, the Mac OS X operating system, third-party digital content through the iTunes Store, and a variety of accessory, service and support offerings. The Company sells its products worldwide through its online stores, its retail stores, its direct sales force, and third-party wholesalers, retailers, and value-added resellers. In addition, the Company sells a variety of third-party Mac, iPod and iPhone compatible products, including application software, printers, storage devices, speakers, headphones, and various other accessories and peripherals through its online and retail stores. The Company sells to consumer, small and mid-sized business ("SMB"), education, enterprise, government, and creative markets.
Table of Contents The Company is focused on providing innovative products and solutions to consumer, SMB, education, enterprise, government and creative customers that greatly enhance their evolving digital lifestyles. The Company is the only participant in the personal computer and consumer electronics industries that controls the design and development of the entire personal computer, including the hardware, operating system, and sophisticated software applications, as well as the design and development of portable digital music players, mobile communication devices, and a variety of products and solutions for obtaining and enjoying digital content. The Company is therefore uniquely positioned to offer superior and well-integrated digital lifestyle products and solutions, which are further enhanced by the Company's emphasis on ease-of-use and creative industrial designs.
I often get the impression that if some new consumer feature made it impossible to use a Mac in an enterprise setting, Steve Jobs wouldn't lose a single moments' sleep over it.
There are a wide range of HW / SW features required / requested by Enterprise Organizations which contradict each other. There, unfortunately, is not a single voice or single concise list of features that covers every Enterprise Organization's needs - especially as technology and Infrastructure landscape rapidly changes.
If there is a feature or capability lacking that prevents the use of Apple products within the Enterprise, that would be our responsibility within the Apple Enterprise Division to identify, qualify and drive resolution. That is not a CEOs personal responsibility in any organization, but rather the appropriate groups within that organization. Even for those of us who bleed six colors (which tells you how old some of us are :-)), it gets aggravating sometimes.
We can all work together to address aggravations in the process, but need to clearly identify and actively work to address those areas which need work. Results will not change if the same process is attempted over and over.
The benefit of running a Mac shop do usually outweigh the migraines that trying to run a Windows shop produces, to be sure :-). But the central criticism Boyd raised, that Apple as a company often doesn't seem to "get it" when it comes to enterprise and government IT requirements, is valid more often than not.
I would ask that folks mentally separate the Retail / Education / SMB from the *Enterprise* Division within Apple. Each division clearly strives to ensure that their customer base is properly reached, provided for and supported. If you are an Enterprise customer not getting proper treatment from the Enterprise Division at Apple, then you need to ensure that your Apple Enterprise Sales / Support contacts know and understand that -- without feeling like the other divisions within the corporation don't understand your needs. That would be issues our division needs to fix, not their division.
- Shawn _____________________________________________________ Shawn Geddis - Security Consulting Engineer - Apple Enterprise
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