Apple and IBM announced an “exclusive” deal on Tuesday in which IBM will build a new line of enterprise-specific apps for Apple’s iOS, aimed at companies in retail, health care, transportation and other industries. Apple will roll out new support services for businesses, while IBM will be creating new “unique cloud services” for iOS, including tools for security, analytics and device management. IBM will also be able resell iPhones and iPads to its corporate customers.

The deal is significant for several reasons. Apple devices are widely used by business people, but the company had little regard for the needs of corporate IT staff. Until now, IBM had the same access to Apple’s APIs (application programming interfaces) and tools as other vendors did. Tuesday’s deal might give IBM greater access to Apple features, allowing IBM to integrate them with its own mobile management tools. By creating this partnership, IBM will be able to allow Apple products and services to communicate better with current IBM systems, making life easier for the IT staff at large enterprises.

While this partnership may have long-term significance for other mobile business platforms, like Google’s Android OS, Microsoft’s Windows Phone and Blackberry, not everyone saw it as a landmark deal. Jack Gold, president of J. Gold Associates, noted that IBM has forged such deals before, with BlackBerry and the former Palm Inc. He said he wasn’t surprised by the deal, which allows IBM’s enterprise software group to expand its client base among customers who need more support for iOS. “IBM has done these types of deals in the past,” he said.

It’s also a shift for Apple, who has shown little concern for how businesses cope with integrating its devices. By partnering with a company that understands the needs of its corporate clients, it gives Apple a valuable distribution channel in the enterprise market without having to change how it operates. That, in turn, could help IBM shed some of its stuffy corporate image. While Apple has never aligned itself so closely and publicly with a major partner, the deal offers tremendous potential for both companies and the businesses that rely on them.