IBM MobileFirst for iOS Garage unveiled in Bengaluru

IBM had partnered with Apple back in July 2014 for enterprise mobility, and disclosed its target of 100 apps. Today, the partnership has yielded over 100 apps and taking a step further, IBM has announced MobileFirst for iOS Garage in Bengaluru. Bengaluru can be counted among its network of centers across in Atlanta, Cupertino, Toronto and Chicago, and serve as a hub for development of iOS apps.

The announcement was made by Mahnoud Nagshineh, General manager, Apple partnership, IBM and G Venkatraghavan, Vice President & Services Lines Leader, IBM Global Business Services at their Bengaluru office earlier today. The Garage will be a part of its network of centers helping clients across the world achieve mobile-led digital transformation on the iOS platform. The company has also announced Mobile at Scale for iOS, an offering for those looking to invest in projects that will include over three apps over a period of time. These clients will be given complete access to IBM’s portfolio of MobileFirst for iOS apps, iOS app accelerators and enterprise design services. IBM claims that the Garage is specialsed at handling end-to-end engagements to design, develop and implement multiple iOS apps.

Talking about supporting other platforms such as Android, Mahmoud Naghshineh, General Manager, Apple partnership, IBM said, “We put a premium on Apple and iOS devices. We have a strategic partnership with Apple because we believe together we can deliver the highest security and quality solutions to our clients. We are optimisng all our solutions, tooling, processing around iOS, specializing on iOS. We do understand, when clients come forward with other platforms and other requirements, we will come forward and support them.”

The IBM-Apple partnership is aimed at bringing IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities to Apple devices in enterprise. It claims to have delivered about 2000 client engagements across 15 industries.

“With each IBM MobileFirst for iOS client’s success, we see the conversation shifting from wanting a single app to cultivating a broader business transformation led by mobile,” says Mahmoud Naghshineh, General Manager, Apple partnership, IBM, adding, “Our global network of MobileFirst for iOS Garages are a key accelerator for our clients and a significant differentiator for IBM.”

At the look of it, while IBM is trying to push into enterprise mobility with its big data, analytics and other solutions for mobile, there are reports around how Apple wants to focus on services. There is no denying that ndia is among Apple’s fastest growing markets. And Apple has been taking keen interest in the Indian market. We saw a slew of announcements during Tim Cook’s visit including the iOS app design and development accelerator in Bengaluru. Meanwhile, arch-rival Google had also announced  they wished to increase Android developers through the Android Skills and Certification program, and aims at training around two million Android developers.