IBM and Apple Inc. (AAPL) Are Productive When Working Together

Apple Santa Monica Store

These two major tech companies have achieved a big goal from their alliance.

Some time back, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) agreed to a partnership of creating and selling mobile apps that are relevant to businesses. On Wednesday, these two companies announced that they have built more than 100 mobile applications; this is a big accomplishment considering they only entered that partnership in 2014.

The announcement is proof that this exceptional alliance is bearing fruits. The main intention of this alliance was to improve business apps and make them attractive to the business world. The working together of these two companies will help exploit each other’s optimum abilities. Apple has experience in the business of mobile application while IBM has the expertise in technology due its heavy involvement in the IT industry.

In December only, these two technology giants have launched 48 business applications that are relevant to the health, petroleum, chemical, automobile and retail sectors. The alliance is focused on these and other industries and 65 types of professionals in these industries.

Currently, there is an iOS application that allows workers in elderly homes to access the patient’s file in a more organized format. One other iOS application, which target energy utility companies, allows workers who analyzing climate-related damages on infrastructure to easily communicate with their superiors and customers.

Most of these new applications are not compatible with the iPad Pro Hybrid. However, Apple and IBM have promised to focus on the device when creating other applications in the future. According to Kathryn White, the vice president of the partnership, IBM and Apple work together in the design stage of the application.

IBM experts later write the code; the code is written in Apple’s Programming Language. IBM is also responsible for the integration of the software in the devices’ systems, White explained. The applications are paid for monthly by the clients. The monthly fees are dependent on the type of software and the number of employees using the software. The initial cost of the software is dependent on the type of software and the complexity of configuring it to the client’s infrastructure.

The applications are built in a way they can link to IBM Watson cloud service. The Watson has APIs that enable it to make predictions after data analysis. Connecting to the Watson cloud will cost a client extra cash per month.

IBM was not willing to announce the customers that are already using the business applications. However they did mention Coca-Cola, Vodafone and Scandinavian Airlines. This alliance means a lot for IBM since their software business has been going down in the past few years.