Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iPhone Winning Corporate Customers

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
63,442
30,645


A Reuters report indicates that Apple's iPhone has started making inroads with corporate customers despite initial criticisms about its suitability for that market.

Earlier this week, SAP announced that they would be introducing a version of their sales-force automation software for the iPhone before introducing mobile versions for more traditional corporate devices, such as the BlackBerry and Treo.
The reason? SAP's own salespeople were clamoring for it, saying the iPhone was easier to use, according to Bob Stutz, SAP senior vice president in charge of developing customer relationship management software.
Click to expand...
A few other factors, however, still need to be addressed, according to analysts, before the iPhone can be fully adopted. This includes integration with push-email and Outlook/Exchange compatibility.

Article Link
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2007/12/06/iphone-winning-corporate-customers/
pedroistheman

pedroistheman

macrumors 6502
Sep 10, 2007
286
0
So are they going to have a "corporate mode?" I don't see the iPhone being a useful device for mass email. It gets the job done, but my mail app still doesn't scale for some emails.
 
jrober

jrober

macrumors regular
Jan 22, 2003
212
0
Heathfield, UK
o2 in the Uk better get their finger out. I have a company phone with o2 and when I asked to be able to put my O2 sim into an iPhone they told me that iphones were not for corporate customers and it would not work.

Come on o2...I want an iPhone - Steve can you give them a nudge it is worth another sale isn't it?

John
 
PCMacUser

PCMacUser

macrumors 68000
Jan 13, 2005
1,702
23
Until the iPhone is officially unlocked from being on a particular network in each country, it'll never get established in the corporate environment. Most major (and often the minor) companies have big contracts with mobile phone networks, so they're tied in and can't just switch to another one at the drop of a hat.
 
W

whenpaulsparks

macrumors regular
Jun 5, 2004
210
1
Tallahassee, FL
yes to push email support, yes to exchange *calendaring* and *address book* support.

but i've been using my iphone with exchange mail for the past few months and it works flawlessly. and since it's IMAP, if a message is read on my computer at work, it's marked read when it gets to my phone. it works great.

the author needs to help kill the myth that the iphone doesn't work with exchange... it does, just only with mail currently, which is the most important feature of exchange. i will love to see calendar and address book support one day.
 
PCMacUser

PCMacUser

macrumors 68000
Jan 13, 2005
1,702
23
whenpaulsparks said:
the author needs to help kill the myth that the iphone doesn't work with exchange... it does, just only with mail currently, which is the most important feature of exchange. i will love to see calendar and address book support one day.
Click to expand...

No calendar support? Oh, forget it then. I'll stick to my Treo for now.
 
B

blilly

macrumors member
Aug 2, 2005
61
0
pedroistheman said:
So are they going to have a "corporate mode?" I don't see the iPhone being a useful device for mass email. It gets the job done, but my mail app still doesn't scale for some emails.
Click to expand...

That is exactly why people find it effective: it keeps people from spamming a bunch of irrelevant sales BS and PPT decks around--if you want "corporate mode" stick to blackberry.
 
C

cmcconkey

macrumors 6502
Nov 22, 2005
313
5
Rocky Face, GA
Can the iPhone be linked into a Business AT&T account? I was just hired as an IT director for a company and they are with AT&T for their cell service. I would like to get the iPhone if possible, but not sure what the restrictions are on account type.


Thanks
Christopher
 
K

kfordham281

macrumors 6502
Dec 4, 2007
432
1
Until the iPhone can sync calendar, address books, and mail with exchange it will be a fringe corporate phone at best. Rumor a while back was that they would license active sync from Microsoft but I haven't heard anything in months. Jobs himself said something to Walt Mossberg about some testing with corporate customers but I can't find a link to the article right now (this was at least 4 months ago).
 
E

emccus01

macrumors member
Nov 26, 2007
31
0
cmcconkey said:
Can the iPhone be linked into a Business AT&T account? I was just hired as an IT director for a company and they are with AT&T for their cell service. I would like to get the iPhone if possible, but not sure what the restrictions are on account type.


