Apple and IBM have signed a deal over the Pad and the iPhone, reflecting greater use of the devices in the corporate marketplace.
Under the deal, IBM will release what it described as the first wave of IBM MobileFirst for the iOS operating system.
The applications also support web services and big data and analytic abilities to the iPad and iPhone. IBM said MobileFirst for iOS is aimed at enterprise sized companies in banking, retail, insurance, financial services, telecomms, governments and airlines.
Customers who have already signed up include Citi, Air Canada and Spring.
Philip Schiller, a senior VP of Apple marketing, said: “The business world has gone mobile and Apple and IBM are bringing together the.. technology with the smartest data and analytics to help businesses define how work gets done.”
The apps are intended for secure environments, linked to core enterprise processes and analytics.
Apps include Plan Flight and Passenger for airlines, Advise and Grow for the banking sector; Retention for insurance companies; Incident Aware for law enforcement; Sales Assist for Retail and Expert Tech for the telecomms market.
