New Print Ad Touts iPhone's Business Savvy

[Atlantico]

It amuses me after seeing what Apple did to FCPX, XServe, XSan, BD support, Shake, the Mac Pro and the Cinema Displays, that they expect to be taken seriously in an enterprise environment.

Oil and water, nitro and glycerin, Apple and reality.

Apple's iPhone is doing ok in business at the moment, it has rudimentary features, but will it for good? RIM is never ever ever going to abandon business and enterprise.

Will Apple abandon these new iPhone business users? Probably, yes. That's their track record. Yet many people complain that they have had a hard time 'penetrating' enterprise.

Wonder why.

 

[barkb]

And Apple are really crying about this. All the way to the bank. To their 65Billion+ cash mountain they have.

Maybe it's Apple who does not want to get in bed with business fully yet. Others have and well they are not as profitable as Apple is. I'd argue the only one who has been wildly successful in business is MS.

I'm not saying Apple is crying about business, or missing some giant profit boat - the cool relationship between business and Apple is likely mutual (for good reason) but it's Apple that's taken out a full page ad, so I guess they have some desires.

 

[AwakenedLands]

Business-Savvy.

I love Apple grammar. Please diagram the above sentence. It has to be a sentence right? It has a period.

 

[CorvetteZR1]

I still prefer blackberry email and a real keyboard. iPhone games, camera, and videos for the win though.

 

[faizanshakyboy]

I think the only obstacle that the iphone 4 has to become THE business phone is the battery life. Unfortunately, BB is still higher from this point of view.
http://www.technorotic.com/

 

[KingCrimson]

Actually I see Microsoft becoming big in the business mobile space with Windows Phone 7.

 

[jonnysods]

This is a pretty lame post. But it got me posting, which is the point of things I guess.

 

[linux2mac]

No doubt. I use my iPhone for business and personal use. A good friend and colleague who works for a public safety software company uses an iPhone and iPad for business.

It [iOS] just works.

Which is the reason I left Windows - it's just broken.

 

[tgildred]

Not to feed the "slow news day" crowd, but this is news because enterprise is an arena that Apple has traditionally had a lot of difficulty penetrating. The iPhone, and now the iPad, both are making tremendous inroads in the corporate world, in ways the Mac never could.

This is a shot across the bow at RIM, which is still the favorite in a lot of corporations.

I think it may have helped if that point could have been made in the original post. It would have given the story more relevance, rather than just appearing as "here's a new print ad about business."

Also, "in ways the Mac hasn't yet" not "never could." You're making an awfully big assumption about the future of the Mac there.

 

[milani]

Which is the reason I left Windows - it's just broken.

Same here. Windows was always a very powerful platform for me, and I still use it from time to time, but I got sick of having to constantly take care of it. My switch to Mac has been nothing but bliss.

 

[TheNerdyNurse]

They certainly improve productivity.

They also increase goofing off.

You win some. You loose some.

Long live the iphone!

 

[cozmot]

Not only does it have exchange support, but it has VPN support...

VPN support is a biggee (I use it all the time), and I think it's a mistake not touting this.

 

[cozmot]

I hate to be that guy... but why is this news?

I just saw an iPad billboard put up recently. Should that be posted too?

I think it's interesting because it shows that Apple's going after a weakened RIM. I'd hardly call it "news," but how much real news do we get on a forum called MacRumors?

 

[miles01110]

iPhone loves business. With over 425,000 apps, the best phone for apps just keeps getting better.

Further proof that Apple will never be a major player in the enterprise market with its current mindset. Why does Apple continually tout the selection of apps, when the enterprise market doesn't care about apps? Every enterprise smartphone does e-mail and voice. Not every enterprise smartphone vendor offers the appropriate support service level agreements, security controls, and lifecycle replacement schedules. Apple has none of these. Until they do, the enterprise market will continue to laugh at the i* as suitable for their business needs.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

All that and I'm having a hard time getting our iPhones to talk to the Exchange server. It's an Exchange 2007 server and it's supposed to be 'easy' to setup.

Is there any document or other site that provides assistance in getting it to work?

Thanks for any assistance...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Further proof that Apple will never be a major player in the enterprise market with its current mindset. Why does Apple continually tout the selection of apps, when the enterprise market doesn't care about apps? Every enterprise smartphone does e-mail and voice. Not every enterprise smartphone vendor offers the appropriate support service level agreements, security controls, and lifecycle replacement schedules. Apple has none of these. Until they do, the enterprise market will continue to laugh at the i* as suitable for their business needs.

The 'enterprise market' cares about 'tools' and 'support'. Such trivial things have killed many good products in the past.

The apps are the tools, or potential tools. On the iPad for instance, a physician can view x-rays. THAT is something that is a tool. They could be in the cafeteria or the doctor's lounge and be looking at the x-rays of the patient that they just sent up. THAT goes a long way to greasing the skids of acceptance.

There are many avenues for the iPhone/iPad to enter the enterprise and people are coming up with more everyday. The idea that a person can go to the local Apple Store or one of perhaps tens of thousands of sources and buy their own Apple device takes a lot of the expense out of the enterprise leveraging the devices.

Sure, the Android tablets will make a dent in the acceptance of the iPad but with the already spotty issues with support and updates, the Android market will suffer from their own ideology and broad and thin manufacturer support.

Already, my little self, have evangelized several companies that I come into contact with and they have switched to iPhones just from the 'I want email from the office if it's important' avenue. Several people too have purchased iPads to hold corporate PDF information and also browse intranet and email, etc.

Enterprise seeks results from their tools. I predict that acceptance of the IOS devices will just grow over time.