Thanks
Christopher
Click to expand...

No corporate discount yet. I heard possibly February when the sdk comes out. Probably with support for office.
 
L

lseven

macrumors newbie
May 5, 2006
15
0
whenpaulsparks said:
yes to push email support, yes to exchange *calendaring* and *address book* support.

the author needs to help kill the myth that the iphone doesn't work with exchange... it does, just only with mail currently, which is the most important feature of exchange. i will love to see calendar and address book support one day.
Click to expand...

I'm able to sync my address book and calendar between Outlook/Exchange at work, Google Calendar and contacts, iCal and Address Book. All by using Plaxo. It runs an app on each box that synchronizes it with a central server. It isn't native support, but it gets the job done and it's free.

http://www.plaxo.com

I also have my interesting mail forwarded to a special Yahoo push email address. The push is not always reliable, but better than nothing.

I'd love to see native support for all of this, but at least these options help in the meantime.
 
O

operator207

macrumors 6502
Jul 24, 2007
487
0
If your running a hacked iPhone, and want (almost) push email with a regular imap account, check out imapidle. Its works. Though it does not download the emails in the mail app. It just notifies you that you have new email. Its not quite push email, but the closest thing you can get at the moment.

It does crash without telling you sometimes, though I have not had that happen in ~2 weeks.
 
J

joshfoth

macrumors newbie
Mar 20, 2007
7
0
Jobs says "coming weeks"

kfordham281 said:
Until the iPhone can sync calendar, address books, and mail with exchange it will be a fringe corporate phone at best. Rumor a while back was that they would license active sync from Microsoft but I haven't heard anything in months. Jobs himself said something to Walt Mossberg about some testing with corporate customers but I can't find a link to the article right now (this was at least 4 months ago).
Click to expand...

It was actually in the USA Today and here is the question and Jobs' response:

Q: What about corporate e-mail? I understand that's an issue for many consumers, who may not be able to hook up to their company networks?

Jobs: You'll be hearing more about this in the coming weeks. We have some pilots going with companies with names you'll recognize. This won't be a big issue.

Here is the entire article if you are interested: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/techinvestor/corporatenews/2007-06-28-jobs-stephenson-qa_N.htm

That was a few days before the launch of the iPhone. The "coming weeks" comment doesn't hold much water anymore.
 
T

The Monkey

macrumors 6502
Feb 19, 2006
277
24
joshfoth said:
That was a few days before the launch of the iPhone. The "coming weeks" comment doesn't hold much water anymore.
Click to expand...

True. A pretty dumb (and misleading) statement by Jobs actually. He should not have put a timeframe on it.
 
L

lekun

macrumors regular
Jan 5, 2006
191
5
The failure to even remotely live up to that promise has angered me more than anything else Apple has done.
 
chicagostars

chicagostars

macrumors regular
Sep 5, 2007
121
0
Chicago, IL
crash my blackberry

blilly said:
That is exactly why people find it effective: it keeps people from spamming a bunch of irrelevant sales BS and PPT decks around--if you want "corporate mode" stick to blackberry.
Click to expand...

But hold on! I have a 40MB PPT deck with essential sales that has to get out to everyone! :D
 
Sesshi

Sesshi

macrumors G3
Jun 3, 2006
8,113
1
One Nation Under Gordon
whenpaulsparks said:
yes to push email support, yes to exchange *calendaring* and *address book* support.

but i've been using my iphone with exchange mail for the past few months and it works flawlessly. and since it's IMAP, if a message is read on my computer at work, it's marked read when it gets to my phone. it works great.

the author needs to help kill the myth that the iphone doesn't work with exchange... it does, just only with mail currently, which is the most important feature of exchange. i will love to see calendar and address book support one day.
Click to expand...

Yes, but Exchange isn't an IMAP server. It just happens to be one of the more useless-for-corporate-use stuff it does.

I wonder if Dataviz will / will be allowed to (if there are any restrictions in the licensing agreements with Microsoft - I doubt any such restrictions exist but who knows) develop Roadsync for iPhone. That would be interesting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom