A large group of Japanese companies are reportedly set to join forces on June 21 to create what is being described as an "iOS Consortium." Hitachi and NEC are among the 70 companies that share a single goal of speeding up iOS adoption within enterprise environments.
The consortium will look to jointly develop software, train engineers and make enterprise applications easier to understand and use. The Verge points out that Hitachi believes iOS products can reach far beyond their traditional roles and become valuable tools at banks and retail stores, for example.
By working as part of a consortium, each member company will be required to do far less work than they would on their own by dividing the workload. This will reduce overall costs across the board and cut down on the amount of time a client would need to wait before they can install newly developed software within their product lines.
Nikkei highlights the fact that Apple has been trying to attract support in Japan but their enterprise support is pretty weak. The group will reportedly ask Apple for help with the project, seeking out information and technology that would be necessary to create new business apps. From an outsider's standpoint, it seems that Apple would benefit greatly from cooperating with the consortium.
Surprisingly enough, Japanese businesses haven’t traditionally been quick to adopt new technologies. The Verge highlights their continued reliance on the fax machine as just one example of this. If the consortium is successful, however, perhaps it can speed along the adoption of mobile devices in the workplace to replace some other technology that’s well past its prime.
