TalkTalk set to ditch PCs for Apple

Rollout planned for later this year

TalkTalk's staff are moving from PCs to Apple's MacBooks

TalkTalk has revealed its intentions to switch from desktop PCs to Apple MacBooks for its 1,500 UK staff. The home phone and broadband provider is looking to ditch PCs in favour of Apple laptops, which despite proving popular in the consumer market, have not been the preferred choice for enterprises.

The company confirmed that it is currently trialling MacBooks with 150 staff members in its London head office. Should the trial be successful, TalkTalk will roll out the change throughout its entire UK workforce over the course of this year.

With the soaring popularity of Apple's products, such as the iPhone, the ubiquity of Apple's platform is clearly enough to convince TalkTalk that its workers are ready to use it in the office as well as in their everyday lives.

In the business arena, the use of Apple products has been limited, largely restricted to educational institutions and design and marketing departments in graphics and publishing companies. Only around two per cent of the 51 million computers sold in the enterprise market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa last year were Apple products, according to estimates from research firm Gartner.

According to Isabelle Durand, principal analyst at Gartner, Apple will require additional investment and focus into the business market before end users can really begin to rely on its products in the workplace.

“Apple doesn’t go for enterprises and is weak in terms of support for business customers. It has limited presence, support and even product offering for business users,” she said.

She argued that the business segment is one that Apple cannot afford to continue ignoring, as once enterprises begin to introduce Apple products in the workplace, they are committing to a long-term relationship.

“They will need to take into account the replacement cycle and upgrades for business users. Soon, they will also need to introduce a specific product for the small and medium business segment too, because they have nothing for that segment and the MacBook Pro is too high-end for these sorts of businesses.”