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Apple muscles in on biz world AGAIN – this time with Cisco pact

Will hanging on the telephone help shift more iOS gear to enterprises?

Apple has inked a deal with networking giant Cisco, as Cupertino beefs up its efforts to pull in more business customers.

Financial details of the agreement were kept secret. But the motivation was clear: to make iOS devices work more smoothly on networks that use Cisco kit.

Apple said it planned to integrate its iThings with Cisco enterprise environments. This apparently includes an effort to create a "seamless experience" between an employee's iPhone and desk phone.

Cupertino boss Tim Cook said in a canned statement:

iPhone and iPad have become essential tools for the modern workforce and are changing the way work gets done.

Together with Cisco, we believe we can give businesses the tools to maximise the potential of iOS and help employees become even more productive using the devices they already love.

Apple's tie-up with Cisco comes a little over a year since it first forged a pact with IBM to sell software to enterprises.

Under that alliance, apps were ported to iOS in a move to target corporate buyers of iPads and iPhones in specific vertical industries.

But Big Blue's partnership with Apple has so far failed to drive iPad sales upwards. In Apple's most recent quarter, revenues for the fondleslab fell 18 per cent. ®

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