Apple Inc.’s share price down, signs corporate sales deal with IBM Corp., expanding reach to business customers

Apple Inc. is to put rivalry with International Business Machines Corp. behind its back as Apple seeks to expand the reach of its iPhone and iPad devices deeply in the business world making them available for more customers.

Apple Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. announced yesterday that they will sign a deal to create simple-to-use business applications and sell Apples iPhone and iPad devices to the corporate customers of Big Blue. The cooperation between the companies is also focused on increasing the security and functionality of the mobile devices manufactured by Apple.

The news of the collaboration between the two companies was confirmed by the Senior Vice President of global business services of IBM, Ms. Bridget Van Kralingen, who said in an interview cited by Bloomberg: “We really recognized almost simultaneously that we could be uniquely helpful to one another’s strategy and that there was literally no overlap.”

Both the Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc. – Mr. Tim Cook and the Chief Executive Officer of International Business Machines Corp. – Ms. Virginia Rometty refused to make any comments on the financial terms of the agreement.

For years Apple Inc. has been primarily focused on individual clients, but it is now willing to become more popular among businesses and respectively, corporate and government clients, betting on applications that are created for specific industries.

The alliance between the two U.S.-based companies is considered able to help Apple Inc. get a larger piece of the corporate users market, especially when it comes to mobile devices. Under the terms of the deal, more than 100 000 employees of IBM are to provide on-site support and service of the products provided by Apple for business users.

Apple Inc. was 1.17% down to close at 95.32 dollars per share yesterday, marking a one-year change of +56.10%. According to the information published on CNN Money, the 41 analysts offering 12-month price forecasts for Apple Inc. have a median target of 101.43, with a high estimate of 115.00 and a low estimate of 51.43. The median estimate represents a +6.41% increase from the last price of 95.32.