Apple Inc. AAPL had taken another step toward strengthening its enterprise offerings. The tech behemoth just made its Swift programming language open source.
Thus, developers from across the world will be able to contribute to the language while creating software for different computing platforms, including Linux. The open source codes are available on the new Swift.org and the GitHub platform, quite popular with software developers.
Apple claims that Swift, launched in 2014, is the "fastest growing programming language in history and combines the performance and efficiency of compiled languages with the simplicity and interactivity of popular scripting languages”. In addition, the iPhone maker believes that the ease of using and learning this language allow coders and even non-coders to bring their ideas to develop apps and software.
It will become more appealing for corporate developers writing enterprise apps because they can now use it to write the code that runs on the server and cloud, as well as the ones that run on mobile devices.
This initiative has been a boon for enterprise app developers, like International Business Machines Corporation IBM, because of the flexibility.
IBM is looking forward to gain from this move as it has already collaborated with Apple to develop more than 100 apps using Swift. The combination of IBM’s technological prowess and Apple’s language would benefit both the entities especially since the apps would be able to function on IBM Watson.
As IBM executive, John Ponzo, put it, "We are also posting about Swift on the IBM DeveloperWorks website, sharing additional assets from IBM on building around Swift and we're going to be very actively contributing to open source Swift".
Having solidified its retail business, Apple is now expanding into the enterprise market. The 2014 collaboration was primarily aimed at integrating IBM’s Big Data and analytics capabilities with iPhone and iPad for business customers. Earlier this year, IBM launched the novel MobileFirst for iOS apps in healthcare, financial services, travel, transportation and industrial sectors. As of Apr 2015, the two companies had developed a total of 22 apps and the number is expected to increase to 100 by this year end.
Open sourcing Swift will no doubt endear Apple to developers working in the enterprise and cloud computing areas thus improving its prospects in this important segment. A few months back, Apple also partnered with Cisco CSCO to enhance its offerings for iOS enterprise users. As such, Apple’s enterprise endeavors continue in full steam. We expect the company to continue to expand in the domain, attracting many more such partners to drive growth.
Currently, Apple has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the broader tech space is MeetMe MEET sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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