How Apple and the iPhone has changed the enterprise world

Apple has comfortably etched itself into the history books as the one of the most influential brands of the past decade. From the exploding popularity of the Apple iPhone to other products like the iPad, Macbook and iCloud, the company has had a massive impact on the lives of everyday people. But despite Steve Jobs’ self-confessed love for consumer electronics, Apple has also changed the enterprise landscape forever in Singapore and around the world.

THE RISE OF THE APPLE APP STORE: USER EXPERIENCE IS KING

Apple’s creation of the App Store helped it dominate the mobile landscape from its early days. It made millions of useful apps accessible to a range of devices all over the world, setting a new standard for user experience in the process. Enterprises could no longer settle for programs that were clunky to use and only worked on certain computers. As everyday people started demanding better, smoother and more useful software, businesses the world over needed to place more emphasis than ever on making things that just, well, worked. Even today, professionals use free iPhone apps to do their best work.

CREATING NEW INDUSTRIES, DESTROYING OTHERS

The rise and fall of billion-dollar industries can be traced back to specific features of the iPhone. Location services made food delivery possible, while bigger displays and other hardware improvements opened up new avenues for mobile gaming. Think of how companies like Grab and Foodpanda became global giants through the App Store. Even Instagram piggy-backed off the success of the iPhone – it’s now worth over US$100 billion. On the flip side, the rapid improvement of the iPhone camera in early models helped bring the pocket camera industry to its knees.

MAKING CREDIT CARDS LOOK OUTDATED

Apple’s impact on finance has flowed beyond the banks and changed things for businesses all over the world. The brand was one of the first to bring mobile payments to users with Apple Pay, which created a whole new way for people to shop online and in-store. To this day, it continues to reshape how businesses accept purchases. Apple Pay has become the preferred way to pay for millions of users across the globe, and enterprises who ignore the tech are being left behind.

A NEW ERA FOR THE INTERNET OF THINGS

The much-hyped Internet of Things (IoT) is the huge network of objects – other than our phones and computers – that are now connected to the internet in some form. Apple’s early investment in tech like wearables and digital assistants (Siri) helped pave the way for a range of IoT innovations from smart speakers through to self-driving cars.

INVESTMENT IN APPLE EQUIPMENT

Apple phones and Macs were once reserved for the casual user, with PCs dominating the enterprise world. Fast forward a few years and enterprises are not only investing heavily in iPhones and Macs, but even allowing staff to bring their own into the workplace. It’s a growing expectation that employees can hit the ground running with a device they’re familiar with, with the option to log into work accounts on personal devices.

THE DOMINANT FORCE

Unquestionably, Apple has driven the creation of new segments, new industries and new habits – all of which transformed our lives and the world around us. It’s virtually impossible to measure the impact the brand has made since the launch of the first iPhone in 2007. This left us wondering what the next ten years will look like for the brand – will there be another blockbuster invention? Will Apple open up more untapped opportunities for the enterprise world? We never know. But one thing for sure is that its best days are still ahead.