And no one to my knowledge would ever offer a service level agreement on a smart phone. How, with all of the variables, can a provider guarantee coverage and signal. Lose-lose proposition. (Although I do operate in near bum-*uck Michigan at times and getting a usable signal is sometimes impossible)

Like all markets that Apple is involved in, it is theirs to lose. And Apple does have a history of ignoring some market niches and paying the price...

 

[macsmurf]

The 'enterprise market' cares about 'tools' and 'support'. Such trivial things have killed many good products in the past.

...but mostly they care about reliability, longterm planning, and trustworthy communication. Not really Apple's strengths.

 

[NM4M]

Great phone bout still issues...

...that everyone seems to accept and not fix.

First off, great phone, stable, plenty of opportunities for enterprises to develop for it. ActiveSync works great so even employees without full acces can be productive. But:
- no account specific email signatures. Some situations REQUIRE a particular email signature. The phone will also be used for personnal accounts, so you need the ability to have multiple signatures. 3rd party apps could help here but Apple blocks them from being fully integrated with mail.
- along this same line, account specific email alerts. Or at least let me change it so all the employees do not have the same alert. Even if we could turn the alerts off on a per account bases. Once again there are third party apps that could help here, and once again Apple does not provide a solution and continues to block a work around.

Of course jail breaking gets by this, but that is another whole can of worms.

Dave

 

[FearNo1]

Not when the phone gets so many dropped calls...

Now you can actually enjoy a work phone.

 

[Sackvillenb]

I don't think I would use an iphone for any important business stuff... If my phone (and the data on it) is literally dependent on the one computer that it's effectively tethered too... no thanks. This should get better with icloud and ios 5 I suppose. But I can't have a device that is arbitrarily locked down to one computer. If that computer dies... then I can't sync anymore, basically. Having artificial constraints and liabilities on data is not acceptable, especially for business needs where my data is that much more important.

 

[aliensporebomb]

Weird

All that and I'm having a hard time getting our iPhones to talk to the Exchange server. It's an Exchange 2007 server and it's supposed to be 'easy' to setup.

Is there any document or other site that provides assistance in getting it to work?

Thanks for any assistance...

As a smartphone administrator for my place of business the iPhone is the SIMPLEST smartphone to get connected to an exchange server with the android trailing behind it by a hair and about neck and neck with Windows7 Phones. The phones I see the most problems with are without a doubt Blackberry phones. Constantly jumping on and off the bes, having synchronization problems, etc etc etc.

 

[na1577]

I think it's interesting because it shows that Apple's going after a weakened RIM. I'd hardly call it "news," but how much real news do we get on a forum called MacRumors?

Well if you want take the site name that seriously, it's not a rumor either.

 

[NM4M]

As a smartphone administrator for my place of business the iPhone is the SIMPLEST smartphone to get connected to an exchange server with the android trailing behind it by a hair and about neck and neck with Windows7 Phones. The phones I see the most problems with are without a doubt Blackberry phones. Constantly jumping on and off the bes, having synchronization problems, etc etc etc.

As a user (not directly supported by IT but using my own phone) of BB and VzW iPhone on ActiveSync, there is no comparison. A good friend has the Droid X and he consistently has troubles, but my iPhone and iPad just work.

Dave

 

[ModerateFKR]

I hate to be that guy... but why is this news?

I just saw an iPad billboard put up recently. Should that be posted too?

Are you sure? You appear to have typed that with a certain amount of relish.

The reality is that Apple have taken a long time to get here, a very long time indeed. So, not only is it news, it's very important news. Anyone in the enterprise now knows that they are saying publically what they've been saying, rather quietly, to enterprise customers for some time.

This means that we can expect a lot more of an enterprise focus from now on, and we can also expect developers to ramp up their game too.

Why now? Well, it's a perfect storm isn't it? The iPhone is now 4 years old, and Apple sold a total of 73.5 million in 2010.

The iPad is 13 months old and Apple have sold 25 million of them. Businesses are using both - without any direct Apple push. That's important. RIM and MS depend heavily on sales push and heavy discounting to get their products into the enterprise. Apple have waited for people to make the decision to buy. This makes for a far less fickle owner.

The result is that both RIM and MS and now Nokia are suffering badly. Nokia may not survive. And then there's the blizzard of tablets coming out. I'd say coming to market, but that would be an exaggeration. There is no market for any of them - Apple has some 95% of it all sewn up! I guarantee none of the competitors will recover their development costs on any of their current models.

Finally, volume sales of iPhones and iPads to the enterprise will make all production runs cheaper for Apple, which should lead to lower prices for consumers too.

I hope you're a little less "" now.

 

[ModerateFKR]

Further proof that Apple will never be a major player in the enterprise market with its current mindset. Why does Apple continually tout the selection of apps, when the enterprise market doesn't care about apps? Every enterprise smartphone does e-mail and voice. Not every enterprise smartphone vendor offers the appropriate support service level agreements, security controls, and lifecycle replacement schedules. Apple has none of these. Until they do, the enterprise market will continue to laugh at the i* as suitable for their business needs.

Can I advise you to either change your mind about going into business, or get out as soon as possible? In fact I'd get out of tech and join a commune and learn to knot muesli sandals if I were you. The picture you paint here doesn't even qualify as a legacy situation - it's dead, buried and forgotten - by everyone who depended upon it... right up until January 2007!

One phrase already defines this market, both from a device and a software point of view: SoLoMo. By all means follow your own advice and look it up.

Anyone who continues to follow the pronouncements of the likes of Ballmer, Balsillie and Elop is destined go the way of the Dodo. The greatest amount of new investment capital flow over the past 4 years has been towards app developers. They're not all trying to be the next Angry Birds!