Apple never wanted the enterprise. Hardware sells to the enterprise are low margin, require babysitting and they require backwards compatibility forever.
The computer market is dwarfed by the mobile market. Don’t forget that Apple became more successful than Dell in the early 2000s selling iPods of all things not by trying to compete in the enterprise.
> Apple never wanted the enterprise. Hardware sells to the enterprise are low margin, require babysitting and they require backwards compatibility forever.
I agree with much of this, except the idea that enterprise sales are low margin. Once you lock in an enterprise customer, the cost of switching to another provider becomes a large barrier. Your margin is dictated largely by the cost of your product, minus the cost of the competitor's, plus the cost of switching. If the cost of switching is high, the margins can also be high.
Apple does not derive its margins from the cost of switching (changing phones is relatively easy). They do generally have a better product, but they also provide incredible branding around being the best. Apples margins are dictated by cost of Apple's product, minus the competitors, plus value of affiliating yourself with their brand.
Apple’s products are better for the end user and they are willing to pay a premium. Enterprise sells aren’t to the end user they are to the buyer.
There is an existence proof or lack of existence. How many computer companies that were big in the enterprise like Dell and HP when Apple was almost bankrupt are big now?
Dell basically “gave the money back to shareholders”.
The computer market is dwarfed by the mobile market. Don’t forget that Apple became more successful than Dell in the early 2000s selling iPods of all things not by trying to compete in the enterprise.