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Apple and IBM just launched 10 apps to help iOS rule the business world

Updated Dec 10th, 2014 9:05AM EST
Apple IBM iOS Apps

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Apple and IBM earlier this year announced they were teaming up to make iOS the go-to mobile enterprise platform and now the two companies have just launched 10 new apps that will help make iOS even more useful for businesses everywhere.

RELATED: Apple just made a huge move that will bring iOS to more enterprise customers than ever before

Below we’ve listed all 10 apps along with descriptions offered by Apple and IBM for each one:

  • Plan Flight (Travel and Transportation) “addresses the major expense of all airlines—fuel—permitting pilots to view flight schedules, flight plans, and crew manifests ahead of time, report issues in-flight to ground crews, and make more informed decisions about discretionary fuel.”
  • Passenger+ (Travel and Transportation) “empowers flight crews to offer an unmatched level of personalized services to passengers in-flight—including special offers, re-booking, and baggage information.”
  • Advise & Grow (Banking and Financial Markets) “puts bankers on premise with their small business clients, with secure authorization to access client profiles and competitive analyses, gather analytics-driven insights to make personalized recommendations, and complete secure transactions.”
  • Trusted Advice (Banking and Financial Markets) “allows advisors to access and manage client portfolios, gain insight from powerful predictive analytics—in the client’s kitchen or at the local coffee shop, rather than the advisor’s office—with full ability to test recommendations with sophisticated modeling tools all the way to complete, secure transactions.”
  • Retention (Insurance) “empowers agents with access to customers’ profiles and history, including an analytics-driven retention risk score as well as smart alerts, reminders, and recommendations on next best steps and facilitation of key transactions like collection of e-signatures and premiums.”
  • Case Advice (Government) “addresses the issue of workload and support among caseworkers who are making critical decisions, one family or situation at a time, on the go. The solution adjusts case priorities based on real-time analytics-driven insights, and assesses risk based on predictive analysis.”
  • Incident Aware (Government) “converts an iPhone into a vital crime prevention asset, presenting law enforcement officers with real-time access to maps and video-feeds of incident locations; information about victim status, escalation risk, and crime history; and improved ability to call for back-up and supporting services.”
  • Sales Assist (Retail) “enables associates to connect with customer profiles, make suggestions based on previous purchases and current selections, check inventory, locate items in-store, and ship out-of-store items.”
  • Pick & Pack (Retail) “combines proximity-based technology with back-end inventory systems for transformed order fulfillment.”
  • Expert Tech (Telecommunications) “taps into native iOS capabilities including FaceTime® for easy access to expertise and location services for route optimization to deliver superior on-site service, more effective issue resolution and productivity as well as improved customer satisfaction.”

Apple and IBM used to be the bitterest of arch-rivals in the personal computer market in the ’80s but this past summer they decided to team up to help bring iOS to more enterprise customers than ever before. As part of the deal IBM is building more than 100 enterprise-centric iOS apps and will exclusively sell iOS-based smartphones and tablets to its customers as wireless enterprise devices.

In other words, if the apps unveiled this week by IBM and Apple don’t impress you, you’ll have dozens more to choose from in the near future.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.