Google Shouldn't Worry About the Apple, IBM Deal...Yet

Despite all the digital ink already spilled over the Apple-IBM partnership, it's not really clear what exactly these companies are going to do. Or how it will actually play out.

Whatever it is, analysts and pundits alike seem to agree on one thing: Google should be very worried. A little simplistic, perhaps, as it depends entirely on the assumption that enterprises will be flocking to an entirely-iOS world just because IBM will be selling iPhones and iPads. These aren't the days of the BlackBerry anymore, thanks to bring-your-own-device (which ironically Apple kickstarted with the first iPhone). The days of enterprises standardizing exclusively on one mobile device platform are long gone.

BYOD accelerated the shift away from devices. Employees don't care about the actual device they are using. They just want to be able to get the information they need, regardless of what they are using or where they are.

Google's executives are going to be watching this partnership closely to see what happens. Are they going to be worried? Probably not. The search giant has a strong enterprise presence, thanks to Google Apps and its suite of Big Data tools delivered as part of the Google Cloud Platform, just to name two of its biggest plays. Google recognizes the fact that enterprises are concerned about the delivery mechanism and the application support, and less on the actual device being used.

Enterprises are still going to see a mix of Android and iOS in their organizations. That isn't going to change.

What is interesting about this deal is the fact the two companies will collaborate on building more than 100 industry-specific applications for iOS. Just iOS. None of these applications will be coming to Android (or Windows Phone or BlackBerry). The apps will target retail, healthcare, banking, travel and transportation, telecommunications, and insurance.

As Apple CEO Tim Cook told Re/Code on Tuesday, 'the way to think about this is that there are a lot of killer consumer apps out there...But they were built from a mobile point of view from the ground up. And so they didn't have the legacy of having been built for the desktop ever. A lot of the enterprise stuff started out from the desktop and then migrated to mobile. It's not optimized for mobility.'

We are talking about a very specific set of applications, meeting very specific industry needs. Imagine retail point-of-sale tools, applications for medical-imaging devices, and logistics and tracking systems suddenly available on the iPad. (No one is going to use an iPhone to access enterprise apps. The tablet form factor is what the enterprises want.) This is the space Google is going to get nudged out of with IBM and Apple's deal.

The apps are expected to begin arriving this fall, and continue into 2015. It's safe to assume that the first few apps will be fairly straightforward ports, and not apps that would be true game-changers for the industry. Even though IBM and Apple didn't specify what apps to expect, it seems safe enough to assume these would be process-focused software and data analytics tools, much like the ones already available on the IBM Cloud Marketplace. These are tricky applications to bring to mobile, so if IBM and Apple succeed in getting IBM's enterprise software and services on to iOS, then it makes sense that Apple's mobile platform will dominate that specialized segment.

But it's still only one slice of enterprise mobility. This deal isn't going to hand the entire enterprise mobility market over to Apple.

Whatever it is Apple and IBM are going to build together as part of their new partnership, it's safe to assume it's going to be a while before we see anything. Big Blue isn't known for being very nimble. But it will be worth watching. It's just not yet time for anyone to be worried, though.

For more, check out Apple and IBM Bury the Hammer and IBM and Apple Mean Business, as well as Frenemies: A Brief History of Apple and IBM Partnerships.