What was Apple's rationale to get rid of it's servers?

[imageWIS]

I am trying to understand Apple's rationale for getting rid of it's server business. Seeing as the iPhone is now being utilized as an alternative to the Blackberry in enterprise settings, and the iPad still has massive potential in enterprise settings, why is Apple discontinuing it's tried-and-true servers?

Now that they are finally getting their foot in the door with big business, why wouldn't they want to provide them with back end, as well as front end solutions? Especially since OS X Server is pretty damn stable (thank you Unix).

 

[the_state]

B/c their focus is the consumer, not big business. Companies aren't going out and buying their own infrastructure like they did in 2000, they're relying on hosting services and cloud computing. Even if they do, they're going to lean on something that you can run any platform (windows, red hat, ubuntu, etc), not something as closed as Apple's offering.

The biz makes no sense, as a stockholder I'm glad they dropped it.

 

[akatsuki]

Originally Posted by imageWIS

I am trying to understand Apple's rationale for getting rid of it's server business. Seeing as the iPhone is now being utilized as an alternative to the Blackberry in enterprise settings, and the iPad still has massive potential in enterprise settings, why is Apple discontinuing it's tried-and-true servers?

Now that they are finally getting their foot in the door with big business, why wouldn't they want to provide them with back end, as well as front end solutions? Especially since OS X Server is pretty damn stable (thank you Unix).

The amount of investment required in service was huge and Apple probably wasn't making money. Plus it just isn't all that big of a deal for them to decide that Linux or whatever will be the designated back-end to support Mac installations and come out with tools for that purpose rather than supporting hardware and an entire software platform.

I think they should have licensed Server to a selected third party but Apple doesn't work that way.

I agree that iOS has huge potential for drone computers - why not have every secretary set-up with a super-size iPad with keyboard? Pretty much the obvious dumb terminal and something that will probably come about eventually.

 

[otc]

If the hardware wasn't flowing well (and if more and more people are contracting out their enterprise back ends) then I think akatsuki has it right:

Declare linux (or freebsd...but more likely to be a supported enterprise linux distro) as your official backend and transition some devs and support staff into the "iPhone Enterprise Server" group that produces iphone/ipad backend software for corporations.

 

[Jr Mouse]

They still sell servers, but they are the smaller versions in Powermac and Mac Mini bodies.

 

[imageWIS]

Originally Posted by JMRouse

They still sell servers, but they are the smaller versions in Powermac and Mac Mini bodies.

Those aren't really servers though. No redundant power supplies, no hot swappable HD's, etc...

 

[GQgeek]

Almost nobody buys servers to run OSes anymore. Everything runs on vmware. The stuff that doesn't sure as hell wouldn't be run on mac servers. So why would any corp pay a premium for bare metal just because it's apple? Apple would be competing against the likes of Dell and HP and there's no way they could compete in that space, both of whom have good track records in the enterprise space.

Should they have some sort of enterprise ipad/iphone "server" (as in the software similar to BES)? I think so. They're becoming prevalent enough that it would be nice if we had some alternatives to BB. It would be good if you could auto-deploy certificates for vpn/wireless access, control settings by policy, etc. Right now I'd not be surprised if iOS device support is best effort at many companies.

They've still got a ton of work to do on the security front. And BB really does have a big edge with secure email, though there's not much to stop apple from copying if they feel like it.

Then again, they have the problem that a lot of companies just don't want cameras on premises.

Also, if there's one thing I wish the iphone would copy, it's the blinking LED on BB. I don't need to cameras. I want to know if i have messages waiting without having to constantly pick up the phone to look at it.