IBM and Apple announce new machine intelligence solutions that let developers deploy Watson and Core ML to create mobile, enterprise-grade AI apps. Apple and IBM have been working together for years, so the news is an extension of their existing relationship, which is putting Apple deep inside the new enterprise IT. Announced at the IBM THINK 2018 conference, the news means both companies are working together to combine their machine learning/artificial intelligence (AI) tech into something they are calling IBM Watson Services for Core ML. Coca-Cola Company is already developing prototypes that use these services to create intelligent mobile solutions for field workers, including the use of visual recognition problem identification, cognitive diagnosis, and augmented repair. It means enterprises can create bespoke solutions for specific tasks, adding self-learning and unique AI augmentation technologies that enable those solutions to become smarter as they are used.

In conjunction with the Artificial Intelligence (AI) theme at IBM Think, Apple and IBM announced that the two companies are working together to deliver a mobile AI solution based on IBM Watson Services for Core ML. The partnership will leverage Apple's Core ML framework and Watson Studio (also announced) development tools allowing developers to design apps that will leverage the machine learning (ML) capabilities on Apple devices. Starting with the A11 processor, Apple integrated a dedicated neural engine for inference processing of trained ML models. While it is unusual to see Apple highlight a technical partnership, it is not unexpected. No mobile AI solution would be complete without a cloud solution for model training and development and IBM is a leader in cloud computing solutions and AI.

The service is an expansion of a nearly four-year old partnership between Apple and IBM in which the two companies create corporate apps together for Apple devices like the iPhone and iPad. They've already created apps that help healthcare workers better track medical records and apps for workers in to field to more easily share information they gather with colleagues. The idea is for IBM to sell corporate apps co-created with Apple's design team for business customers to use on mobile devices, and for Apple to then sell those iPhones and iPads to businesses. Apple is increasingly trying to make headway in selling its devices to corporations, an area in which it has previously played a supporting role as it focused on the consumer market. But as the overall consumer smartphone market declines, Apple sees business customers--long the domain of companies like Microsoft and Dell Technologies--as a new area of growth.

Apple and IBM have teamed up on an artificial intelligence service that is intended to make it easier for business customers to create apps.

Apple and IBM have teamed up on an artificial intelligence service that is intended to make it easier for business customers to create apps. The service is an expansion of a nearly four-year old partnership between Apple and IBM in which the two companies create corporate apps together for Apple devices like the iPhone and iPad. They've already created apps that help healthcare workers better track medical records and apps for workers in to field to more easily share information they gather with colleagues. The idea is for IBM to sell corporate apps co-created with Apple's design team for business customers to use on mobile devices, and for Apple to then sell those iPhones and iPads to businesses. Apple is increasingly trying to make headway in selling its devices to corporations, an area in which it has previously played a supporting role as it focused on the consumer market.