Apple just made a huge deal to push the iPhone into big businesses

Tim Cook

Getty Images/Leigh Vogel

Apple CEO Tim Cook

Apple has signed a deal with Deloitte, the world’s largest consulting firm, to accelerate its big push to get the iPhone into the hands of big businesses. 

Under the terms of the deal, Deloitte will open a new business, tasking 5,000 “strategic advisors” with helping its clients adopt iPhones and iPads across all corners of their business, according to a press release.

Plus, Deloitte and Apple will collaborate on a new product called “EnterpriseNext,” which will make it easier for businesses to build custom apps for their employees and customers.

This is a big deal for Apple and Deloitte alike: The biggest enterprises in the world all turn to Deloitte to help them integrate new technologies into the way they do business. With the iPhone continuing to dominate the smartphone market, demand among those clients to get going with Apple technology is strong and abiding.

Meanwhile, Apple has already inked partnerships with companies like IBM and SAP, turning to the experienced enterprise software vendors for help in making the iPhone more business-ready. With this Deloitte deal, Apple gets even more enterprise software acumen on its side.

It’s a crucial growth area for Apple: Wall Street is concerned that iPhone sales have peaked, especially given the signals that demand for the new iPhone 7 is lower than projected. The burden falls on Apple to find new growth areas for the iPhone, and businesses, which are slow to adopt new technology, are a major opportunity.

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