There is no easy answer here, but the short one may be that yesterday's news from Steve Jobs will eventually prove to be a turning point for enterprise Apple users.
This isn't a stretch. First of all, the new displays, video-recording capabilities, and integration with iPhones extend the roster of iPod devices for users of enterprise nets. And while Apple has aimed its marketing squarely at consumers, the vendor has long peddled its handhelds as easily integratable with Exchange and other enterprise apps.
"We estimate that about 20 percent of iPhone sales are in the enterprise," said Tim Bajarin, president of consultancy Creative Strategies Inc. on a call with Internet Evolution last night.
Then there's Apple TV, which at a low $99 price point, Bajarin notes, ensures that enterprise customers, along with consumers, will give it a try as yet another endpoint for all kinds of video input -- whether that input comes from a broadcast entertainment partner such as ABC, ABC Family, Fox, Disney Channel, and BBC America (the debut partners that will provide 99-cent show rentals for Apple TV) or from the corporate network.
The key is that all of Apple's devices can be used by enterprises to serve up video or TV, just as they can for consumers. "Apple's definitely trying to carve out new territory here, making Apple TV an adjunct to the iPad or iPhone," wrote analyst James McQuivey of
Forrester Research Inc. on Twitter yesterday. AirPlay, the wireless technology that will link iPhones and iPads to the Apple TV, will feature prominently in interoperability, he said.
Which raises the central question about just what will be the role of video in enterprise networks.
Bajarin notes that iPod Touch use has been reported for training podcasts. And Tom Nolle, president of consultancy CIMI Corp.noted last fall a rise in content delivery networking among enterprises he surveyed. Training, medical rounds review, and other apps are surfacing as ideal focal points for interactive video, Nolle said. And as my colleague Michael Singer noted in a video blog this week, marketing and sales are key hubs for video enablement, and companies like Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM), and Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) are exploring the potential for aiding or running video and rich-media content networks as cloud services.
And while we're at it, in the video-intensive applications of tomorrow's enterprise, cloud services will feature prominently. Enterprises will require users to access interactive multimedia apps with devices like the latest iPods and Apple TV. Interoperability among devices of all kinds will be ensured by the cloud model.
Apple itself is showing how this might work. The vendor's new 500,000-square-foot data center in Maiden, N.C., set for completion this year, is cited as the basis for Apple's own content delivery network, which could feature video services for enterprise use.
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Unfortunately, there are at least two problems with your proposition.
First, the HEAVY reliance on iTunes as the gateway to media. Our organization not only blocks this kind of activity, but YOUTUBE is not even allowed.
Second, while there has been a proliferation of Apple in the corporation, and I'm not anti-apple, the low-end devices like iPod Touches, and even iPads are very noisy, interruptive and downright rude in their abuse of the various WiFi and DHCP protocols. (Don't take my word for it, ask Laura Chappell).
Maybe there will come a day when video streams as freely in the enterprise as gossip at the water cooler, but I don't think Apple's recent announcement represents the opening of the floodgate (I may be wrong though. We'll see.)
Good overservations. The scenario usually goes: the employees adopt the new technologies, the iPhones and the iPads, etc. Then one of the upper managment takes a test drive and realizes the value for his peer group. This explodes and soon you get pervasive business use of these devices from my personal experience, then policy usually gets created for all that after some security training and sign offs by all in terms of acceptable use, you'll get corporate email access etc.
I agree, Mary. But I do think Apple will continue to market directly to the consumer as a road into the enterprise. The idea seems to be that the more people push to bring their favorite smartphones and handhelds into their workplaces, the more enterprise sales will unfold.
Good points, Allen. It was interesting to see a flurry of speculation around Apple's announcement that it would stream the Jobs keynote on Wednesday -- a few writers thought THAT would be the debut of Apple's CDN. Not so, as you point out.
That said, I wouldn't dismiss the idea of an Apple CDN somewhere down the road. Apple likes to own content, and owning the means of distribution adds a dimension of control.
I'd wager Apple will enter the CDN business sometime within the next 24 months. I could be wrong, you could be right.
While a shiny new data center is certainly exciting. One thing that it is not is a CDN(Content Distribution Network) in a box. While the goal may be to help companies package, deliver and distribute various forms of rich digital media on a multinational scale, Apple will most certainly need to partner with specialists in the CDN market such as Akamai, Level3, LimeLight, and AT&T.
These companies have coverage in the U.S., the European Union countries, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, and regions all over the globe.
Enterprise customers using video and multimedia content to communicate with their employees, shareholders, partners and suppliers, grapple with the complexity involved in staging, managing and distributing their content to their end users. AT&T for example, is at the heart of a simpler way to achieve this, using their scope and scale of their networking capabilities, services and professional expertise to deliver applications to both companies and the end users they serve.
Apple currently has a strategic alliance with Akamai and I don't see that changing. Through this partnership, Webcasts of MacWorld Keynote addresses, streaming media content for FOXSports.com. Internet streaming and software downloads are just some of the Rich Media enablement this partnership has fostered.
With Akamai's 73,000 high-speed servers stationed around the globe, I believe Apple will let Akamai continue to do what they do best, and Apple will invest their time and resources on other strategies, but I don't think it'll be to make a play in the CDN arena.
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