Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Apple Business

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 461 posts

Re: Apple Business

#211

Post by jwlake »

rjrjrjrj wrote: post #104
jwlake wrote: post #55

A non-terrible MDM that actually works would be really nice. The rest I doubt they get much traction on. Gmail is too easy, Google docs and sheets if you don't need Microsoft is also way better than Apple's free apps.

Is it possible to make a non-terrible MDM? Not a particular area of expertise for me, but the times I've had to deal with it just seemed like an inherently complex and messy problem.

I would expect Apple to actually simplify the problem and not overreach and just do activation / provisioning / deactivation / lock and none of the other stuff MDMs try to do that introduces the complexity.

Re: Apple Business

#212

Post by ndespres »

IrishTechie wrote: post #201
wpm wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well yeah, the idea is that if you have ABM, you have an MDM you can use to purchase licenses for them and install the apps with the MDM.

It can be done that way, but it is definitely not the norm. Businesses will generally “purchase” (many for €0) apps in ABM that are to be used for business purposes and push those to devices, the user can then use an Apple ID to download any other apps they want for personal use.

If they’re using Managed Apple IDs they will have no access at all to the app store and won’t be able to download their own apps anymore. IT department will have to buy and assign any apps that anyone needs, even the $0 ones that only 1 person needs.

Re: Apple Business

#213

Post by F7F7F7 »

p_ing wrote: post #172
doctorpangloss wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

okay dude, how many phones did it manufacture in Q4 2025? 87m https://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2026/mar/tern... do you think lenovo would rather manufacture 19m PCs or 87m phones? i don't know, you raise an interesting point that is wrong.

It looks like you have this discussion confused. This is about Macs, not phones.

Sure, Apple's dominance in sourcing, manufacturing and all other aspects of logistics surely has no place in this conversation. '

The NEO is a masterclass in how integrated these systems actually are.

Re: Apple Business

#215

Post by razakel »

meego wrote: post #77

I recently tried setting Apple Business Manager for our ≈20 people SME. The first step was "Domain Lock/Capture" which takes over all Apple accounts for a specific domain. I've never had a worse experience from Apple. The process is buggy, filled with foot-guns and dead ends. It expects huge amounts of work from users who have had their account for more than a few weeks and are expected to remove a lot of their perso…

I gave up when it wanted a Dun and Bradstreet number (whoever they are) and the website to get one didn't work.

Re: Apple Business

#216

Post by bigyabai »

mpweiher wrote: post #170
bigyabai wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, the phone company that is known for taking home a bronze medal in personal computing for the past 30 years running. Apple knows the score internally, this won't change the world any more than the 12" Retina Macbook did.

The world's firs trillion dollar and three trillion dollar company. Yes, completely insignificant. The company that captures 60-70% of the global PC industry's profits. Definitely completely insignificant. Apple has known the score internally for decades and is laughing that score all the way to the bank.

None of that refutes anything that was said. macOS is a third-class citizen measured by market share, and the total sum of annual Mac profits is lower than what the iPad ecosystem makes in a year.

Consumers do not want the Mac. Datacenters don't want Apple Silicon. People want the iPhone, they want Airpods, but the M-series Macs have spent 5 years changing absolutely nothing.

Re: Apple Business

#218

Post by dlg »

razakel wrote: post #215
meego wrote: post #77

I recently tried setting Apple Business Manager for our ≈20 people SME. The first step was "Domain Lock/Capture" which takes over all Apple accounts for a specific domain. I've never had a worse experience from Apple. The process is buggy, filled with foot-guns and dead ends. It expects huge amounts of work from users who have had their account for more than a few weeks and are expected to remove a lot of their perso…

I gave up when it wanted a Dun and Bradstreet number (whoever they are) and the website to get one didn't work.

I have had the misfortune of having to get D&B numbers (for various Apple things). I believe is the source for lead lists where you start to get dozens to text and phone spam calls per day. Do not pay hundreds of dollars for this if you can at all avoid it.

Re: Apple Business

#219

Post by TacticalCoder »

radicaldreamer wrote: post #58
martibravo wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of new businesses are going the Notion/Google Drive route for docs, tables and knowledge, plus Canva for presentations and more visual work. It's not the majority, but the market is there.

That might be true for tech startups, but many businesses (even "new" ones) go with Microsoft 365 as a default, especially outside of the west coast or NYC.

Europe here. I disagree. Many SMEs are totally happy with Google Workspace and Canva, as GP mentioned. I know people using just that. And they don't understand why there are people suffering from the Microsoft-Stockholm syndrome.

The market may not yet be 365-sized but as GP mentioned: it's there.

And there are young people arriving at an age to open a business who have never used a Windows computer in their entire life. To them Microsoft is the company that make the virus-infested, slow, computers full of ads they see at their grandparents' house. That cohort ain't buying Windows / buying Office / using Azure.

Re: Apple Business

#220

Post by sleepybrett »

oblio wrote: post #199
sleepybrett wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can navigate the terrible UI enough to find the open button on the proper 'ribbon', that is. The ribbon makeover should have textbooks written about it so we can teach our future UI designers not to make the same mistakes again.

Meh. Techies keep ranting about it but regular users are just fine with it.

As someone 'technical' who sat close to 'normies' who hated the helpdesk guys so much they would interrupt me with their problems, no they do not.
Post reply on HN