Apple, GE partner to bring industrial apps to iPhone & iPad

By OEM Update Editorial November 12, 2017 1:05 pm IST

Apple and General Electric (GE) announced a partnership to deliver powerful industrial apps designed to bring predictive data and analytics from Predix, GE’s industrial Internet of Things (IoT) platform, to iPhone and iPad. The two companies unveiled a new Predix software development kit (SDK) for iOS, which gives developers the tools to make their own powerful industrial IoT apps.

Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO said, “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.”

John Flannery, Chairman and CEO, GE said, “The partnership between Apple and GE is providing developers with the tools to make their own powerful industrial IoT apps. 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 SDK gives developers the ability to make powerful, native apps that take full advantage of the industrial analytics from Predix and tap into the power and ease of use of the advanced mobile operating system iOS.

These apps will give industrial operators more insight and visibility into the performance of their equipment and operations right from their iPhone or iPad. For example, a Predix app can notify a worker on their iPhone of a potential issue with equipment such as a wind turbine and allow them to collaborate with remote teams when performing inspections and repairs, collecting relevant data instantly. These industrial apps will close the information loop faster, ultimately increasing cost savings and minimising unplanned downtime.

In collaboration with Apple, GE is also developing apps for both internal use and its customers, giving workers powerful tools to enhance their jobs and help operations run more efficiently. GE’s Asset Performance Management (APM) Cases app, which is available in the App Store, helps industrial businesses increase machine reliability and availability while reducing maintenance costs and managing operations risks. Customers including Exelon Corp. are already putting APM to work and seeing improved equipment uptime and overall productivity.

“Apple is known for setting the standard on hardware and simple software interfaces,” said Brian Hoff, director of corporate innovation at Exelon. “When you combine this with the power of Predix and all of the data Exelon is aggregating and analysing, the possibilities for game-changing solutions are endless.”

“GE would standardise on iPhone and iPad for mobile devices and also promote Mac as a choice for its global workforce of more than 330,000 employees. Apple would promote GE’s Predix as the industrial IoT analytics platform of choice to its customers and developers,” an official statement said.