Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Salesforce (NASDAQ:CRM) are joining forces in a partnership that makes Apple stock even more attractive as a long-term holding.

On Sept. 24, the two technology giants announced that Salesforce would be working with Apple to redesign its app to have exclusive new features on iOS. Moreover, the two companies are working together to provide tools for Salesforce developers to build their own native apps.

Essentially, Salesforce is choosing Apple as its “preferred IoT ecosystem.” That is a good thing for Apple stock.

Salesforce is the world’s leading CRM company, with enterprise customers all over the globe. They are a globally trusted brand which employs a widely used platform in the enterprise world. Meanwhile, Apple CEO Tim Cook just last year called enterprise the “mother of all opportunities” due to the fact that enterprise deals tend to be quite large.

Let’s put two and two together. Salesforce is behind a widely used platform in the enterprise world. Apple wants to grow share in the extremely valuable enterprise world. Salesforce and Apple are teaming up to make iOS more attractive to enterprise customers.

The net result? Apple should more effectively penetrate the enterprise market. Ultimately, gaining share in that market will provide a long-term tailwind for Apple stock.

Salesforce & Apple Team Up

The influence of Salesforce in the enterprise world should not be understated. This is a company with $10 billion-plus in revenues, nearly 20% CRM market-share, customers all over the globe and a top-line growth rate of nearly 30%. All this implies that the company’s popularity, market share and customer base are all still growing rapidly.

Salesforce isn’t a consumer-facing business. All these gains are happening in the enterprise world. Thus, Apple and Salesforce teaming up won’t provide much of a tailwind in the consumer market. But, it should provide a huge tailwind in the enterprise market, where iOS controls about 70% of activations in the U.S.

In other words, Apple is already the go-to enterprise solution. The Salesforce partnership almost makes Apple the no-brainer enterprise solution. As such, we could see that share inch closer to 90% and up over the next several years.

In that scenario, Apple stock will head higher. Tim Cook said in 2015 on a conference call that the enterprise market accounted for $25 billion of Apple revenue, and emphasized two years later in an interview that the enterprise market presented a huge opportunity for Apple. Assuming it can grow its U.S. enterprise market share to 90% and up while simultaneously growing its international enterprise market share, then this partnership should provide a material lift to Apple’s iPhone sales over the next several quarters and years.

A simple truth when it comes to Apple stock: if the iPhone numbers are good, Apple stock goes higher.

Yet Another Reason to Like Apple Stock

The Salesforce partnership is yet another reason to like Apple stock for the long-term. It also helps that this partnership comes ahead of the 2018 holiday season, which should be huge for Apple because pent-up iPhone demand is converging on a healthy consumer backdrop, and that convergence should result in a ton of consumer-facing iPhone sales.

Granted, Apple stock isn’t reflecting this strength right now. Instead, the stock has been weak for the past few weeks thanks to trade concerns. Those concerns are very real. But, as they relate to AAPL, such concerns have been somewhat delayed due to the latest round of tariffs exempting key Apple products.

As such, Apple’s biggest headwind has been temporarily suppressed, while its list of tailwinds is only growing. Meanwhile, the stock trades at under 20X forward earnings. Thus, the risk-reward on Apple stock looks favorable here. Although you might not get a big jump until the holiday season, strong holiday sales should put this stock back on its uptrend, and Apple stock should be able to hold that uptrend for the next several quarters and years.

Bottom Line on AAPL Stock

Trade concerns are weighing on Apple stock. They should … but, not by much. If this stock continues to drop amid what is a strengthening domestic operating environment for AAPL, then Apple stock becomes a strong buy.

As of this writing, Luke Lango was long AAPL.