The iPhone dons a suit and tie
IT departments are finally starting to buy Apple's smartphone, says a Deutsche Bank report
Click to enlarge. Source: Deutsche Bank
"There is growing evidence that the iPhone is making inroads into the Enterprise," writes Deutsche Bank research analyst Chris Whitmore in a report to clients Monday.
According to his estimates, Apple (AAPL) by the end of the year will have shipped about 2 million iPhones into corporate accounts through various routes, including internal IT department purchases and formal reimbursement policies.
That would give Apple about a 7% share of the enterprise smartphone market this year, up from 2% in 2008.
IT departments were famously resistant to the iPhone when it was launched two years ago. That resistance has begun to melt, writes Whitmore, for several reasons:
- User satisfaction. He cites the recent J.D. Power survey that named the iPhone "best in class" for both the consumer and enterprise markets
- Virtual keyboard. The initial perception that physical keyboards are critical for enterprise users has proved to be a "fallacy," says Whitmore.
- Enterprise applications. Among the 95,000 apps available for the iPhone, Whitmore estimates that 6,000 are enterprise-related, illustrating what he calls the "accelerating utility of the platform."
- Sluggish competition. The incumbents, Research in Motion (RIMM) and Microsoft (MSFT) Windows Mobile, with >60% and 20% enterprise share, respectively, "are years behind Apple," he writes, "and appear to be losing ground in Developer support / Application development."
See also:
- J.D. Power: iPhone is No. 1, again
- Top 10 reasons IT won't support the iPhone
- Forrester: Top 4 reasons IT should support the iPhone
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]
What it is important its not the device, is the applications for the devices.
Writting apps for iPhone it is pretty easy and the device has a better user experience IHMO than others devices.
My company is working in business app for mobiles, and really doens't matter if it is an iPhone or BlackBerry, the app will run anyway, but for sure those apps run much more better in an iPhone.
Why on earth are people arguing about how professional the iphone is vs a blackberry? We much prefer supporting the iphone in our IT dept. No BES licenses, less complaints, we love it. Besides, all people want around here is a decent email client and web browsing which we are very happy with. iTunes, the App store and proprietary development issues mean absolutely nothing to us. And they take a heck of a beating. Of course we despise AT&T, but overall far less complaints since we switched.
I feel sorry for any IT department that gets punished with this horrible device. I have an iPhone and couldn't agree more that it is NOT a professional device. Great if you like toys, but if that is the case get a WII.
Looks like this Whitmore has decided to join the stallwarts of Wishful Analysis (Jene (Ecosystem) Munster and Shaw (Corporate DNA) Wu) and to outdo them in this fine art: he doesnt just believe in what he writes – he WANTS it to happen, ie for some messianic reason, he wishes Apple to vanquish all competitors.
I would have to agree that iTunes too slowly on Windows. However, the ease of syncing/backing up your iPhone makes up for it.
Many people are skeptical about the specifications of iPhone. Virtual keyboard, battery life, security concerns, etc. In my opinion, give it a try and you'll discover what you like and what you don't like. I went from having an iPod and a mobile phone to just one device. Now with GPS as well. Can't complain when I can mash 3 devices into one.
The Iphone is for companies who are active in today's marketplace. If you sell a 1800's type commodity, sure, you don't really need a modern communications device, any phone or Blackberry will do. Blackberries are fine if 99.9% of your phone usage is email – it's set up by IT so there's no other curve but if you want or need any other functionality, the iPhone is to the car what other phones are to a 3-wheel CAR – it's functional and a stopgap but ultimately, not very steady or safe at faster speeds.
I've switched over to ATT iPhone from Verizon and really I don't see the issue with coverage; the payoff is a much better device that runs a much easier and more useful software than I had on BB. Its too easy and it works. The coverage is, I'm sure different in all situations.
Could I suggest people who can and like typing on a virtual keyboard to buy an iPhone, and people who dislike or can´t to buy another smartphone and both of you stop bitching about your freaking phone selection. Thanks.
Ya that'll change real quick because of the following reasons:
1. AT&T's extremely crapy 3G coverage
2. Android's phone are starting to come out in masse and already enjoy healthy developer support in Europe, the next series of Android phones that are comming out are specifically targeting iPhone users / customers.
3. Pricing structure and the non open development of iPhone Apps, there's this "race to the bottom" market force at work that is really not all that healthy for the ecosystem. It's simple – no $ in the apps store, less people will develop software for it. And more "free" apps will turned out not to be free or the market will be (and in some way, alread is) flooded with crapware. Eventually, Apple will either have to subsidize the Apps market to maintain a healthy ecosystem or impose price control. Either way, a lot of at Apps store profit will go away once RIM and MSFT figured out how to do it right.
4. iPhone still has TONS of security concerns, it is fast becomming a very large platform, which means hackers and spammers and viruses will begin targeting them, a problem that Apple have never had to face before – welcome to the big league Apple!
5. iPhone will never work as well as windows phone or Blackberries in an enterprise environment for one simple reason – Apple don't own any software / hardware on the backend and they rely on 3rd party to make all that work.
