It’s interesting timing for Jamf to go public as it comes on the heels of Apple purchasing Fleetsmith. If you aren’t familiar with how Apple management in the enterprise works, it uses APIs provided by Apple. So Apple’s own MDM would operate on the same APIs that Jamf has available to build around.
I spoke with Jamf CTO Jason Wudi about the IPO, and as one of Jamf’s longest-tenured employees, he was ecstatic about today. For the team at Jamf, it’s the culmination of many years of hard work to build solutions that allow IT departments to manage Apple devices in bulk, but allowing the great Apple experience to still exist for end users.
A great example of Jamf’s commitment to the end-user experience is through Jamf Protect, the first endpoint security solution built using the native APIs that Apple built for endpoint security. There are countless ways to build endpoint security on macOS, but it requires software development decisions that don’t always have the best interest of the user experience at heart. For Apple, it shows that people are recognizing the value of its product in the enterprise. Between macOS, iOS, and iPadOS, every Fortune 500 company is now using Apple products in some form. Twenty years ago, this would have been laughable to imagine.
Jamf IPO wrap-up
One major unknown for Jamf is what Apple intends to do with Fleetsmith in the long term. I covered this last week, and after talking with Jamf, my opinion remains the same. Apple’s purchase of Fleetsmith shows its commitment to the enterprise and its commitment to its own APIs. If a low-cost MDM solution helps get more enterprise, retail, K-12, and healthcare customers using Apple products, that will ultimately be good for Jamf, Addigy, Mosyle, and the other MDM vendors. There will always be a need for vendors to go deeper on solutions and integrations that Apple is unlikely to develop. A perfect example of this thinking is the relationship between Apple School Manager and the Classwork API. They’re building basic management tools for K-12, and building APIs for app developers to go deeper.
I am a Jamf customer myself, and I congratulate the team on the Jamf IPO, as it’s the culmination of 18 years of shouting Apple in the enterprise long before anyone else would listen to them.
