iOS 6 Delivers Important Features for Enterprise Users
Email
Print
Goldman said that while he thinks the new hardware is a big benefit for the enterprise, the real difference is in iOS 6. "iOS's new icon-based sharing is a key new feature for enterprise as people's personal and business worlds continue to collide rapidly," Goldman continued in his emailed comment. "IOS 6 makes sharing content with colleagues when remote insanely intuitive and will be a huge feature for enterprise. Users will appreciate the ability to create content once and share it both with their friends and business associates at the same time."
"The new mapping in IOS will also have major benefits for developers as they look to use core location as metadata to make enterprise data smarter," Goldman explained by email. "For instance, when a salesperson uses turn-by-turn information to get to an appointment, developers can now integrate it with CRM data to add information like sales orders and other information that loads in the background so the salesperson can have all that information on one dashboard just in time for the meeting."
In both his comments and in his phone interview with eWEEK, Goldman noted that many of the critical enterprise features are really features of iOS 6, and not necessarily features of the iPhone 5. He noted that while many of those features and apps will run faster, and perhaps be easier to use on the iPhone 5 because of the faster processor, LTE and the larger screen, they will still be available on the iPhone 4S.
That brings us to a difference that's often overlooked in the hype on the eve of the iPhone 5's arrival in stores. Ultimately, there are two different products that smartphone users can buy; one is the hardware of the iPhone 5. The other is iOS 6, which is a substantial upgrade from iOS 5. The majority of the new features ascribed to the iPhone 5 are really features of iOS 6. And it's important to note that you don't need an iPhone 5 to run iOS 6.
The bottom line is that unless your enterprise actually needs the larger screen, LTE connectivity and the faster processor, there's no reason to spend the extra money on an iPhone 5. If your workforce is mostly using email and messaging, for example, the iPhone 4S is probably entirely adequate, and it's a lot less expensive.
Wayne Rash is a Senior Analyst for eWEEK Labs and runs the magazine's Washington Bureau. Prior to joining eWEEK as a Senior Writer on wireless technology, he was a Senior Contributing Editor and previously a Senior Analyst in the InfoWorld Test Center. He was also a reviewer for Federal Computer Week and Information Security Magazine. Previously, he ran the reviews and events departments at CMP's InternetWeek.He is a retired naval officer, a former principal at American Management Systems and a long-time columnist for Byte Magazine. He is a regular contributor to Plane & Pilot Magazine and The Washington Post.
