IBM is reportedly rolling out 50,000 MacBooks internally by the end of the year, with estimates it could eventually purchase 150,000 to 200,000 Apple computers yearly.
In an internal video leaked to the MacRumors blog, IBM chief information officer Jeff Smith hinted that between 50 to 75 percent of IBM staff could switch over from the current standard device, Lenovo ThinkPad.
CRN contacted IBM Australia for comment but had not received a response at the time of writing.
IBM and Apple, for several decades fierce rivals in the personal computer industry, officially joined forces last year to promote Apple technology into enterprise environments.
Smith, in the video, recalled that for Big Blue to bring Macs into its own workplace, the overall cost had to match or better Windows PCs – but his counterpart at Apple, Niall O’Connor, was initially reluctant to discount.
“He said, ‘No, Jeff, we'd never do that...very secretive, we never allow anyone in. You know, we just don't do that.’,” said Smith. “And I said, ‘Well, who's your largest corporate customer?’
“And he said ‘Well, that customer has got about 25,000 MacBooks a year.’ And I said, 'Well we could be 150-200,000.' And he goes 'Jeff, that's a great idea! We're gonna come here, you know, next week...you bring your whole team,' and that's exactly what happened.”
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