Apple and Cisco, formerly legal rivals contending over the name iPhone, have officially put their differences behind to work together in a new partnership that will bring more iPhones and iPads to the workplace.
The partnership was announced by both companies during a Cisco event on Monday, Aug. 31. where they said the move will provide iOS business users a "fast lane" that will prioritize users on iPhones and iPads when running on business networks using Cisco's network equipment. Cisco will also bring its own services optimized for iOS across mobile and cloud as well as collaboration tools such as WebEx, Spark and Telepresence.
"Nearly every Fortune 500 and Global 500 company today has put iOS at the center of their mobile strategy," says Tim Cook in a statement. "Together with Cisco, we believe we can give businesses the tools to maximize the potential of iOS and help employees become even more productive using the devices they already love."
A major part of the partnership will be all about bringing iPhones to the company's corporate networks, where instead of counting on the individual worker's cellular network for making business calls, they can count on the connection provided by a Cisco-powered network. This also brings more advantages for the company, such as the ability to track and log business calls as required by regulations, which they can already do on their desk phones and speaker phones but not on their iPhones.
Businesses will also benefit from the ability to streamline mobile traffic to prioritize business-related content. For example, the network will open up the "fast lane" for an employee on a videoconference on his iPad instead of treating the content in the same way as it would treat cat videos or Facebook.
iPhones have always enjoyed a strong standing in the workplace, not as company-issued devices but as the choice of device by employees in an increasingly bring-your-own-device environment. The iPad, however, has seen a major decline in growth over the last six consecutive quarters. In the most recent three-month period that ended in June, the iPad feel a good 24 percent in growth compared to the same period in 2014.
The partnership could help boost iPad sales to enterprise clients, especially as Apple is reportedly working on a 12-inch iPad that is aimed primarily at corporate users.
This is the second major business partnership Apple has struck in a year. In July 2014, Apple shook hands with another old rival IBM in a contract that would bring IBM's services to iPhones and iPads, with the same aim of selling more devices to the corporate market. One year later, however, Apple's iPad sales continue to decline even after the partnership, so it is unclear how beneficial for both companies the Apple-Cisco team-up will be.
Photo: Nan Palmero | Flickr
