In 2013 the combined net income of Apple and IBM was worth of $50 billion.
While both Apple and IBM compete in the technology sector their areas of expertise are about as far apart as they can be. Apple is more focused on business to consumer deals and personalization while IBM focuses on business to business operations, producing mass amounts of identical software and hardware as well as big data analytics.
However, despite their differences, the two have entered a partnership that looks to be mutually beneficial.
Through the partnership, IBM will have a new array of business apps available for download on the iPhone and iPad, create optimized cloud services for iOS devices which will include security and big data analytics as well as provide AppleCare support for enterprises.
Apple's benefit out of this partnership is rather simple, more sales equals more revenue. With IBM selling Apple's products directly to their clients, Apple will garner greater traction in an area where they have not been as successful.
"iPhone and iPad are the best mobile devices in the world and have transformed the way people work with over 98 percent of the Fortune 500 and over 92 percent of the Global 500 using iOS devices in their business today," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "For the first time ever we're putting IBM's renowned big data analytics at iOS users' fingertips, which opens up a large market opportunity for Apple. "
