My Cellphone My Terms

Is the iPhone ready for the Corporate world?

The iPhone is fast, intuitive, and great for all types of consumers, including enterprise. It is built to Apple’s highest standards, making it extremely reliable. It is easy to use; in fact, it is so easy to use that Apple only provides a basic instruction manual. Users figure things out by “playing” with the iPhone and they are pleasantly surprised when they learn something new. This process is a major factor to the iPhone’s success. It allows people to explore and share what they find; making the iPhone experience one of seemingly infinite discovery.

Canadians got into the iPhone game a little late, but we have been making up for it, with hundreds of thousands of iPhones in market and all three of the major carriers now brandishing this device. Many have argued that the iPhone increases productivity by providing the user with tools that allow them to quickly access data, applications, and to expand the phone to their personal and businesses needs. Surfing the web on the iPhone is a breeze, with the best portable web browser on the market, websites look and feel the same way as surfing on a desktop or laptop, you can even have multiple web pages open at the same time. Another great feature is that you do not need to manually switch applications when surfing the web or making a call. If you are on a site and there is a telephone number or address – you simply touch either the number or the address and the iPhone will ask if you would like to call the number or Google maps pops up instantly.

There are thousands of Apps for both consumers and business users. iPhones are being used more and more as “mini” laptops and the days of carrying multiple devices are gone. The iPhone is an all-in-one device, replacing everything from a basic cell phone to a GPS. Corporate users can even use the iPhone as a remote control to advance their slides in a presentation. The iPhone is also perfect for conference calling, you can have up to 6 people on a conference at any given time, and you can even speak privately to a single party while the others remain on the call with each other. The first iPhones were mainly marketed to individuals, but with new software upgrades including “push-based” e-mail, Wi-Fi with WPA2/802.1x support and tools to enforce security policies, contact management and calendar info; additional support for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and two-factor authentication, certificates and identities, you will surely see more businesses using the iPhone. Other security features include wiping the device completely if compromised. In March of 2008, Gartner – a leading market research firm, changed its stance against using the iPhone in an enterprise situation a vote of confidence for Apple.

So, the iPhone is in many respects ready for corporate life, however, there are a few cons.

1. Sending emails or texts will not be as quick, compared to a Blackberry or any other Smart phone with a full QWERTY keyboard.
2. The learning curve and level of efficiency for some business professionals, especially users that are use to the Blackberry, can be a little steep.
3. The wireless carriers have reported that iPhone subscribers use five times (5x) more data bandwidth than Blackberry users. Blackberry’s compression standards for transferring data over the wireless network are favoured by the carriers; real costs that someone has to pay for.

For many business decision makers the real deciding factor, despite the bells and whistles, is that none of the service providers in Canada have budget friendly corporate plans for the iPhone. Many of the iPhone rates and plans are far more expensive when compared to Blackberry plans and for many that is a deal buster. With an app for this and an app for that is the iPhone really ready for your corporate environment, we’ll let you decide.

If you are in the market for corporate devices, whatever you decide, please share your comments and or experience with us. Also, on the topic of productivity, is an iPhone user really more productive? What do you think?