iPhone

iPhone SDK, enterprise features: Nice, but not enough

Let me just say, I have no horse in this race. I’m no BlackBerry crackhead and I’m no iPhone fan boy. When Apple announced its iPhone enterprise play last week, I started working the phones. My plan was to talk to a handful of analysts and put together a reaction story about the news. I figured I’d find experts on both sides of the fence. But just about everyone I talked to had his doubts about the announcement. Some of them welcomed the software development kit (SDK), the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support and the Cisco IPsec VPN client as good first steps, but all of them said that the iPhone still has some major barriers to break through before it can win acceptance as an enterprise smartphone.

So my story on the iPhone’s enterprise features ended up being something of a counterpoint to the blog post that Amy Kucharik wrote in this space on Friday. In her tour through the blogosphere she found several experts who were more sanguine about the iPhone announcement.

In the reporting I did for my story, I found that analysts still had strong reservations about the iPhone as an enterprise smartphone. There are still some issues that have dogged the iPhone from the beginning, such as the single-carrier agreement with AT&T, the touchscreen keyboard that many QWERTY devotees reject, and the iPhone’s heritage as entertainment device.

Some of the analysts I talked to also had doubts about whether the SDK release would promote the development of many enterprise applications. Many third-party developers will likely go after the more lucrative consumer market instead. Others pointed out that ActiveSync support hasn’t helped other smartphones make much of a dent in the BlackBerry’s dominance of the push email space — so why should the iPhone be any different?

There’s no question that these announcements make it easier for iPhone owners to use their devices on the job. That is a big deal. So all this leaves me wondering, is this announcement aimed at convincing IT executives to deploy or support the iPhone in their companies? Or, is this announcement really about convincing consumers that they can use their iPhones on the job? My guess is, it’s the latter.

iPhone targets the enterprise with new apps, Cisco VPN client

The iPhone was already doing a pretty good job creeping into the enterprise, despite early concerns about its security and manageability. Now, Apple is taking steps to allay those fears; yesterday, the company unveiled new features designed to help the iPhone better fit into the enterprise.

Early critics of the iPhone disliked its closed OS, which prevented third-party developers from creating new applications for the device. This limited the ways the phone could access corporate applications, most prominently, “push” email.

Now, Apple intends to open its software development kit by June, enabling the development of enterprise-worthy applications.

Jason Brooks speculates in his eWeek blog that the new apps will give the iPhone a leg up over RIM and Palm:

I expect that Treos will begin to wither in the eyes of one-time loyalists, and that erstwhile thumb-keyboard addicts will start to judge their BlackBerrys to be significantly sourer.

That’s good news for Apple fans; what’s perhaps even better news for network people is the integration of Cisco’s VPN client software. According to Network World blogger Jamey Hearey:

This will be a full blown IPSEC client that will even support the use of certificates or password based multi-factor authentication. Very nice! The iPhone VPN client will be able to connect to Cisco VPN gateway devices, like the Cisco ASA and older Cisco PIX.

Hearey, a security consulting systems engineer at Cisco, also points out that Apple announced its plans to support WPA with 802.1x authentication. “This will enable more enterprises to allow the iPhone to connect securely to their wireless infrastructure,” Hearey wrote.

Apple also opened an iPhone Enterprise Beta Program, through which enterprise developers can play with the 2.0 code before the official launch later this year. Check out Apple’s “iPhone Enterprise” page to read more about the program or view video of Steve Jobs making the announcement:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/enterprise/

It seems that the iPhone is unstoppable. Unfortunately, I won’t have one until they give them to you free with a three-year, $35/month service contract.

iPhone, oh the madness you have wrought

I just finished writing about how the iPhone’s success has made touch-screen smartphones all the rage in 2008. And then this morning I read that Jim Balsille, co-CEO of Research In Motion, told attendees at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that his company is open to producing a touchscreen version of the BlackBerry. Et tu, BlackBerry?

In an interview with Reuters, Balsille made it clear that RIM would be open to adding a touch-screen control feature to its BlackBerry line if that’s what the company’s customers want:

For sure we’re looking at all kinds of different device packaging and presentation. I think getting religious on packaging is not the way to go. It’s really user preference-oriented.”

At the same show in Barcelona this week, Sony Ericsson debuted its Xperia X1, a touch-screen smartphone that appears to be a direct response to Apple’s iPhone and other touch-screen announcements from HTC and Nokia.

Touch-screens are nice and all, but sometimes I wish my Tom Tom GPS had a keyboard. My fingers are just too big!

iPhone corporate plan makes accountants smile

AT&T has added the iPhone as a device option for its enterprise wireless plans. On the surface of things, this is big news for iPhone fans who are waiting for the enterprise to welcome the device.

I haven’t seen an official announcement from AT&T about their iPhone enterprise offerings. So far, only the above link with feature and pricing options has turned up. But from what I can gather, this is more of a sales channel move than a product offering. This news won’t make IT managers feel warm and fuzzy towards the iPhone. Only accountants will be smiling.

No, this news doesn’t mean the iPhone is suddenly an enterprise-ready mobile device. All the concerns that Forrester Research voiced last month about its suitability for business use still apply. There is still no support for push email or third-party applications. Security is still a big problem, too, with no support for data encryption and no capability to remotely lock or erase lost devices. And the absence of a removable battery will still be a headache for road warriors.

This news is really about the accountants. It will now be easier for end users to request a device because your company’s accountants now have a direct channel for buying the iPhones and paying for the plans centrally instead of compensating individual users for deals they make on their own with AT&T.