2025 Six Colors Apple in the Enterprise Report Card
Of those expressing a preference, a third said they’d only be comfortable with allowing on-device running of AI models; nearly half said they’d be okay with on-device models and those that run in Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers. Only 18% said they’d be comfortable with everything—on-device, Private Cloud Compute, and third-party AI in the broader cloud.
Finally, we asked our panel how they personally use AI technology in their own jobs. More than half answered in the affirmative, with 19% saying they use it quite a lot. For the other half, it’s a no—and for 16% it’s a hard no.
[…]
After a few years of consistent improvement, the score for Apple’s enterprise programs slid backward this year. Panelists praised incremental improvements to Apple Business/School Manager (ABM/SM), particularly around features like Activation Lock management and Managed Apple Accounts. But the lack of comprehensive APIs hinders automation and efficient management for large organizations. Documentation is seen as improving in some areas, but still needing more depth and consistency.
[…]
In a bit of a (not entirely unexpected) whiplash, the panel’s feelings about Apple’s software side diverge strongly from the praise given to hardware. This was the lowest score in the survey, with the biggest drop. Large sites and businesses were even more critical than the overall survey. A prevalent theme was a perceived decline in software quality (a “continued downward spiral”) and an increase in bugs and instability in recent macOS and iOS releases.
Compared with the regular report card, this panel seems much more negative on software quality.
But if you want to read all the comments from the panelists who were willing to share in public—all 25,000 words of it—who are we to stand in your way?
Previously:
- 2024 Apple Vision Accessibility Report Card
- 2024 Six Colors Apple Report Card
- 2023 Six Colors Apple in the Enterprise Report Card
2 Comments RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
16% said hard no, but they didn't seem to quote any of those respondents. I don't see how at this point anyone informed enough about technology to be asked about their opinion for this survey could find no use for AI at all, ever, at any point. I don't see how a person could even avoid it at this point.
Would have liked to hear an explanation for that.
On further reading, the real responses to that are at the bottom of the "25,000 word commentary" linked at the bottom of the report card page. The most vehement response I see so far is from a SAF-AFTRA member who finds it highly threatening, and most of the others refuse to use it because they believe it is damaging to the environment.
Even the ones who are critical of it almost all admit to using it a little bit.
