iPhone in the Enterprise: Don’t Hold Your Breath

So the much-discussed iPhone will soon run all sorts of business software on faster so-called 3G networks as of next month.

Great news for the consumer who has been longing to use his or her iPhone for business purposes - right?

Good luck. The odds are still against against the employee when the inevitable iPhone showdown with the IT department - that will inevitably occur over the months to come.

Here are three reasons why:

1) Security. It’s nowhere near where it needs to be if enterprises are to trust the iPhone to handle sensitive corporate data. The forthcoming iPhone, dubbed the 3G iPhone for its ability to run on the latest wireless networks, acts as a four-lane highway for hackers trying to access sensitive data over a Wi-Fi network. Furthermore,

2) Support. This is a long-time problem for Apple when trying to sell to businesses in Canada and worldwide. Apple CEO Steve Jobs did very little to dispel the notion that Apple is better off servicing consumers during the worldwide developer conference held in the San Francisco area this past week. Very few details were provided as to how Apple will answer the demands of users and administrators with remote management, password or other concerns. How about remote troubleshooting? You get the picture.

3) Company DNA. Jobs himself has said in past he prefers to service consumers. Despite Apple’s latest push into the enterprise, one has to wonder what the company’s response will be when businesses come calling - the company has been down this road before without much success.

Apple’s latest and greatest iPhone will be better equipped to handle the security and IT management needs of mobile professionals and CIOs. The forthcoming wave of applications being created by mobile app developers will also allow users to better handle their business needs. But the device is still wanting in many areas such as lack of native data encryption and an over-the-air means to deploy enterprise applications. There are too many others to mention in this space.

Just don’t expect too many of your colleagues over the next year to have iPhones for business purposes anytime soon.

The iPhone is still very much a device suited for consumers and the smallest of businesses, where security and support are of lesser concern.

The BlackBerry, Nokia, and the Windows Mobile camp will rule the day in all other types of enterprises for the foreseeable future.

June 14, 2008 | Filed Under News Items and Commentary