The iPhone Is Closer Than You Think
By Stan Gibson |
Posted 2008-01-12
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Apple's much-coveted device could be a few tweaks away from a corporate device.
Since the iPhone's much-heralded debut in the summer of 2007, Apple has pitched the wildly popular product squarely at consumers. But the enthusiasm of some early users has put what some see as the handwriting on the wall: With a few tweaks-some major-the iPhone could be a very serious contender for corporate personal device of choice.
Such a scenario gained credibility in late 2007 when software giant SAP announced it would port the client software for its CRM (customer relationship management) application to the iPhone, simply because its own sales staff was clamoring for it.
"When it first came out, we got one to test," said Rob Israel, CIO of John C. Lincoln Health Network, who was not alone among IT pros in his curiosity about the device. However, lackluster e-mail and security features are causing him to keep the iPhone at arm's length.
"I'm concerned about its ability to support push technology as well as pull [for e-mail], and wiping it remotely [for security]," said Israel.
Even so, it's no secret what's keeping the iPhone outside the corporate walls-and what it would take for IT to lower the drawbridge and let it in. Those deficiencies, and more, are keeping the iPhone outside of the corporate walls.
Forrester Research analyst Ben Gray compiled a laundry list of deficiencies in a recent advisory to clients recommending they keep the iPhone at bay. Among them:
- The iPhone doesn't natively support push e-mail or over-the-air calendar synchronization.
- There is a dearth of third-party applications for the iPhone.
- The iPhone does not support file or disk encryption.
- IT administrators cannot set password policies, a feature offered on mainstream competing devices.
- Should it be lost or stolen, the iPhone cannot be remotely locked or wiped.
- The iPhone is available only in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, where exclusive carrier deals are in place.
- The iPhone's battery is not removable. A dead battery calls for a new-and expensive-iPhone.
- The touch-screen user interface means slower typing than with a tactile keypad.
Stan Gibson is Executive Editor of eWEEK. In addition to taking part in Ziff Davis eSeminars and taking charge of special editorial projects, his columns and editorials appear regularly in both the print and online editions of eWEEK. He is chairman of eWEEK's Editorial Board, which received the 1999 Jesse H. Neal Award of the American Business Press. In ten years at eWEEK, Gibson has served eWEEK (formerly PC Week) as Executive Editor/eBiz Strategies, Deputy News Editor, Networking Editor, Assignment Editor and Department Editor. His Webcast program, 'Take Down,' appeared on Zcast.tv. He has appeared on many radio and television programs including TechTV, CNBC, PBS, WBZ-Boston, WEVD New York and New England Cable News. Gibson has appeared as keynoter at many conferences, including CAMP Expo, Society for Information Management, and the Technology Managers Forum. A 19-year veteran covering information technology, he was previously News Editor at Communications Week and was Software Editor and Systems Editor at Computerworld.
