It’s not exactly an uncommon event when someone speaks out against Apple’s products or predicts the company’s imminent downfall (that never seems to transpire).
The latest Apple (AAPL) assault comes from Andy Lark, Dell’s (DELL) global head of marketing for large enterprise and public organizations, who is bearish on the iPad’s role in big business.
“I couldn’t be happier that Apple has created a market and built up enthusiasm but longer term, open, capable and affordable will win, not closed, high price and proprietary,” said Lark. “Apple is great if you’ve got a lot of money and live on an island. It’s not so great if you have to exist in a diverse, open, connected enterprise; simple things become quite complex.” (via The Loop)
Lark said this when speaking with CIO Australia in Sydney. He said that even though the iPad precipitated the explosion in tablet PC’s, it will ultimately fail in the enterprise.
It is interesting how one can come to these conclusions when Apple is sporting numbers like 1 million iPad 2 sales within the first weekend. I just don’t see it. If you’ve ever shopped at an Apple retail store, you see examples of how versatile the iPad is. With each Apple rep. walking around with an iPad strapped to their hand, I’m in and out of the store with what I need paid for and ready to go in a breeze. The adaptations that are surfacing for the iPad within the medical field and the office environment, along with the tools for work-flow being integrated into the device are outpacing the competitors.
People want the stability that Apple offers. People want the answer to their questions– not an additional multiple choice problem. When it comes to, “what is the best way to do ‘x’ project on ‘y’ device,” you don’t want to be hung up in the realm of questioning processes during business hours. When you use a device, you want to skip directly to the solution.
Have someone else worry about the “how,” I want to skip straight to the “done.” The iPad offers this. Without signing up for the Apple Fanboy club, allow me to say that Apple doesn’t offer 10 ways to do a project, they offer the ‘best’ way. And there are millions of iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad customers that argue my case for me.
The iPad won’t succeed in the enterprise? This is yet to be determined. In the mean time, Dell, we’ll keep our eyes open. Right now, though, it looks like Apple is in the lead.
