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iPhone Winning Corporate Customers
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Not everyone *needs* calendar sync, etc.....
I've worked for several small to medium-size companies where over 40 cellphones were issued to their employees in each case. Yet the phones used were basic Nokia or Motorola models with NO syncing going on between them and the corporate network at all.
Sometimes, businesses provide cellphones just so they can get ahold of employees whenever it's needed ... not to give them a portable copy of their Outlook calendar, to-do list, and address book.
I could easily see iPhones slipping into these places, since they'd allow a decent-sized display for working with web-based apps, and all the basic email functionality an employee would need -- all on a flat rate unlimited data plan that's not overly costly.
Have some of you ever USED a Blackberry before? Honestly, if it wasn't for their "killer feature" of proprietary push email, it would probably be a dinosaur already. Until the new "Pearl" came out, all of them were big, oddly shaped boxes ... and the rolling ball thumb-controllers on them feel "cheap". They're certainly no shining star of web browsing capabilities either.
True, they have a tactile keyboard - but in my experience, most people just want to READ their mail on a phone, not compose big replies. That's why Palm devices used to be so popular, despite lacking real keyboards, too. They're more of a pocket reader for your data than they are a tool to compose/enter data.
I've worked for several small to medium-size companies where over 40 cellphones were issued to their employees in each case. Yet the phones used were basic Nokia or Motorola models with NO syncing going on between them and the corporate network at all.
Sometimes, businesses provide cellphones just so they can get ahold of employees whenever it's needed ... not to give them a portable copy of their Outlook calendar, to-do list, and address book.
I could easily see iPhones slipping into these places, since they'd allow a decent-sized display for working with web-based apps, and all the basic email functionality an employee would need -- all on a flat rate unlimited data plan that's not overly costly.
Have some of you ever USED a Blackberry before? Honestly, if it wasn't for their "killer feature" of proprietary push email, it would probably be a dinosaur already. Until the new "Pearl" came out, all of them were big, oddly shaped boxes ... and the rolling ball thumb-controllers on them feel "cheap". They're certainly no shining star of web browsing capabilities either.
True, they have a tactile keyboard - but in my experience, most people just want to READ their mail on a phone, not compose big replies. That's why Palm devices used to be so popular, despite lacking real keyboards, too. They're more of a pocket reader for your data than they are a tool to compose/enter data.
+1 to what your saying.
My last work place, issued ~25 phones for the non VPs in the company. I got one. No syncing of anything. The people that got the phones were manually typing in ~200 numbers via the keypad. No one could figure out how to sync anything with the POS phones we were given. I ended up using my PB, and bluetooth, to manually sync these phones with a AB vcard dump I made. One number at a time.
The VPs could not understand why people were having trouble with this. Though they have blackberry's, and BES.
I was not even the internal support for that office, just some guy that got his AB into the phone quickly, and had everyone hounding me for the same setup.
I have worked all over the east coast and have a different experience from what you have had. When Blackberries were issued, their email functionality wasnt their only consideration. Their ability to update contacts and calendars wirelessly and sync notes were also invaluable. Not to mention they had brilliant battery life and could take a beating. BB device can also be erased remotely if it were to get into the wrong hands.
I love my iPhone but to even insinuate that any corporation would consider this device for its customers is ludicrous. It will require at least two more generations to even begin penetrating serious corporate environments and at that point RIM would have already added all the multimedia functionality necessary to hold onto their casual users who love email and PIN functionality. At least MS smartphones have activesync which apple could have licensed. I dont see much effort on their part to make things right for personal email how could they tackle corporate email? I still keep my BB with me at all times because the iphone email app is crap plain and simple.
Yes, BB's are great (high end ones), though I prefer the iPhone. My experiences with BB's are either the Bosses phone (best one out there at any given moment since he upgraded all the damned time) or the really cheap one they gave me. There is also my wife's, and its a pretty decent curve. If they are the higher end ones, I can see why anyone would think they are cool, if they are the "2 letters per key" qwerty-esque ones, they are crap IMO.
My last (personal) phone was a WM5 8125 from Cingular, it was ok, though slow as molasses. I over clocked it, and it got a little better. I updated the WM5 on it, and it got a little better. But it would still randomly lock up. Even when reinstalled and running only on a factory setup.
I now have an iPhone, hacked with 1.1.2 on it. I will never go back to a WM5 device. Syncing usually meant "bull through china house" delete and reinsert. WiFi was almost a joke, being that it ate the battery up, and rarely could connect. The iPhone has been great, other than a few times screwing up the instructions to hack it, and bricking it for an hour (hint: forward your # to another #, it saves the 'upgrading but taking a call' problems, and if you do brick it for a while, you can at least not miss phone calls).
The only thing I miss about the WM5 phone, was VoiceCommand by M$. They really did a decent job with that.
As for the corporate insinuation's posted above, my iPhone did a great job handling it. I used it more than the company provided BB. I am not saying that it would be perfect for all companies, but for those that can, its another option than a BB, or just a phone.