Apple and Microsoft's renewed focus on enterprise-class devices is what home users need
Remember the time when we used to call the videogame industry “bleeding edge”? As it turned out, in the past couple of years, the trend has been increasingly focused on business, almost leaving the gaming industry behind when it comes to innovation.
Enterprise applications and devices have been the drive for many consumer products, and one tiny bit of proof of that is the fact that Microsoft’s planned release of the Pro edition of Windows 10, which is clearly targeted to a category of “power home users”, provides access to Windows Store for Business. Granting home users access to an enterprise-level experience is an underrated, yet surprisingly successful move, as it gives consumers the choice of a higher tier of services. This is where products like the Microsoft Surface Pro 4, or the (still fabled) iPad Pro come in.
How “fast” do you want to go?
Yes, both the Surface 4 and the iPad Pro are likely to be on the pricier side, but while most regular consumers on a budget will go for more affordable options, from which there is plenty to pick, there will always be consumers who are not satisfied with what is affordable, and will pay a premium price to get exactly what they want, and more.
If it’s a “simple” matter of price, how much can consumers get without being business customers? It really comes down to the difference between business and home users. The premium business customers pay for devices accounts for merely a fraction of what they truly get in return.
The Business experience, in fact, is not so much about devices, it is rather about the level of granular control required to manage all aspects of a business, like the ability to manage multiple users accounts, or wipe out and reset hundreds of laptops, phones and tablets, or deploy specialized apps on a group of devices, for a select group of users. These are use cases that simply do not fall under the definition of home use.
Having said that, tech giants understand that on some level, a simplified “enterprise-level treatment” can be an attractive perk for consumers, in fact regular users have enjoyed a taste of Business Class for a good while.
As it often happens, Apple was the innovator, empowering users with tools like iCloud, which allows home users to use GPS tracking to find their devices, and even wipe them out remotely if they are stolen. Cloud storage, and apps, started out as enterprise features, well before going mainstream, and the ability to manage files and devices remotely was traditionally a feature dedicated to enterprise customers. That was then, and now times have changed. Enterprise is all about granular access control and specialized tools and software to monitor that data, such as inventory, sales, employee performance tracking, etc.
By the same token, devices have changed in a very particular way, and are a lot more software driven than before. Hardware-based features like BitLocker, and other ways to encrypt and protect data, are often supported in different ways by software and operating systems. For instance, many enterprise-level encryption that supports BitLocker, provide better support on professional or business editions of Windows 10, for instance, than on entry-level editions of the same operating system.
The trend is also evolving to a more visible level of premium access, with hybrid PC tablets and laptops, with higher specs, like 4K resolution displays, solid state drives by the Terabyte, and upwards of 6, 4, or even 8-core processors. for instance, the Surface Pro 4 is rumored to integrate the brand new Intel SkyLake processor, which could also be the processor of choice for future MacBooks.
While devices like these are not for customers on a budget, they do have entry-level options, and their function is to provide more performance, security and speed, to home users who want more.