Macworld: "Why are you here?"

January 7 2009

The IBM team fielded this question more frequently than any other at Macworld Expo yesterday: "Why are you here?"  In my mind, no question could be a better entree.  In fact, it was essentially that question we wanted to answer simply with our physical presence -- tying the launch of Notes 8.5 and Symphony for the Mac into it was a double bonus.

So why is IBM, and more specifically the Lotus brand team, at Macworld Expo (booth 3418 north hall, for those who want to stop by)?  If you have been following my blog for the three months since I've moved to product management, you've heard me mention Apple more than a few times.  Quite simply, Apple is seeing a market opportunity to further penetrate the enterprise, and they see IBM as a key vendor to help with that.  It's true, the Microsoft Mac BU has the huge booth and Guy Kawasaki autographing yesterday, so we have some room to grow in the Mac market from a visibility perspective.  But our presence, our announcement, and the endorsement from Apple's Ron Okomoto in the press release are all signs that both Apple and IBM are serious about making this work.  The continuing Apple in the Enterprise roadshow in the US is another.  Combine Notes 8.5, Sametime, Symphony and Connections and you have the best collaboration tools suite in the industry.  They all work on the Mac, and with their new releases, excel on the Mac.

Apple and IBM Lotus sales team have been working together in the last few months as well, and yesterday at Macworld Expo, I met a nice chap from iTX in Australia who has built a great message.  He's working with both companies and using Lotus Foundations on the back end and Notes+Symphony on the Mac on the desktop to present a 100% Microsoft-free productivity and collaboration solution to customers.  And it's resonating.  And if you are a partner, you can do the same, and add value through your solutions or expertise or whatever.

The Forbes and Financial Times stories got it.  So did much of the other already-impressive press coverage, especially in the UK, Australia, and here at home.  IBM has the enterprise expertise.  In my personal opinion, Apple has the best overall desktop story at the moment, though I'm sure the Linux community will point out relative strengths there, too.  Either way, Vista's complete failure to penetrate the enterprise has made this an interesting place to play.  The consumerization of IT, and the influence of iPhones and iPods, has made this an interesting place to play (and play more).  And making an announcement in the context of all of that hit the target squarely in the bull's-eye -- IBM is here to win in the Apple market.

The other interesting effect of being at a show like Macworld Expo is that many of our conversations at the booth have been with end-users.  More than once, we saw someone call back to a colleague in the office asking "what version do we run?  No, it doesn't look like that!"  Even the Financial Times journalist tied that into his story.  If our presence at a show like Macworld Expo helps drive Notes 8.x adoption, that can only be a good thing for everyone.  This is why we made sure to tie the Domino-side story of DAOS and cost savings into the press release, even though the theme was the client.  IT admins, management, and CFOs will all like the message around the full Notes/Domino 8.x suite -- tremendous improvements in productivity, flexibility to use desktops of choice, a great browser-based approach for desktops and mobile devices, and significant reduction in operational costs.

Macworld Expo continues for the rest of the week, and while I'm on a plane back to Chicago this morning, the IBM Lotus crew will be here for the duration.  John Beck on my team made our presence happen, and it wasn't easy to get here.  The payback was clear in just one day, and by the end of the week, I'm sure we'll have a hundred more great stories.

So, how do we follow this up?  We're still saving up a bunch of things for the next few weeks.  Near as I can tell, sleep is going to be optional for about 20 days, but it's all for a good cause.

Ed Brill San Francisco, CA USA Category:  Notes and Domino 8.5  Add/View Comments [16]

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  1. 1  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 1/7/2009 8:32:37 AM

    This is more tremendous news, Ed. That both the news organisations and the MacWorld attendees get the fact that IBM/Lotus truly does have quality products for the Mac platform now, and is thus provides options for their businesses.

    It almost makes you want to ask why Lotus (and IBM more broadly) haven't been at the Mac events for so many years, particularly given the natural tie-in of the PowerPC chips until a couple of years ago.

    Looking ahead to Lotusphere, I can imagine that a good number of the speakers will be using Macs - will any of the Showcase demos and labs be focused on the Mac offerings?

  1. 2  Theo Heselmans http://blog.xceed.be | 1/7/2009 8:52:58 AM

    Just wonderful news. Great move postponing 8.5 and releasing it at MacWorld.

    Can you imagine this: 'normal' people getting excited over a product we've been using and loving for so many years.

