If you still think Apple isn’t taking the enterprise seriously you’d better think again: Apple has hired at least five former RIM sales staff in the past in the past 18 months. The Wall Street Journal discovered the defections on LinkedIn, and Apple confirmed that each of the employees the Journal found are indeed Apple employees.
Here’s the list:
- Paul Alvarez Was: Global Strategic Account Manager at RIM Is: Enterprise iPad & iPhone Sales Rep for Canada at Apple
- Joe Bartlett Was: Senior Global Sales Manage at RIM. Is: iOS (iPhone and iPad) Enterprise Sales Rep – New England at Apple
- Peter Decker Was: Global Account Manager at RIM. Is: iPhone Sales Rep Greater New York City Area at Apple
- Steve Marshall Was: Global Strategic Account Manager at RIM. Is: iPhone Sales Rep Greater New York City Area at Apple
- Geoff Perfect Was: Head of Strategic Sales at RIM. Is: Apple Head of Enterprise iPhone Sales
There could be others, these are just the ones the Journal found on LinkedIn.
Apple has been seen as ambivalent to the enterprise in the past. Steve Jobs said earlier this year:
What I love about the consumer market that I always hated about the enterprise market is that we come up with a product, we try to tell everybody about it, and every person votes for themselves. They go yes or no. And if enough of them say yes, we get to come to work tomorrow. You know? That’s how it works. It’s really simple. That’s why in the enterprise market it’s not so simple. The people that use the products don’t decide for themselves. And the people that make those decisions sometimes are confused. We love just trying to make the best product in the world for people, and having them tell us by how they vote with their wallets whether we’re on track or not.
The iPhone and the iPad are actually part of what’s causing that dichotomy between the consumer market and the enterprise to change. Both Apple’s desktop and iOS device enterprise sales have surged this year. The biggest contributor to iOS’s success in the enterprise has been employees bringing their devices from home to work.
Apple improved enterprise support for iOS devices earlier this year. Bringing in experience mobile enterprise sales staff is a logical way to compliment that investment.
