CSCO Cisco Systems Inc

By Don Clark And Daisuke Wakabayashi 

Apple Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. are teaming up to help bring more iPhones and iPads to business users.

The partnership, announced Monday, is aimed at helping Apple's mobile devices communicate more effectively on corporate networks where Cisco gear is widely used, the companies said. They also plan to jointly work on technology to help workers with iPhones and iPads better exploit Cisco's collaboration products, including its video- and Web-conferencing services.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook and Cisco Chairman John Chambers said their companies had spent 10 months working out details of a collaboration they planned to explain to thousands of Cisco sales representatives Monday at a gathering in Las Vegas.

"It became clear to me that partnering with Cisco would yield the results that would enable us to transform work," Mr. Cook said in an interview.

The announcement comes as Apple, a powerhouse in devices sold to consumers, has been taking steps to build a broader presence among business users.

Last year, Apple struck a partnership with International Business Machines Corp. to jointly create apps for the workplace, while IBM employees help sell and support Apple devices with corporate clients.

One impetus is a slowdown in tablet sales. IPad sales have fallen for six straight quarters; revenue from iPads declined 24% in the nine months ended June 27, compared with the same period a year earlier.

Cisco, meanwhile, has been trying to narrow its focus to more profitable businesses since Chuck Robbins assumed the CEO position from Mr. Chambers at the end of the July. Mr. Chambers, who leaned heavily on acquisitions in turning Cisco into the biggest supplier of networking equipment, said the Apple deal underscores a shift to alliances for the biggest industry players.

"We are going to talk about a new generation of partnerships," Mr. Chambers said.

The partnership comes as businesses seek to use smartphones and other mobile devices to make workers more productive, but managing all the gadgets is an increasingly difficult chore.

One big problem, Messrs. Cook and Chambers said, is ensuring employees get adequate networking performance in the workplace. Apple and Cisco said they aim to establish a "fast lane" for iOS devices in the corporate world, prioritizing wireless and Web connections so critical business applications aren't compromised by a streaming cat videos and other nonbusiness fare.

Another issue, they said, is the fact that many workers now have their phone address books on their iPhone rather than on their work desk phones, which may be supplied by Cisco. Integrating such directories is a future goal of the partnership, Mr. Cook said.

During the PC era, Apple struggled to establish a presence in what's now a $2 trillion annual market for corporate technology spending. Many applications were written only for PCs running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows software, not Apple's Mac machines.

But the popularity of Apple's smartphones and tablet computers has propelled them into offices world-wide through the purchasing decisions of individual employees, rather than corporate technology buyers.

Among other recent moves, Apple has developed a sales program with technology companies that create apps targeted at businesses. Apple is playing matchmaker to help companies bundle apps together for small businesses--coupling, for example, a digital cash-register app with a workplace scheduling app.

Write to Don Clark at don.clark@wsj.com and Daisuke Wakabayashi at Daisuke.Wakabayashi@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 31, 2015 14:17 ET (18:17 GMT)

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