    The Times They Are A-Changin' !

    Happy New Year indeed.

  1. 3  Bill Brown  | 1/7/2009 9:14:05 AM

    Will the simultaneous release of Mac along with the other platforms be the norm from now on?

    We have a sizable Mac population (education) and it's always been an annoyance waiting for the Mac versions and explaining it to users.

  1. 4  Ed Maloney  | 1/7/2009 9:36:21 AM

    This is great news all around. I have 8.5 running on my Mac and it looks like there is finally a version of Notes that I don't feel the need to apologize for. Nice work!

  1. 5  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 1/7/2009 10:14:23 AM

    I did a double-take when I read that bit about "excel on the Mac" ;o)

  1. 6  Anders fredriksson   | 1/7/2009 10:26:31 AM

    If they can't show a native pim sync between domino and iPhone, they should go home... The web template is not even close...

  1. 7  Leif  | 1/7/2009 10:48:33 AM

    Sybase seems to have done it. Native client if I read the press release right.

    { Link }

    "Offline Email Access: Supports the native iPhone client, which provides a feature-rich and faster user experience than found with browser-based email support. In addition, email is available for offline use."

  1. 8  Neil Wainwright http://www.nexonia.com | 1/7/2009 11:23:11 AM

    It's very good news Ed. Congratulations on that. I remember a somewhat strange article from a couple years ago that said "using a Mac makes you more creative" (or something like that). I think it's the focus on the end user and the level of detail that seems to resonate with me. I'm glad that IBM has strengthened their Mac focus while keeping XP/Vista/Win7 as the overall focus. Linux is a player too. I think for a while IBM moved away from cross-platform and now it's back even stronger than ever. It will pay significant dividends. Congrats again.

    ...Neil

  1. 9  Kerr  | 1/7/2009 12:07:39 PM

    @7 It's just an IMAP server.

  1. 10  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 1/7/2009 2:07:18 PM

    @6 - there are good reasons why iNotes Ultralite was the solution selected to lead Lotus software to the iPhone. It's scalable, robust, mature and feature-rich, and we had the means to deliver it. There's more to come... patience is a virtue.

  1. 11  Andy M  | 1/7/2009 3:28:13 PM

    Ed, Firstly congratulations on an excellent release of Notes 8 for the Mac. I have been using it two days now, and there have been no problems at all. If you keep this up with simultaneous releases on both platforms then you're definately in the Mac enterprise space now.

    I think I would be remiss if I did not point out that we still do not have complete feature parity between the Mac and PC Notes 8 clients due to the continued absence of the Quickr and Activities plugins in the Mac client. Is there a commitment to deliver these yet? Us no-longer-poor Mac enterprise users need these...

  1. 12  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 1/7/2009 3:43:36 PM

    Activities works today; see Luis Benitez's blog from yesterday for details. It will likely ship in the 8.5.1 Mac release. Quickr plug-in is still TBD.

  1. 13  Peter Wilson  | 1/7/2009 4:43:27 PM

    I know a number of people who said they would love Sametime and Lotus Mobile Connect on the iPhone. That would be nice.

    Pete

  1. 14  Luke  | 1/8/2009 4:43:52 AM

    Now, if we only could get that Eclipse-based Domino Designer on the Mac... :-)

    Fantastic work Ed. My congrats

  1. 15  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 1/8/2009 11:22:45 AM

    The team still at Macworld reported one typical encounter from yesterday:

    "Yesterday, I spoke with [customer] who was quite literally taken aback by the visual appeal of the client. He literally took out his notebook and wrote down the fact that he is going to ask his IT department to get him upgraded on his return."

  1. 16  Eric Eskam  | 1/8/2009 4:11:16 PM

    I'm glad to see IBM partnering with Apple aggressively. I sincerely hope you had a Foundations server in the booth to show off too! "No Windows required for our ecosystem" is powerful stuff - well, unless you want to develop :( But this is the best it's ever been - keep it coming!

    ""Yesterday, I spoke with [customer] who was quite literally taken aback by the visual appeal of the client. He literally took out his notebook and wrote down the fact that he is going to ask his IT department to get him upgraded on his return.""

    Yup, UI is important, Ed :) It may have taken 10+ years, but thank goodness someone at IBM finally got it. Better late then never - 8 rocks! Looking forward to the next year!