Minority Report: Macs gaining enterprise cred

Over the past few years Apple has done a lot to make Macs more appealing to corporations - and, says Seb Janacek, it looks like its hard work may just be starting to pay off.

Two years is a long time in the tech world. Back in 2005 silicon.com asked its CIO Jury, a group of senior technology and business leaders from across the private and public sector, to share their views on Macs in the enterprise.

All but one of the CIOs said that despite the company's record of producing impressive and innovative technology, Macs were largely "irrelevant" to corporate IT.

However when silicon.com asked a similar question last week around half replied that they'd seriously look at the Mac or Linux platforms as a viable alternative to the Windows hegemony.

What's happened in the last two years or so to change their minds?

Firstly, Mac OS X has continued to mature into a stable and feature-rich operating system. Secondly, in the same period Windows XP has suffered well-publicised security woes and its replacement Vista has been much delayed and is viewed by many with apprehension.

Late in 2006 silicon.com's CIO Jury said they'd hold off from upgrading to Vista for the foreseeable future. A number of factors are influencing this reticence, including licensing arrangements and security.

Apple's market share is clearly rising, evidenced by sales of Mac units in recent quarters well above the global mean. In its last earnings report, the company claimed it was selling Macs at a rate three times higher than the industry average.

Meanwhile the number of people using Macs to access the internet has increased rapidly over the last 12 months. According to some reports, the Mac's share has doubled from three to six per cent - a monumental shift.

The enterprise space has always been a tough sell for Apple for a number of reasons. First and foremost is the Mac brand, which is founded to some extent on an anti-corporate image - the pirate flag flying above the Cupertino office where the first Mac was designed is a potent and enduring image.

Macs have always been seen as the alternative, first to IBM and then to Microsoft. The enterprise market has a certain sobriety to it that doesn't lend itself to the more bohemian Mac.

This isn't to say that Macs aren't serious machines - the CIO Jury acknowledged in 2005 that the company had a history of innovation and that its computers were impressive. The company is an agenda setter in both technology and industrial design - it just isn't seen as a business machine.

Predictably, the perceived cost of Macs is a major barrier and a common argument for choosing a PC. The company's products have always been seen as a premium brand carrying a premium price tag. These days, however, this is largely unfair and comparisons between Macs and 'equivalent' computers from Dell, HP and Sony will result in similar prices for computers with similar specifications.

To summarise Apple's corporate appeal, the company has a well-respected hardware and software offering in the server space. It has hard core tech credentials with a Unix-run OS. It also has a ready-made desktop PC replacement with the Mac Mini, which ships without a monitor, keyboard or mouse.

The key question is whether Apple is interested in competing in the high-volume, low-margin enterprise market. It's a highly aggressive arena where price is the key consideration - quite an alien environment for Apple which has typically sold its high margin computers to smaller firms and to core markets such as design and creative rather than the mainstream enterprise space.

Nevertheless, it's hugely significant that the corporate mindset is now admitting it's prepared to 'think different'.

Other factors which have appeared over the last two years to endear Macs to the IT department include the arrival of Intel chips, Boot Camp or third-party virtualisation tools which allow Macs to run Windows and the availability of Office and open source alternatives.

However, the most powerful argument the company has surrounds total cost of ownership. The argument is that the stable, Unix-based OS X operating system is less susceptible to security problems, experiences less downtime and requires less maintenance than PCs, meaning it represents a better investment in the longer run for IT departments.

This is the message Apple should be focusing on to lure potential corporate switchers.

The recent delay to Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X, will have little impact on Apple's window of opportunity. Vista does not appear to be a priority for many businesses in the short- to mid-term, evidenced by the willingness of senior IT managers to look at the alternatives for the first time in years.

If Apple were ever to make significant inroads into the corporate space it needs to strike while the iron is hot - and right now it's white hot.