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Apple Wants its New iPad and other iOS devices in Your Business, By the Boatload!

This article is more than 10 years old.

TheNextWeb reported recently that following its iPad announcement, Apple quietly released a tool on their App Store that "makes it easy for anyone to mass configure and deploy iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch in a school, business, or institution." Called Apple Configurator, the company says that the new app makes it easy to "prepare new iOS devices for immediate distribution, supervise devices that need to maintain a standard configuration, and assign devices to users." You can also, "Quickly update 30 devices at a time to the latest version of iOS, configure settings, and install apps and data for your students, employees, or patrons."

This is clearly a move to change the perception in IT departments of the iPad and other iOS devices as purely one-off personal gadgets into fully featured enterprise solutions. Apple goes on that Configurator, "can be used by larger organizations and businesses to set up new devices, install enterprise apps, and enroll each device with a Mobile Device Management solution for remote management by an IT administrator. It is perfect for the classroom or student lab where devices need to be quickly refreshed and kept up to date with the correct settings, approved policies, apps and data. Apple Configurator can also be used to personalize devices with data and documents for specific users."

Not surprisingly, enterprise application makers are getting into the act as well. Caleb Garling in Wired reports that MeLLmo has come out with new versions of its Roambi Analytics and Roambi Flow applications optimized for the new iPad. With these tools, a sales manager can show his supervisor interactive sales forecast graphs that "take full advantage of iPad's new Retina Display and quad core graphics, delivering stunning, immersive visualizations, crisp text and brilliant colors," according to the company.

Windows and Blackberry have long been strong in the enterprise market because of security features and the availability of certain crucial applications, but the tide seems to be turning in Apple's favor. A survey by InformationWeek about IT department response to the new iPad came to the conclusion that, "Corporate IT managers aren't overwhelmed by the new iPad but they do see it as a strong offering, one that will continue to build Apple's presence in enterprises. The new iPad won't dissolve decades of corporate affinity for Windows overnight, but it does appear to be gradually the winning hearts and minds of business users." And in an InformationWeek survey of  536 IT professionals in January they found that "enthusiasm for RIM's Blackberry devices appears to be waning. While 70% of respondents to our January survey reported using Blackberry devices and 25% reported using Apple devices, that ratio appears destined to swing away from Blackberry, toward iOS and Android hardware. Asked about expected smartphone purchases in their organization in 24 months, 35% anticipated buying RIM devices, 45% foresaw buying an Apple device, 25% identified Android, and 6% expected to be buying Windows 7 or 8 mobile devices."

One of the great appeals of the iPad for small businesses and schools is that in many ways the users can administer the devices themselves. But from a true enterprise IT perspective, this much wild west is worrisome. The Apple Configurator is clear signal on Apple's part that they want the IT folks and CIOs to love their products as much as consumers do.

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