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Has Apple Missed the Business Boat (Again) With the iPhone?

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pab1953

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 15, 2009
13
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Boy, did people laugh at me in 1985, the editor of a small-town start-up newspaper, with my Mac with its odd graphical interface and its even odder mouse. Those IBMers sure liked to laugh at my mouse.

Of course mice caught on eventually, even with those stuffed-shirt IBM folks, as did the GUI, which Microsoft, with the aid of IBM and other box vendors, took and populated the world with, particularly in business.

And where was the Mac? It was darling of the arts community. It took years and years for Apple to make its way into mainstream business.

I wonder if the same pigeon-holing is going on once again with the iPhone. The folks at ZDNet blame AT&T's less-than-stellar network. http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=18281

Others point to the iPhone's lack of a "real" keyboard. Others say it lacks enterprise-worthy security capabilities.

So, with Palm and Google preparing to make their next moves, where is the iPhone? It's the darling of the arts community. And the nicely-off (43% of iPhone owners earn north of $100k).

Will the iPhone find a home in business? Does Apple want it to? Can it afford not to?
 
I don't know why people think there has to be only one smartphone in the world. There's plenty of market available for all sorts of styles and types for everyone.

As for iPhone owner average income, I don't believe it either. Not with something like 20% of owners under 21, last I heard. Perhaps for their parents.
 
The thing about the cell phone industry, is that there's plenty of room for everyone to cut themselves a nice slice of the pie.
At MacWorld 2007, Jobs said that if they achieved only 1% global market share, that would mean 10 million units sold per year.

 
I think you're totally inaccurate with your interpretation of the iPhone market. Apple could be doing more to appeal to the business crowd, like full-on document editing, real multi-tasking, etc. But I wouldn't say that they're missing any boats -- the iPhone has been a huge success; has sold millions and will continue to sell millions, so who cares if the customer base is business people, artists, students, rich people, whatever. Business people have been using Blackberries and Palms for a long time, so that's what they know and like, so it's going to be hard to get a lot of them to switch no matter what. Kind of like Windows vs. OS X.

The iPhone appeals to a broad range of people because of the stuff it does do. Before it came out a lot of people were wanting some sort of phone + iPod, so Apple could've just done that, but they went and knocked it out of the park by giving people phone + iPod + internet + ridiculously smooth revolutionary interface + app store + 3-D gaming capability + maps + etc. It's just a very cool, very useful, very fun thing to have in your pocket regardless of what you do.
 
I'm unaware if Apple is promoting to the "business world" at all. Can someone tell me otherwise? Every "There's an app for that..." commercial is geared towards the casual user - either a game, a GPS, an entertainment app? Are there any iPhone adds in legit business magazines/periodicals? In addition, about 98% of the App Store is games. Could you see some business exec browsing through the "Productivity" section of the App Store. LOL! I just don't see any evidence that Apple is even trying to cater to business.
 
pab1953 said:
So, with Palm and Google preparing to make their next moves, where is the iPhone? It's the darling of the arts community. And the nicely-off (43% of iPhone owners earn north of $100k).
Click to expand...

43% wow I feel special being amoung so many rich people and not those low lifes with such lesser phones.
 
Yes. Army looks interested, and i'd imagine the Fortune 500 called a few times. There 10.6 server looks good, and integrates well with iPhones.
Seeing as last time Apple kept it close to their chest what they were up to in demoing and beta testing it in business, i'd imagine we'll hear more at WWDC/July event.

Whilst the iPhone might be seen as a premium product, their server is well priced, and does look to give decent value for money. 10.6's benefits for the server could be rather good. Making XGrid able to implement GPGPU easily from computers would probably go down a treat too.
 
pab1953 said:
...(43% of iPhone owners earn north of $100k).
Click to expand...

I know a lot of iPhone users that make well over that. But I also know quite a few that don't. Maybe its a draw...around 43% maybe...:D Seriously it is about even I think.
 
kas23 said:
I'm unaware if Apple is promoting to the "business world" at all. Can someone tell me otherwise?
Click to expand...

Uhm, Exchange integration into the iPhone?

Do you think Apple's just paying licensing fees to Microsoft because they think it'd be fun? Or do you think that they're doing that because they can use it to make the iPhone more useful to businesses?

I mean, I guess Apple could be throwing money at MS for no reason, but it's up to you to explain WHY they'd be doing that then.
 
Small White Car said:
Uhm, Exchange integration into the iPhone?

Do you think Apple's just paying licensing fees to Microsoft because they think it'd be fun? Or do you think that they're doing that because they can use it to make the iPhone more useful to businesses?

I mean, I guess Apple could be throwing money at MS for no reason, but it's up to you to explain WHY they'd be doing that then.
Click to expand...

What does that have to do with the business world? Everyone, business person or not, benefits from Exchange.
 
After expose, spaces, does Mac OS X allows you two side-by-side two windows in the same space? this is a windows feature only? :p
 
Goona said:
What exactly are they doing wrong?
Click to expand...

The exclusive license with AT&T is what I got from the article. With how bad AT&T is, they are hurting themselves. Essentially like making a Porsche that can only be driven on gravel roads.
 
kdarling said:
Funny :)

Of course, last I read, an even larger percentage of Blackberry owners make $100,000 or more. (Which is actually believable.)
Click to expand...

When hyper inflation kicks in next year from the governent printing all those trillions of worthless dollars a 100k will prrobably be just above poverty level. I have a Blackberry and I'm going to change to the iPhone when the new one comes out this summer.

I would imagine many business people carry a BlackBerry because it's a company phone.
 
The problem is that a lot of people really still have this idea that apple = "cool" and blackberry (and to a lesser degree palm and winmo) = "business." Once a brand has an image as strong as apple's (or RIM's for that matter) it's really hard to shake regardless of how good of a product you put out.

oh, and no way do i believe that 43% of iphone owners, or bb owners for that matter, make north of $100k.
 
One of the reasons the Blackberry got so popular in business was the fact it didn't have a camera on it. Lot of offices have policies on camera phones in meetings.
 
Does Apple even care who buys them as long as they sell X units? Apple has stated it pretty much wants to make very good products and make money off them. If IT departments are predictable and say "me like BlackBerry, me hate change," well it's their loss if the iPhone would suit them better. I personally don't give a rat's patoot about a physical keyboard. It will either reduce the amount of screen space or make the device thicker. If I wanted to type fast on the go, I wouldn't be dragging something that I have to type on with my thumbs. IMO, fast thumb typing has the same awesome use as knowing how to totally trick out a MySpace page.
 
kas23 said:
What does that have to do with the business world?
Click to expand...

When the first iPhone came out, lack of Exchange support was cited as the reason the iPhone could never be a real business phone. So Apple added it in the 2.0 software to address those complaints.

kas23 said:
Everyone, business person or not, benefits from Exchange.
Click to expand...

I'm REALLY curious where you get this idea from. I don't have an Exchange server at home. Do you? If so, you're unusual, not the norm.
 
QCassidy352 said:
The problem is that a lot of people really still have this idea that apple = "cool" and blackberry (and to a lesser degree palm and winmo) = "business." Once a brand has an image as strong as apple's (or RIM's for that matter) it's really hard to shake regardless of how good of a product you put out.

oh, and no way do i believe that 43% of iphone owners, or bb owners for that matter, make north of $100k.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's hard to change a perception, if the user themself sees a decent improvement in ease of use, joy in using, and productivity. It's infectious - as if it's good enough, many want to recommend on and talk about it.
Being cool doesn't mean it's excluded from being useful, and able to do the business. A n F32 or JSF plane is cool. Doesn't mean it's not able to work.
 
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