“With its picture gracing the cover of Time’s Nov. 12 ‘Best Inventions of 2007’ issue, the iPhone is undisputed as a technology product that matters to consumers. These days in IT that can mean only one thing — the enterprise is its destiny,” Robert Mullins reports for Network World.
“Just as instant messaging and Wi-Fi access migrated from the consumer to the enterprise environment, so too will the iPhone. User enthusiasm for the device, which made its grand debut on June 29, remains high. In a survey of 110 corporate messaging decision-makers, Osterman Research recently found the iPhone is by far the most-requested mobile device by employees. Seventy-two percent of the respondents say employees are asking for iPhone support,” Mullins reports. “The next most-requested device is the Palm Treo platform at 29%.”
MacDailyNews Take: The same 29% also requested some KC & The Sunshine Band, CB radios, platform shoes, pet rocks, Ford Pintos, an OPEC oil embargo, runaway inflation, and the immediate reinstatement of the Carter Presidency while asking in unison “What’s an iPhone?”
Mullins continues, “Suffice to say, the iPhone is a phenomenon that really matters to employees.”
“Nine percent of companies surveyed support the iPhone in their organizations. While small, that’s still impressive given the short time the iPhone’s been on the market, says Michael Osterman, president of the research firm. The iPhone stands to gain support in the enterprise from top executives who are early adopters of new technology,” Mullins reports. “‘They’ll go to the IT department and say, ‘I’m using an iPhone now. I need you guys to support it.’ I don’t know of many IT managers who are going to tell the CEO, ‘Sorry we don’t support that,” Osterman says.”
Mullins reports, “Apple would be wise to allow Microsoft’s Windows Outlook as one of those approved applications. In the Osterman survey, 85% of senior managers said on-the-road access to Outlook is ‘important’ or ‘extremely important.’ It’s also just as important to 73% of IT staff and 66% of salespeople… If Apple supports Exchange (the e-mail server that sends messages to the Outlook client program), IBM’s Lotus or other enterprise applications, that could convince more enterprises to support iPhone for their employees, Osterman says.”
Full article here.
Businesses have really shackled themselves to Microsoft’s Outlook and Exchange, haven’t they? How is Apple supposed to “allow” Microsoft’s Outlook to be an approved application on iPhone when Microsoft refuses to even make Outlook for the Mac* which currently has about 16 times the user base of iPhone (≈25M vs. ≈1.5M)? (Keeping Outlook off the Mac platform is one of the many typical methods employed by MS to “persuade” businesses to stay with Windows rather than switching to the superior Mac.)
Do you think Apple needs to license Exchange from Microsoft for the iPhone to become (even more) successful in business?
*Microsoft used to make Outlook for Mac (Classic Mac OS), but it has never been updated for Mac OS X.
MacDailyNews Note: Switchers: Little Machines’ “Outlook 2 Mac” (O2M, US$10) makes it easy to move the Outlook folders from your PC to your Macintosh — import email, contacts, and calendar appointments into Apple Mail, Address Book, iCal, Microsoft Entourage, and other third-party programs. More info here.