Gartner: Apple Just As Enterprise Friendly As Microsoft By 2014
This week Gartner has released a report in which they predict Apple to be as accepted by Enterprise IT by the year 2014 as Microsoft is here in 2013. That's may appear to be a mighty large feat for those unaware of the inroads Apple's taken over the past few years into this space that's traditionally be dominated by Microsoft, but the truth of the matter is as Gartner says – it's certainly looking like Apple's presence in the business world is about to get much more visible if (and perhaps when) it reaches past Microsoft.
The report follows Gartner's assertion that mobile apps will be of a much more hybrid nature in a very big way over the next few years. This idea and Apple's growth in the Enterprise IT environment create vision for the future where businesses work with devices based on their hardware quality rather than the operating system they run. It's important to note here that Gartner is affirming Apple mobile devices as already accepted in a large way by enterprise IT, while Apple's desktop hardware and software is on the rise.
David Mitchell Smith, vice president and Gartner Fellow says that "Going forward, Apple will continue to benefit from consumerization and will continue to evolve Macs to take on more iOS characteristics." It's because of this cross-pollination that Macs will grow in their use by businesses across the market. Smith continues, saying that because the iOS universe is being pushed to desktop feature by feature and because Apple's mobile lineup continues to be massively popular, Mac desktop systems will inevitably continue to be accepted by enterprise as consumer demand grows.
The Gartner team also spoke on Microsoft's mobile systems in Windows Phone and Windows 8 (and Windows RT for tablets too, we must assume). They say that enterprise acceptance of these mobile systems are due in a large way to the relationship the companies have with Microsoft rather than the features the smartphones and tablets work with. Because Microsoft has "not benefited from consumerization", as Gartner says, Apple will continue to grow in this rather healthy way.
Consumerization here is, as Gartner says, "driven first by consumer demand, and then by the demand of those consumers to bring that technology into the workplace." How simple is that? Sounds like a winning strategy if there ever was one to be had!
[via Gartner]