Apple Worms its Way Into the Enterprise

In recent Computerworld a piece, columnist Michael Gartenberg makes a convincing argument that the Silicon Valley stalwart best known for its sexy consumer products is aggressively setting its sites on the business segment. More to the point, he observes how Apple's latest version of the Snow Leopard operating system features more corporate-friendly upgrades absent in past OS releases.

For example, Gartenberg says, the 64-bit OS offers 16 billion gigabytes of memory and built-in "multicore support" that allows more seamless connection with enterprise applications. But even more significant in the latest release is its direct support of Microsoft Exchange, the preferred corporate messaging system. Up until now, Exchange users who also used Macs had to employ third-party software to make the connection.

In his column, Gartenberg geeks-out about Apple’s nod to the suits:

The operating system now has direct support for Exchange 2007 in iCal, Address book and Mail. Combined with Apple's iWork productivity suite and Safari 4 browser, which Apple has introduced in final form for Mac OS and Windows, Apple now offers business users full alternatives to Microsoft offerings for productivity tools and for Web applications.

He also mentions Apple's latest addition of encryption software for the iPhone, which may prove to be an important bargaining chip for those who desperately want their IT departments to order the super-cool devices. It's also worth mentioning that the IRS has issued a proposed rule change that would tax individuals for personal use of their work phones. So maybe getting an iPhone for work isn't such a great idea after all.