yofal (and all): What the airline CFO sales recruit represents ...
... is maybe the best opportunity that Apple has had to make a real splash in the enterprise market since before the Mac came out. Excerpt:
Oppenheimer spends some time touting the use of iPads and iPhones by businesses. Apple has been making headway in this market for a while now, and he says more and more Fortune 500 companies are using or testing the devices for their employees. (See: BlackBerry, trouble for.)
One of the cool ways that he says people are using the devices: pilots taking iPads into the cockpit to use instead of big printed manuals. He says Apple is "delighted" by "unexpected" ways that people are using the tablet.
The Wall Street Journal: Live Blog: Apple on iPads, China and Stellar Earnings (19 Jul 2011)
blogs.wsj.com
Why might airlines be interested in using iPads in their cockpits, you might ask (not aimed at you, yofal)? Among other things (excerpt):
[FAA spokeswoman Marianne Lindsey] says in addition to the convenience, there is a practical weight-saving aspect to using the iPad as well, “it’s replaced about 25 pounds of manuals and charts.”
Wired: FAA OKs iPad for Pilots’ Charts (28 Feb 2011)
wired.com
Having the former CFO for one of the world's largest, oldest, and most storied airlines do the sales pitch to his opposite number at other airlines, stressing the financial (incl. health care costs resulting from pilots no longer having to carry around 25 pounds of paper manuals everywhere they go!) benefits of doing so, makes this a win-win, with the potential to become a huge win-win. They'll need to lock up this market before Android starts making headway, of course, hence the urgency to hire a (presumed) heavy hitter. |
