Apple, GE Team Up For Industrial IoT Apps, Launching SDK This Month

Apple and General Electric are teaming up to develop “powerful industrial apps,” the companies announced on Wednesday.

The deal with GE comes after Apple teamed up with other companies for iOS apps, including IBM, Cisco and SAP.

The partnership includes a new iOS software development kit based on GE’s Internet of Things platform Predix. With the kit, developers will be able to create “industrial IoT apps” that will bring predictive data and analytics from Predix to iPhones and iPads.

The new SDK is set to launch on Oct. 26, the companies said.

“The partnership between Apple and GE is providing developers with the tools to make their own powerful industrial IoT apps,” General Electric CEO John Flannery said in a statement. “Our customers increasingly need to arm their workforces through mobility. Working together, GE and Apple are giving industrial companies access to powerful apps that help them tap into the predictive data and analytics of Predix right on their iPhone or iPad.”

The partnership means developers will be able to create apps that give industrial workers more data on the performance of their equipment and operations when using their iPhone or iPad. For example, a certain app developed with Predix SDK will be able to alert an employee of a potential problem with an equipment they are working with, like a wind turbine, via the worker’s iOS device.

The app will also allow the user to work with remote teams when conducting inspections and repairs, while gathering relevant data, Apple said. GE and Apple hope the future industrial apps will “close the information loop faster” and save companies time and money.

Apple CEO Tim Cook expressed his enthusiasm over the partnership.

“GE is an ideal partner with a rich history of innovation across the industrial world in areas like aviation, manufacturing, healthcare and energy,” Cook said in a statement. “Together, Apple and GE are fundamentally changing how the industrial world works by combining GE’s Predix platform with the power and simplicity of iPhone and iPad.”

Besides the partnership for industrial IoT apps, GE said it will standardize on Apple devices for its workforce that includes 330,000 employees worldwide. Meanwhile, the iPhone maker said it will promote GE’s Predix as the industrial IoT analytics platform of choice to its developers and customers.

The partnership comes after Apple released the iOS 11 update last month and as it prepares to launch iOS 11.1. The iPhone company revamped the iPad with the latest iOS update, which allows people to use the tablet for more work or academic related purposes. The iPad’s new features are a way to keep up with other tablets in the market like the Microsoft Surface Pro, which works as tablet and laptop. The recent partnership suggests Apple is again trying to push the iPad among workers and businesses.