Almost as soon as news of the iPad was first leaked technology pundits have been attempting to position it as the next big enterprise computing platform. Phrases like “fundamentally transformative computing experience that will meet the needs of many business users” are common, as are articles like this one from TechRepublic ”Apple iPad is already breaking through in the enterprise“ outlining some early enterprise deployments. Given what Apple’s chief operating officer Tim Cook had to say ”in the first 90 days, we already have 50% of the Fortune 500 that are deploying or testing the iPad” this optimism might easily be taken at face value. Good news for Apple then, but testing does not mean deploying, and deploying does not mean rolling out. Most importantly, even if every Fortune 500 company deployed 5,000 iPads it still would not make the iPad an enterprise-class device. Enterprise readiness is defined not in terms of the number of devices sold, rather in terms of the ability to monitor and manage the device to ensure conformance with a published service level agreement.
So is the iPad an enterprise device? Well, I think that the first comment I referred to above pretty well nailed it in saying that the iPad does provide a ”fundamentally transformative computing experience” and it “will meet the needs of many business users”, but is it an enterprise computing platform?
Not a chance.
Have you looked at just how awful Apple’s enterprise integration capabilities for the iPhone and iPad are? I mean aside from the little things like how you can’t backup or sync and iPad in Windows environments that uses roaming profiles and redirected folders without changing the domain group policy not to redirect the AppData folder. When it really starts to get nasty is when you actually have to try and manage the devices and get your freshly minted applications installed. If you’re stuck with integrating the iPad into your enterprise then you are going to have to take a good long look at the iPhone OS Enterprise Deployment Guide.
Take a look at this for starters:
“iTunes 9.1 or later is required in order to set up a device.”
That’s right; you have to use iTunes, Apple’s finest piece of bloatware, to initially activate your iPad. Which also means you have to package and deploy iTunes to all of your desktops. Actually this oversimplifies things. How many times have you updated the installation of iTunes on your PC this year? This isn’t a case of package deploy and forget, this is more like package deploy package deploy package deploy, start leaving Cisco Cius marketing material around the office, package deploy, start drinking, package deploy, find a new job.
Feeling sick yet? No, then how about this:
“iTunes is also required in order to install software updates for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. You also use iTunes to install applications, and sync music, video, notes, or other data with a Mac or PC.”
That’s right, you have to use iTunes to install your applications and any Apple iOS updates as well. I think at this point you need to step away from your computer (or put your iPad down) and take a walk around the block while the sheer awfulness of using a media player as a patch management system sinks in. Thankfully it’s not all bad news. In iOS 4 Apple extended the wireless application deployment system to include enterprise apps. You can find the full details on this new feature here. But even this isn’t exactly a bed of roses, Apple summarizes the process as follows:
“Installing the application is simple. Users first install the provisioning profile that authorizes their device to use your application. Then they download the manifest file from your website to their iOS 4 device, which instructs the device to download and install your application.
You can distribute the URL for downloading the manifest file and provisioning profile via SMS, email, or by embedding it in another enterprise application you’ve created.”
I can imagine a help desk calls already.
Let’s not forget that all this nonsense is just to get an application deployed in the first place. What about updating your application? Well don’t expect any help from Apple:
“Applications that you distribute using these techniques aren’t automatically updated. When you have a new version for users to install, notify them of the update and instruct them to install the application. If you’re using wireless app distribution, provide a link to the website or manifest file of the updated application. If you’re using iTunes, provide them with a new app to install on their device. If you’re using iPhone Configuration Utility, have them contact an IT administrator to install the new version.”
There’s no way in hell that this process will scale reliably beyond a few dozen devices.
According to Deutsche Bank, Apple’s share of the global notebook computer market more than doubled last quarter, moving Apple from No. 7 to No. 3 in total units shipped. This is based on Apple’s reported figures of 2.47 million MacBook sales plus 3.27 million iPads.
I’m not sure I agree with the notion of grouping iPads alongside “traditional” notebooks, but what is more interesting is that the explosion in iPad sales has occurred without cannibalizing Apple’s MacBook sales. In fact MacBook sales have been increasing at the expense of all the other leading notebook vendors.
The bottom line:
- Sales volumes don’t make the iPad an enterprise-class device. If anything with sales reaching this level, the problem of the unmanageable iPad will create even more demand for a solution
- More MacBook sales means more MacBooks appearing in the enterprise which means more demand for desktop virtualization, hosted or otherwise
- Reliable and scalable application deployment and management capabilities are essential first steps towards enterprise readiness. Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices have neither of these capabilities at present and without them, regardless of adoption levels, IT organizations will not be able to accept them as part of their managed infrastructure
- Until Apple addresses this shortcoming the only hope for meaningful adoption of these devices within the enterprise is to bypass native applications and rely exclusively on web apps or Windows apps delivered using virtual desktops or presentation virtualization
- Expect to hear more from vendors such as Moka Five whose desktop virtualization solutions are already making significant inroads into the corporate BYOC market
Where I work, we are actually pretty excited about it so long as we deliver applications via Citrix Receiver. Currently for remote access we have a myriad of endpoint scans that a user has to go through before getting access to the internal network. If smart phone vendors think we are going to junk our policies for these tablets/smartphones they are nuts! The iPAD is not enterprise ready but my XenAPP/XenDesktop enviornment is. We have had great results with Citrix receiver on the iPAD with XenAPP and XenDesktop. Citrix is also working on an email client for Exchange that is optimized for SmartPhones.
The fact is, as Simon put it, the genie is out of the bottle. I am comfortable running enterprise apps out of my Xen environment. That way, the only thing the helpdesk is responsible for is getting the receiver installed and nothing else.
Should be easy enough, as for direct access to my network, not a chance.
Great post Simon!
John Smith
XenApp Engineer
Centers for Disease Control
Wow, as an Apple Fanboy myself, I'm hoping that comment was misdirected from a Tea Party blog about Obamacare.
Seriously, we can do without the help.
I agree with most of what Simon's said here. The iPad, as it exists today, isn't Enterprise-ready. Doesn't mean it can't and won't be used by tons of users in many Enterprises, but until we can manage them, they're just another user-owned, user-controlled device.
You cleArly dontlknow whatyouare talking aout. I bet you have never even tried an iPad.
Why don't you get bak to your stone age win doze desktop and leave the future to Apple.
I think you are misinterpreting my perspective. I'm not suggesting that businesses shouldn't have them, there's no point trying to get the genie back in the bottle. What I am saying is that IT can't manage them; and if you want to have assurance of control at the application level you have to leverage virtualization. Which is pretty much what you are saying.
So not too far wide of the mark, I hope.
Regards
Simon
Wow Simon, are you missing the point. I'm not an Apple fanboi by any stretch (ESPECIALLY in the enterprise – bad design by their gurus there), but this article is way off the mark. The changing landscape of users in the enterprise means that the traditional desktop model is dying. BYO Devices, especially amongst the mobile people and high level execs will mean these and similar devices will come into the workplace, ten filtering down to all levels.
. Smartphones are the tip of the iceberg…
The vast majority will be synced to personal compuers (Mac or PC) and they will use them to access coporate VMs or apps via agents (such as Citrix, View etc.). The old "you can't have it because it's too hard to manage" routine from IT doesn't cut it anymore