Apple Highlights iPhone Enterprise Interest

[MacRumors]

At the beginning of Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference keynote today, Apple CEO Steve Jobs highlighted some of the interest that has been shown from the enterprise market since the preview of iPhone Firmware 2.0 and the Software Development Kit.

According to Apple, 35% of the Fortune 500, including the top 5 commercial banks, top 5 securities firms, 6 of 7 top airlines, 8 of 10 top Pharmaceutical companies, and 8 of 10 top Entertainment companies, and higher education customers have all contacted Apple regarding the capabilities presented.



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[ipedro]

Apple's gonna get a head start on this new wave of computing.

I foresee some companies dropping the need for employees computers entirely and just giving them an iPhone.

Microsoft didn't even see it coming!

[mogzieee]

Store screenshot:

[twoodcc]

well this should help get the iPhone out there

[stagi]

This could be huge for AAPL

[BongoBanger]

Only 35%?

That's pretty poor actually.

[sndcj1]

Originally Posted by BongoBanger

Only 35%?

That's pretty poor actually.

I don't know about that... these are the same companies that are still running windows 2000, and only started looking at XP now that SP 3 came out.

[AlphaAnt]

Originally Posted by BongoBanger

Only 35%?

That's pretty poor actually.

There's also the fact that they haven't accepted all applicants. I don't know if they would turn down a corporate customer, but I looked into getting the license for my company, and was turned off by the fact that I would have to get our legal department involved in the process.

Also, my company (which is in the bottom half of the top 100) does things very slowly, so they may have barely moved signing up for the license from the "good idea" stage to the "forming a committee to discuss possibly maybe considering signing up" stage.

[phocion]

Apple should consider making a version of the iPhone without a camera if they are serious about the enterprise push. The camera rules it completely out for use at a lot of tech firms, military sites, and other outfits that deal with sensitive information.

I work at one such company, and that's the only thing holding me back from buying one. Unfortunately it's a showstopper.

[BongoBanger]

It's pretty poor because the vast majority looked at RIM's offerings. I think over 80% of them use Blackberry but I could be wrong.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by ipedro

Apple's gonna get a head start on this new wave of computing.

I foresee some companies dropping the need for employees computers entirely and just giving them an iPhone.

Maybe there are some employees that might be able to forgo a computer, but I doubt any companies of significance would be able to quit using desktop / notebook style computers.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by BongoBanger

It's pretty poor because the vast majority looked at RIM's offerings. I think over 80% of them use Blackberry but I could be wrong.

There's something missing in that perspective. RIM has been in the business for quite some time. Apple has only been making these devices for one year. It's astonishing progress to be made in such a short time.

[Infrared]

Originally Posted by phocion

Apple should consider making a version of the iPhone without a camera if they are serious about the enterprise push. The camera rules it completely out for use at a lot of tech firms, military sites, and other outfits that deal with sensitive information.

An iPhone without a phone would be even more secure.

[iHusky]

an iPhone without the phone or the camera is already out there - the iPod Touch

[pgwalsh]

So MobileMe or me.com is the new .mac and we'll have all the .mac features as well plus the 20GB of storage for $100 a year? That's not too bad at all.

[diamond.g]

Originally Posted by phocion

Apple should consider making a version of the iPhone without a camera if they are serious about the enterprise push. The camera rules it completely out for use at a lot of tech firms, military sites, and other outfits that deal with sensitive information.

I work at one such company, and that's the only thing holding me back from buying one. Unfortunately it's a showstopper.

Sadly most here are going to poke fun at you over that statement.

I actually agree with you. It would be nice to have an iPhone that doesn't have a camera. Classified facilities frown on camera phone posession in building.