Over half of IBM’s 380,000 workers could soon be on MacBooks

Apple doesn't just beat competitors: eventually, it converts them. Case in point is IBM, the former PC juggernaut with which Apple feuded in the '80s, but which is now considering supplying MacBooks to more than half of its staff. The Wall Street Journal reports that the 104-year-old company's employees currently use more than 110,000 Apple devices including 50,000 MacBooks, but that this latter figure might eventually grow to 200,000 — one MacBook per person for more than half of IBM's 380,000 employees. This figure first surfaced in an internal video reported by MacRumors, in which IBM's chief information officer Jeff Smith discusses a conversation with his counterpart at Apple, Niall O'Connor:

The news comes as Apple and IBM today announced the latest step in a year-long partnership between the two companies, with Big Blue launching a new enterprise scheme to help large firms incorporate Macs into their IT systems. IBM described the new service as a "rising requirement" as more employees demand Apple devices at work. When the two companies announced their "landmark partnership" in July last year, they stated their intention was to "redefine the way work [gets] done" by wedding IBM's enterprise skills with Apple's success in the consumer market. The focus has so far been mainly on mobile devices, with the pair teaming up to release new iOS enterprise apps for entities including law enforcement and the Japanese postal service.