“After more than 30 years pitching first Macintosh computers and then iPod media players to consumers, Apple is using the iPhone to attract a new audience: business buyers,” Connie Guglielmo reports for Bloomberg.
“Apple has to convince companies the iPhone can be a serious tool for business — and not just the latest hip product,” Guglielmo reports.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s quite possible to be both “serious” and “hip” at the same time. Or do businesses always have to use inferior solutions for some unknown reason?
Guglielmo continues, “And Jobs has to sidestep a flood of competitors determined to stanch his advances.”
MacDailyNews Take: We’ve been pushing the state-of-the-art in every facet of design… We’ve been innovating like crazy for the last few years on this and we’ve filed for over 200 patents for all of the inventions in iPhone. And we intend to protect them. – Steve Jobs, January 9, 2007
Guglielmo continues, “‘We’ve seen significant interest in iPhone from enterprises,’ said Apple spokeswoman Jennifer Bowcock. Research In Motion spokeswoman Marisa Conway had no comment when asked about Apple’s efforts to win business users for the iPhone.”
“Threats to Research In Motion abound now, and the Waterloo, Ontario-based company last week said it will sacrifice profit to spend more on building lower-priced products and on marketing campaigns to stop customers from defecting to other brands,” Guglielmo reports. “That prompted the biggest drop in the shares in more than eight years last week as analysts said the iPhone’s $199 price may limit how much Research In Motion can charge for its latest products, making them less profitable than older models.”
“‘The iPhone will likely be the first Apple device for millions of corporate users,’ said Andy Hargreaves at Pacific Crest Securities in Portland, Oregon, one of 27 analysts tracked by Bloomberg who recommend buying Apple shares. ‘Positive impressions could drive stronger demand for Macs over time,'” Guglielmo reports.
“After a survey of technology managers, Hargreaves estimates Macs account for 1 percent to 2 percent of the U.S. corporate market and says that may rise to as much as 5 percent within five years. If Apple posts similar market share gains globally, it could add $6.5 billion or more in revenue, Hargreaves said. Apple doesn’t detail Mac sales by customer type,” Guglielmo reports.
“‘Windows runs better on a Mac than it does on a PC,’ said Jeremy Burton, CEO of Serena Software Inc. The Redwood City, California-based company allowed employees to pick between Macs and PCs this year after Serena did a study and found that Apple’s products were no more expensive to buy, support and run than rival PCs with Windows,” Guglielmo reports. “Employees were also showing up to work with their own Mac notebooks and asking the company to support the system, Burton said. He was one of them, having decided to buy his first Mac after becoming an iPod user. ‘People just like the Mac better.'”
Much more in the full article here.
” It’s quite possible to be both “serious” and “hip” at the same time.”
Why is it that people think that if something is well designed it is a toy?
Should n’t it be the other way around. Clunky = wast of time +money
This is still one of the strangest things …