Obviously business related apps like a wiki from http://www.mobilewikiserver.com make sense when it comes pre-loaded with corporate data.
Over half of our IT staff have switched to the iPhone, in lieu of the company issued Blackberry. We are hounded by our users daily to officially support it. I use it myself and prefer it for business, as do most people (here) that actually have one and use it. The heavist criticism we see tends to come from folks that simply love to hate Apple, or assume all businesses are just like theirs. Of course no device is without limitations. Many of the so-called reasons against its business value may be true for their world, but are just not a problem in reality for us.
@ Jag
You say:
"Because there are developers that can write software that runs on it. It seems the innovators at Apple have forgotten how a modern development environment looks like,"
Given the fact that there are almost 100,000 applications for iPhone, and that everyone says how quickly they can develop for the platform, I think you are out in left field her. It seems you know not of what you speak!
- Apple doesn't open the needed API to control the device at the level needed (progress though)
- encryption is a joke and busted the week it was out. Please get FIPS certified like yesterday
- Jailbreak happens way to quick. Once Jailbroke all kinds of apps are available to access the root to obtain said busted encrypted data as well the data cache of images everytime the home button is pressed
Apple has a long way to go, yes not every company needs strong security and the reality is also this growth is where PERSONAL LIABLE devices are allowed. Most companies want nothing to do with that no matter the negligible cost savings. Still company data you have to be mindful of, still the same regulatory concerns. State of Mass has a whole consumer data protection regulation about to hit March 1st that extends to businesses of ANY size. So Apple needs to fix it's encryption. It's pretty sad when even 3rd party solutions admit it's up to Apple to fix.
If Apple will give up control of the iPhone, drop any need for iTunes, keep the device from being hacked so easily as well find a means to deploy enterprise developed applications IN HOUSE – sign me up – until then, keep your personal iPhone to yourself.
"Yeah?!? Try using a typewriter with those long nails, see what functionality you get. So they need to design a key bored [sic] for people with long nails in mind. That's rather idiotic, don't you think."
The iphone "virtual keyboard" is rather clutzy and difficult to use for people with average size hands, regardless of finger nail length. I picked one up, tried to type out a simple "SMS" message on one and not only did it fail to register the buttons I pressed – it also try substituting some very strange words in an effort to "predict" what I wanted to type. Keyboards (even with tiny little tic-tac size keys) work much better IMHO.
Why iPhone is not suitable for business users:
1. AT & T has very spotty network,what if I don't have coverage at my home.
2. There is a reason why Windows is default in business apps. Because there are developers that can write software that runs on it. It seems the innovators at Apple have forgotten how a modern development environment looks like, in the age of ruby, c# it feels light years behind.
3. How much has the platform added value between 1.0 and 3GS, look at the competition for example, as other user has pointed out, Android Droid seems to be as good as hype. I am trying to say it's hard to develop against this platform
"One problem potential users should be aware about: the on-screen touch keyboard is not working well if the user has acrylic or long nails."
Yeah?!? Try using a typewriter with those long nails, see what functionality you get. So they need to design a key bored for people with long nails in mind. That's rather idiotic, don't you think.
If you love apple then buy it other wise just through it out. iPhone is so tightly coupled with iTunes and iTunes runs very badly on windows. Apple closed their eyes? Do not they know 92% people use windows and millions of software runs much faster then iTunes on windows. What is innovative team doing? Instead of just blaming windows. Are they just working from Mac users? Hey Eclipse IDE runs much faster then iTunes. After all iTunes is used to sync your iPhone data. I love iPhone but iTunes making me to hate.
Good luck…
To SJ,
Apple has a developer program that allows companies to develop iPhone apps for internal use only, such as a proprietary sales app.
Only apps for public use must go through the Apple App Store.
ZV
I use iPhone for business for two years now. Setting up Outlook account is easy. Integration of services is excellent. Lots of helper applications even without IT developing a company-specific app.
One problem potential users should be aware about: the on-screen touch keyboard is not working well if the user has acrylic or long nails.
Even now, many otherwise-smart analysts are blind to the paradigm shift that the iPhone (and iPod Touch) represents.
It's going to get interesting considering how competitive the new speedy Motorola Droid (Android 2.0) with tight integration across the features and network it runs on(Verizon). And Android is open and is available on any network, not just on AT&T (Can you hear me apple 
How about writing your business applications on iPhone, can you deploy them, Appled doesn't have a model for that as everything has to be deployed through iTunes
Given iPhone's superior and robust platform, there are no reasons why any application and technical architects would forego the iPhone and choose another platform such as blackberry in designing their enterprise, end user, and web services architectures.
"Besides, all people want around here is a decent email client". But the IPhone simply isn't a decent email client. It's missing so many basic features found in even the most rudimentary email clients that I can't call the IPhone a rudimentary email device. It's that substandard. The IPhone won't check your subfolders in your IMAP account for new messages – it checks only the Inbox. The IPhone won't let you mark messages as read. You have to open each and every one of them, one by one. I could go on and on.