Apple Dials Small Business Owners
I was surprised to recently receive a voicemail from Apple. More precisely, The Apple Store in San Francisco was dialing my office phone line to see if I required any special products, business services or education. It wasn’t a consumer-centric message. It was Apple for business. And it’s a sign of things to come from Steve Jobs and Company. Here’s why.
When I dialed Apple back, they asked me how my iPad and MacBook Pro were treating me. (I had recently purchased an iPad during a trip to San Francisco.) Moreover, Apple thanked me for leveraging their products within our small business. I pointed out that we also run Windows and Linux across a range of PCs… But that didn’t deter Apple. The sales and support representative pointed out that Apple offers a range of education services and sales promotions for small business co-owners like me.
I was impressed. And frankly, I think it’s a sign of things to come.
MSPs and the Mac: More than a Niche?
Plenty of folks still consider Apple a consumer company. But look around and listen up. During the recent Kaseya Connect User Conference in Las Vegas, Kaseya President Mark Sutherland stated: “Every business has a Mac or two or 20 in them. Macs are a first-class citizen in the Kaseya world.” More and more MSP-centric software companies are making similar statements. A few MSPs in the audience were using Macs during Sutherland’s keynote. And plenty more MSPs are carrying iPads.
Some MSPs — such as Forget Computers — focus exclusively on the Mac. But if I was an MSP looking for an Apple opportunity, I’d focus on Apple-centric mobility services: Helping customers to deploy and manage their iPhones, iPads and MacBooks.
Of course, Apple has never earned high grades for channel partner programs. But there are anecdotal signs of progress. Ingram Micro, for instance, recently launched a cross-platform digital signage strategy that involves both Mac and Windows environments. And Apple Stores are hosting seminars across North America for small business owners.
Apple remains a niche player in the MSP market. But the niche is growing. And I suspect Apple’s business team will continue dialing customers like me to see where small business is heading next…
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As a mobile phone reseller, Apple screwed alot of us out of established clients by forcing them to go to the Apple or ATamp;T stores for their iPhones. Add in the direct push to SMB owners and it is clear there will be no direct channel play by Apple…period.
Sorry Joe, but this is not a sign of things to come. As an Apple Service Provider and former Reseller, I can tell you Apple just doesn’t get it when it comes to business.
The Xserve is the ugly stepchild, server and enterprise support is seriously lacking, and, as it’s been mentioned a million times, they have no partner programs to get the word out and help sell and support the products. Even the worst IT products have some sort of channel program.
I really like Apple products and I’m all for them going for the dollars in the consumer market, but I really doubt your phone call was anything more than an experiment.
SDC, Craig: Thanks for the constructive criticism. I realize readers don’t always agree with my views. I certainly haven’t seen any signs of Apple treating resellers better. But I have seen signs of SMBs embracing Apple directly…
-jp
Joe –
I recently converted over to a MacBook 2 months ago and when I went in for my one on one trainings the staff was very helpful and one of the final questions of the training was about using this for personal or business use. When they heard ‘business’ they immediately asked for my information to follow up. And sure enough two days later I got a call and email.
Based on what I know Apple doesn’t have a good history in the channel world however the obvious truth is that more end users are using MACs and introducing them into corporate networks and Apple will slowing start working its way into that market. Apple may not understand it or play well in the enterprise market but they certainly know how to disrupt a market (i.e. music, tv, movies, apps, mobile).
We as an MSP are seeing more and more signs of MACs entering the corporate / enterprise world and we are forced to deal with it.
-Eric
I appreciate the angst against Apple for neglecting the channel and business products like X-Serve, but Jobs has his company predisposed with another matter.. killing the personal computer era.
Consider the recent things we learned, especially at the D8 conference..
1.) Jobs has been working on the iPad concept for years, he even admitted the iPhone was an afterthought. He doesn’t see iOS or the iPad as a tertiary computing device. He calls it magically while all we see an overgrown iPhone.
2.) Jobs believes iOS devices will replace personal computers in the years to come. Not for power users and hobbyists, but for the majority of end users and home users.
When you consider the “curated” experience the App store and enterprise management tools provide end users it is an interesting concept. A desktop costs 5 to 6 times its purchase price over a 3 year lifecycle. The TCO on an iPad would be marginally less. There is no need for system monitoring or antivirus.
We have a client with 67 users who are planning to transition all but 4 of their desktops to iPads with docks and keyboards before the end of the year. It is not an initiative I had anything to do with but I am watching with great interest. If it works it will cut the organizations overall IT costs by more than 80%. They will have no in house servers once the last desktop is powered off. They have been testing it with a small subset of users for over a month and while some testers would prefer to have their desktops back they haven’t found themselves missing any features or applications to support their workflow.
So you can imagine with the annual6 figure savings how much the owners could care less if everyone has to make an adjustment to a new device.
It will be interesting to see where iOS and Chrome OS-like devices take us in the coming years.
Andy Myers
http://www.MyersMathis.com
Eric@4: As you (and other MSPs) are forced to deal with more and more Macs entering the business market, I wonder how MSPs will adjust their services line-up. I think charging for patch management and day-to-day monitoring of PCs will become antiquated, for instance.
Andy@5: I can’t imagine abandoning a desktop or notebook for the iPad. I like the iPad, but not for content development or business management tasks. Instead, iPads are great for content consumption (at least in my mind…). But with the App Store, developers and end-users will surely reinvent how the iPad is used for years to come…
-jp
Joe, as I said I am watching with great interest. I am happy not to be at the middle of the project but it is also really interesting to watch unfold.
Andy Myers
http://www.MyersMathis.com
JP…
Ulistic is completely Mac…phones, iPad and MacBooks…we have only one PC until we can find a software solution to replace Quickbooks.
Stuart Crawford
http://www.stuartcrawford.com
Stuart: I think businesses like yours are still rare. However, you’re a start-up with no “legacy equipment.” In that case, I do hear from more and more readers who are pure Apple shops. And I suspect MSPs will need to adjust their strategies to include folks like you… especially since you’re so vocal on the social media front 😉
-jp
@Stuart.. Quickbooks Online is supported for Chrome on the Mac now.
Also xero.com is a great replacement for a small consulting practice. The interface and invoices are “sexier”.
Andy Myers
http://www.MyersMathis.com