“Apple Inc’s new iPhone, already racking up blockbuster sales with consumers, appears to be making small but steady inroads into the coveted U.S. corporate market dominated by Research in Motion Ltd’s BlackBerry,” Gabriel Madway reports for Reuters.
“Apple sold 6.9 million units of its new 3G iPhone in the September quarter, versus 6.1 million BlackBerries,” Madway reports.
“Apple fired its opening salvo in the battle for the enterprise market last March, when it announced that the 3G iPhone would feature Microsoft Corp’s Exchange for corporate e-mail and other new security standards,” Madway reports. “At the time, big names like Genentech Inc, Nike Inc and Walt Disney Co announced they would support the iPhone. Genentech said it would deploy 3,000 to employees.”
“Surveys of IT managers typically give RIM 70 to 80 percent of the enterprise market, and Apple 10 to 15 percent. But some analysts say this just measures corporate smartphone purchases. When measured by enterprise “email seats,” or accounts, the iPhone is showing some traction,” Madway reports.
“‘IT managers rarely make top-down decisions on new technologies, which often enter from the side or the bottom, and the iPhone will probably come along those same routes,’ said Cowen & Co analyst Matthew Hoffman, adding that Apple’s progress is happening somewhat below the radar,” Madway reports. “He said the iPhone’s powerful Web browser shouldn’t be overlooked for its appeal to business people on the road.”
Madway reports, “Ken Dulaney, vice president of mobile computing at research group Gartner Inc, expects the iPhone to double its share of the enterprise wireless email market in a year.”
Full article here.
5 Day Most Commented