Apple's Cook: Eli Lilly bought 15,000 iPads for workers in field

INDIANAPOLIS — Eli Lilly and Co. is participating in a secretive program with tech giant Apple to make the iPad more business-friendly.

The Indianapolis drugmaker has bought iPads for 15,000 field workers, Apple CEO Tim Cook said. Lilly (LLY) also is upgrading its U.S. workforce to the newest version of the tablet, the large-screen iPad Pro.

Cook revealed Apple's partnership with Lilly during a Jan. 26 earnings call with investors. Lilly is part of what Apple (AAPL) calls its mobility partner program, an arrangement between Apple and a few dozen companies.

Apple, whose products are largely geared toward consumers, wants the iPad to become a player in the lucrative commercial technology market at a time when tablet sales are plunging. Relatively few details are known about the program and how its partners work with Apple.

Apple is "continuing to grow our mobility partner program," Cook said. "We added more than 25 partners in the December quarter, bringing the total to over 90."

Lilly has "boosted sales productivity" thanks to the iPad, Cook said. "Lilly has eliminated laptops in the field and is upgrading its U.S. field sales teams to iPad Pro."

Lilly in a statement confirmed it has bought iPads for all sales representatives, district sales managers, account managers and "certain medical liaison roles" who work outside the company's Indianapolis headquarters. The statement did not refer to Apple's mobility partner program.

"Several years ago Lilly made the decision to equip all field-based employees with iPads and eliminate laptop computers for non-management sales employees," Lilly spokesman Mark Taylor said in a statement. "The goals were three-fold: enhance interactions with health care providers, improve sales representative productivity and reduce costs."

Taylor suggested the move hasn't always been smooth.

"Despite some initial challenges in the transition to a completely mobile platform, the program has been successful and we continue to assess options as technology and our processes change," he said.

Taylor declined to specify how many employees received iPads or how much Lilly spent on them. But if Cook's 15,000 employee count is accurate, Lilly almost certainly has spent millions of dollars on tablets — even before upgrading to the iPad Pro.

The iPad Air, which debuted in 2013 and is not the most recent model, starts at $399. If Lilly bought 15,000 tablets at that price, it would have spent nearly $6 million. The iPad Pro, which has a screen area that is 78% larger than the iPad Air 2, starts at $799.

Taylor did not describe the nature of Lilly's deal with Apple. TheWall Street Journal in August reported that Apple's mobility partners give the company feedback on how to make the iPad a better tool for business. Those partners, in turn, receive support and business apps from Apple.

Apple is courting businesses to combat falling iPad sales. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company last month reported that it sold 16.1 million iPads during the holiday shopping quarter ended Dec. 26, a 25% drop from 2014. That decline came despite the November debut of the iPad Pro.

On the plus side for Apple, it sold 2 million iPad Pro tablets during the quarter, beating Microsoft, which sold 1.6 million Surface tablets. The iPad Pro is a tablet geared toward work-related tasks. Apple wants to make its tablets attractive to business customers that the company considers crucial to its future.

Apple's partnership with Lilly, Cook said, is a "great example of our progress."

Follow James Briggs on Twitter: @JamesEBriggs