Major U.S. Banks Piloting iPhone for Employee Usage

[MacRumors]

Apple has long touted the role the iPhone can play in the business world, frequently pointing to the percentages of top companies using or piloting the device in their businesses. Bloomberg reports today that two of the biggest U.S. banks, Bank of America and Citigroup, are engaged in pilot testing that could open the door for their employees to adopt the iPhone for corporate usage as an alternative to their existing BlackBerry-dominated systems.

Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. are considering whether to let employees use the Apple Inc. phone as an alternative to Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry for corporate e-mail, said three people familiar with the plans. The banks are testing software for the iPhone that's designed to make it secure enough for company messages, said the people, who didn't want to be named because the plans aren't public.

The news marks yet more evidence of Research in Motion's weakening position in the corporate world, following strong growth by Apple in the most recent quarter which saw the iPhone surpass the BlackBerry line in sales.

Bank of America, which has about 284,000 employees, and Citigroup, with 258,000 workers, are also testing Android smartphones, one person said. The efforts are intended to widen the choice of devices employees can use, rather than replace the BlackBerry, the person said.

The trials at Bank of America and Citigroup involve more than 1,000 employees, two people said. Testing, which typically takes four to six weeks, is advanced at Bank of America and will be followed by a pilot project before potentially wider implementation, one person said.

The report points to a survey showing 83% of U.S. companies now permitting employees to use devices other than BlackBerry phones, with many companies finding that they can cut costs by allowing additional options as employees become increasingly willing to pay for iPhones out of their own pockets.

Article Link: Major U.S. Banks Piloting iPhone for Employee Usage

[res1233]

WOW! This is huge.

[Lancetx]

Took em long enough. At the mid sized bank I work for, we've been using iPhones in the corporate enterprise for almost 2 years now.

[German Toys]

JP Morgan has been doing this for going on 6 months. They have their own App (only employees can access.) Works great.

[dwman]

If this happens and VZ gets the iphone early next year, it's a virtual certainty that it's over for RIM as the corporate email juggernaut it's always been.

[Don Kosak]

Yeah, this is a big boon to champions of corporate iPhone use. Now your slide on "Security" can just read "* Used by major corporations and banks like Bank of America / Citi"

[ghostface147]

So what does RIM have to do to return as the defacto in the corporate world?

[Pachang]

Major apple news and discussion site piloting news nobody cares about

[mobi]

The sooner the better...leading the way to the enterprise halo effect...but no Xserve?

[the vj]

Originally Posted by ghostface147

So what does RIM have to do to return as the defacto in the corporate world?

The navigation and web surfing in a BlackBerry is totally inferior than the iPhone. I mean, it is a design issue, the iPhone is so intuitive, the BB is not.

[h1r0ll3r]

Goodbye to Blackberry

[GFLPraxis]

Now if only Bank of America will fix their online banking application to work for the state of Washington and Idaho like they've been talking about for the last two years.

[Mister Snitch]

Originally Posted by res1233

WOW! This is huge.

Yes, Apple is breaking through the Blackberry Barrier.

[rwilliams]

Originally Posted by ghostface147

So what does RIM have to do to return as the defacto in the corporate world?

Offer up some new killer feature that no other platform has. With the iPhone, and now Android, supporting Exchange over the air, the Blackberry Enterprise Server no longer makes a lot of sense, especially for the cost involved. Not to mention that the iPhone and Android phones deliver a far superior user experience overall. RIM is going to have to reinvent themselves if they want to keep their once loyal users from jumping ship over the next 5-10 years.

[jessica.]

My company has been using them since the 3GS.

[Mattie Num Nums]

My company already is using the iPhone and iPad. We are hoping to use JAMF Casper 8 to manage them.

[Mal]

Originally Posted by Pachang

Major apple news and discussion site piloting news nobody cares about

Then don't read it. Saying no one cares about it is obviously false though, because there are already positive comments here.

jW

[linux2mac]

They are most likely doing so because iPhone is buggy and not secure as all the Android lovers continually point out to us iPhone users.

[apple1990]

It ain't over for BB yet though because I know a surprisingly large amount of people who have Blackberrys. Its great that the iPhone is continuing to make strides into the corporate market.

This come a day after Gartner (a very well respected research firm) urged corporations to adopt the iPad now before its too late.

Great News

[powers74]

Eastman Chem's gone to iPhone too. I can't believe people still under estimate Apple.

[LadyHoneyBabe]

They're testing both iPhone and Android. So they could choose iPhone over Android and Blackberry or are they looking to use all 3 (BB, iPhone, Droid)?

[shartypants]

This is the early signs of Blackberry's decline. I use the word decline over death because its not necessarily a bad device, its just loosing its advantage (in the corporate market). Good news for iPhone! I really don't think Android will make many inroads in this area.

[thetexan]

ActiveSync is a great technology, and it has little to do with Apple and more to do with Microsoft. RIM was king in the corporate world because there weren't many other options besides cumbersome POP3/IMAP. Microsoft's technology is still fairly new and it's finally a polished, true product. Most important, it's free and second most important is it's part of the actual product so there are no other software packages to run or hardware requirements besides scaling for usage.

All Apple and Android for that matter really did here was take MS's software and put it on their phone. IT people are just finally convincing bean counters RIM isn't necessary anymore.

[rwilliams]

Originally Posted by GFLPraxis

Now if only Bank of America will fix their online banking application to work for the state of Washington and Idaho like they've been talking about for the last two years.

At least you have one through BOA. Wachovia never created one, and the transition to Wells Fargo continues at a snail's pace, so I can't use WF's app or mobile website either for now.

[PsyD4Me]

only when it comes to Verizon,

ATT is terrible.