IBM is smitten by Apple; orders 50000 Macbooks, to scale up to 200000 over the year!

You either love Apple or you don’t. There aren’t two ways about it. If you love Apple, you’re labeled a fanboy. And there’s no dearth of people who love Apple. We believe that’s a good thing. To love and appreciate a technology product is great. But turns out the latest Apple fanboy is IBM!Yes, IBM. Yes, the guys who laid thefoundation for DOS. The folks who created the PC platform. The folks who gave rise to Microsoft, and as a result, Windows. According to a report a few months ago, IBM placed an order of up to 50000 Apple Macbooks for its employees.However, towards the end of the year, the plan is to scale that number up to 150000 to 200000. That’s effectively the whole workforce of IBM. The decision, in addition to being a great milestone for Apple, is significant from a tech history point of view.The reason, according to IBM, is simple. From the statistical data of IT support,5 percent of IBM employees with Macbooks require support. In contrast 40 percent of employees on Windows require IT support.IBM believes that this reduced dependence on support is enough reason to opt for Macbooks despitethe higher initial cost of investment.Just last year, IBM and Microsoft announced a partnership, through which IBM would push Apple’s technology among its enterprise customer base.(Also read:How much is too much for the new iPhone 6s?)For Microsoft, this comes at a time when it has reinvented the way its users experience Windows. A lot is at stake for Microsoft with Windows 10. Ever since Satya Nadella has taken over as Microsoft chief, he has transformedthe identity of the company and its products. He very famously said during the recent Windows 10 eventthat he’d set a new goal for the company and that was to move people from “needing Windows to choosing Windows to loving Windows.”