After announcing a partnership with Apple back in 2014 to help bring enterprise apps and more to iOS, IBM today announced plans to accelerate the initiative with new ‘Garages’ that will serve as dedicated physical spaces to aid its corporate customers with the development of the MobileFirst iPhone and iPad apps: 

“IBM is introducing new Garages dedicated to the quick design, integration and deployment of MobileFirst for iOS apps, adding to its growing network of global studios and labs where clients work with more than 10,000 experts in mobile and cognitive. “Four years ago, we made enterprise mobility a reality, and we’ve seen how transformative mobile can be,” said Bridget van Kralingen, Senior Vice President, IBM Industry Platforms. “Today, companies are now reigning in mobile faster than ever, creating a critical need for powerful innovations that will reinvent how they do business. We’re combining the power of mobile with cognitive and analytics to continue to push the market forward.”

The first new dedicated Garages for MobileFirst app development will come to Shanghai and Bucharest, adding to the one it already had in Bangalore.

IBM has developed quite a few apps in the three years since signing the Apple partnership— over 100 in the first year alone– including several iPhone and iPad apps built for retail, education, healthcare, banking, travel and transportation, telecommunications, insurance and many other industries. You can check out the apps for various industries on IBM’s website.

IBM also shared some stats on how the partnership with Apple has been going, noting that it has so far generated “several billion dollars in signings from over 3,800 client engagements.” It also mentioned some upcoming clients that are adopting MobileFirst apps for employees, including: Lufthansa Group, City Furniture, Singapore Airlines, and Japan Airlines.

Source: 9to5mac