“Global banking giant HSBC is considering ditching the BlackBerry and adopting Apple’s iPhone as its standard staff mobile device, a move that could result in an order for some 200,000 iPhones,” Liam Tung reports for ZDNet Australia.
“‘We are actually reviewing iPhones from a HSBC Group perspective … and when I say that, I mean globally,’ HSBC’s Australia and New Zealand chief information officer Brenton Hush told ZDNet.com.au yesterday,” Tung reports.
“HSBC has some 300,000 staff internationally. A decision to standardise on the iPhone on its corporate networks would likely lead to one of the world’s largest iPhone orders,” Tung reports. “‘A decision on a piece of hardware like that would potentially be deployed, conservatively, to 200,000 people,’ said Hush. ‘You know, it’s a big decision, especially when you have an existing fleet out there.'”
“Should HSBC select the iPhone as its official corporate mobile device, the decision would be a major blow to Research in Motion, maker of the BlackBerry, which is HSBC’s current standard staff mobile,” Tung reports.
Full article here.
It’s certainly appropriate that RIM is based in Waterloo.
Holy Schnikey!!
Let ME say it..
Holy SHIT!
Wow!
On the 5th August,Ken Dulaney of Gartner published a report saying that the iPhone was unsuitable for all but the lightest enterprise use.
200-300,000 iPhones in the banking sector looks like a pretty major example of enterprise adoption to me.
I’m ‘considering’ buying a Ferrari.
iPhones?!
Why doesn’t HSBC buy Samsung Instincts instead?
– They look just like iPhones!
“It’s certainly appropriate that RIM is based in Waterloo.”
HA!!! Classic.
Considering… doesn’t mean adopting.
They could just be using Apple to blackmail RIM with. I have my fingers crossed though.
Is HSBC owned by the Chinese government?
My wife works for HSBC and for a year she used an iPhone for personal use.
When they provided her with a Blackberry, she opened the box, powered it on and the only way to describe the look on her face…..
Like the kid who got a ZUNE for Christmas…. priceless
Considering the lack security on the iphone I know who’s iphone I’d want to steal now. Whomever makes this decision better have their resume updated because once a few gets stolen and what .. of the data isn’t encrytped discussion comes around .. they will be looking for a new job.
I work for a company with well over 20,000 employees .. total number of employees able to have a mobile device (yes including the executives who wanted an iphone) 3,500.
What Ken wrote is 110% accurate – while nice the iphone is no where near enterprise able as BES / Blackberry – period.
I wonder what the discount will be.
WTF HSBC doesn’t even have a damn app for the iPhone..
Sir, would you like a few Macs with that order? Maybe a few servers too?
Don’t forget the halo when you see numbers like this.
Be sure to scrub under the RIM.
Frank has a good point. HSBC and others certainly have a big stick in the iPhone to leverage better deals from RIM. Let’s not count our chickens here; it’s not a done deal, merely a “consideration”. That’s a long way from a sale.
Even with that Waterloo being in Ontario, Canada, the symbolism of it is incredibly prophetic…
Not only will RIM loose out on hardware sales, but they also sell and license Blackberry servers to corporations to handle the email. The servers are licensed with a certain number of users, so Blackberry actually will loose out on TWO sources of revenue — the phone hardware and the client licensing!
Reciting the laundry list of missing features as an argument doesn’t convince too many.
What is the typical scenario where a mobile device is lost/stolen? In vast majority of cases, it is just lost – fell out of a purse, left behind on a buss/train/plane, etc. The finder (or thief) of this device usually has no forensic skills in order to recover data from the device, even if he had any interest in doing so. Vast majority of corporate users exchange only moderately confidential information via their e-mail (= mobile device). Should paranoid security be an issue for anyone, you can always give a few blackberries to the CxO officers.
I sincerely doubt anyone would lose their job because of iPhone deployment.
Is HSBC owned by the Chinese government?
Not really, it’s headquartered in the UK and moved from Hong Kong when we handed HK back to the PRC.
There’s probably a significant number of Hong Kong-Chinese who hold shares privately, but these guys started preparing to get away from China long before the end of British rule.
You’re probably thinking of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which is genuinely Chinese financial institution.
I don’t think our complaince / legal departments would love the notion that “Relax the common thief has no foresic skills” .. Iphone needs device encryption period it’s not a feature it’s something every single enterprise mobile device has available. Any financial company would be idiotic to send any data to a device without encryption and there is NPI data often in emails. Considering the ease the iphone has already been hacked I think Mr. Hush will have a hard time getting security / legal and complaince clearence.
Might I add that certain types of data is required to be reported and possible fines are involved if lost / stolen.
Not sure there really is a cost savings as you still need exchange CAL and if you want extended security via System Center (which currently doesn’t support iphone) that is yet another CAL so it basically a wash.
Not without a physical keyboard they won’t.
Apple really would be better off putting a slide out keyboard under there, as part of an expanded iPhone lineup, if they really want the enterprise and heavy texter market. Maybe get the body’s slimness down to that 9mm iPod touch range so the addition of the keyboard will make it only about as thick as the current iPhone 3G.
Or at the very least give us a universal landscape keyboard already.
@ MobileAdmin: Are you the new Zune Tang? What part of Remote Wipe in the iPhone 2.0 admin tools is insecure to you?
HSBC’s Australian presence is small compared to major Australian banks, but its global operations have a US$6 billion annual technology budget and a technology team of 30,000 supporting 300,000 employees.
Wow, I am amazed at this. The ratio of IT support and users is 1:10. How do they keep busy supporting only 10 people per technician? Are they sure they use proper technologies considering the level of support required?