Although Chinese officials in Beijing unofficially prohibited the use of iPhones in “sensitive departments,” IBM sees a large market opportunity with the Chinese economy’s quick movement into the mobile era. Recently, IBM made a deal with China Telecom Corp Ltd to provide and manage mobile apps for corporations. CTC is China’s largest cloud provider and fixed-line carrier.
IBM’s latest cooperation with Apple resulted in its MobileFirst service, which helps large corporations utilize iPhone and iPad devices through app management. This service is what China Telecom will host on its servers, following the deal. The main targets of this service will range from start-ups to large, state-owned enterprises in banking and insurance sectors.
Still, recent Chinese government regulations encourage state-afficliated companies to partner with domestic technology firms over international providers. Of course, Western business lobbyists believe this to be an unfair tactic of protection that limits the transferal of technology.
Therefore, the pending success of the partnership between IBM and China Telecom Corp could represent the foundation for international tech companies’ involvement with firms in China.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/02/us-ibm-china-telecom-partnership-idUSKBN0MT18E20150402
What does “mobile apps management” mean? Creating and managing the databases for internal scheduling, phone book and related apps?
My sense is that the overwhelming majority of cell phones use Android systems, so Google is surely a player in this area (even if Google search engines are not a factor inside China). Is IBM tied to just one horse in the race, Apple and Apple iOS?
IBM claims their service helps to “Transform the value chain to drive growth and ROI” by increasing productivity. The service helps to develop and manage business specific applications that may be for multi-platform use. Moreover, protection and security appear to be a major point in their pitch. Essentially, it seems that they see handheld devices of the future for organizational communication and processing.
It also provides a general platform that offers a more affordable and user friendly way to design and test applications and software both for use within organizations and also for use by customers. A further look into the details shows that a main goal is to have seamless operation on many platforms (ie Apple, Blackberry, and Droid).