[MW Forums]

There's been a lot of talk about why enterprises shouldn't adopt the iPhone. But Keith Shaw of NetworkWorld.com explains why IT shouldn't ignore the first generation of Apple's mobile phone. more

[megatrick]

The arguments against using the iPhone for business are ridiculous. It is by far the most capable smart phone that I've worked with. My partners and I are all on iPhones. We love them. We communicate on email. We access our Workgroup Apps on the web. We can work--anywhere-- without having to bust out a laptop. Yes, it's true. The iPhone is amazing for a businessperson.
There are, however, some practical concerns for a CIO (Chief Information Orifice) who has to equip a large group with iPhones. These administrative issues will be dealt with over time. I am with a small/midsize firm that can make its own decisions--quickly--without having to worry about hundreds of users.
Steve Jobs might leave this job to AT&T, as they might have more experience and desire to sell through the orifice.

[swooshdave]

Orifice... That's rich.
Exchange issues is the major roadblock. Apple's recommended solution is apparently laughable.
That, and Enterprise ITs attitude towards anything Apple. (Some of it well justified)
RIM got it right with engineering a end to end solution.

[rgonzalez]

wait for version 2.0 and see the mail/exchange issues resolved...the nice thing this is not a hadrware limitation, it is plain software, why Apple did not add the feature in version 1.0...time for delivering only...if this is version 1, I can't imagine what sor tof new features version 2 will show up with, but heving used apple hardware/software for the past 20 years...I certainly know to expect the "exchange" issue resolved on the mal client as it is on the current OS X platform.

[leicaman]

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Orifice... That's rich.
Exchange issues is the major roadblock. Apple's recommended solution is apparently laughable.
That, and Enterprise ITs attitude towards anything Apple. (Some of it well justified)
RIM got it right with engineering a end to end solution.

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Apple hasn't made any official recommendations yet, have they? So it's hard to call something that doesn't exist laughable. And there is really no justifiable reason to have a bad attitude toward's Apple. That would fly in the face of the ridiculous notion that Windows is a good thing to recommend instead. Which is patent nonsense compared to OS X or Solaris or Linux or BSD. I'm not talking about what IS here, but the fact that it's ludicrous that Windows should be in the position it is when it is such a mediocre piece of software.
There will be an end-to-end solution for the iPhone eventually. And then RIM's solution, which has a horrid web browser (even Opera is a piece of junk on Blackberry), will be shown as a mediocre piece of technology in comparison.
The only real thing lacking on the iPhone that could be a challenge is the lack of ability to work with Office documents. But I don't really care about that. I'm sure a lot of people would consider that critical. Fine, just don't be a dog in a manger. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

[RAD]

I run a server for a few small businesses and non-profits. An iPhone seems like a good option, at least it did until someone actually got one and started retrieving their mail from the POP server. These things are logging on from marginal ATT connections and hanging the POP server. A single one on my server is causing the POP server to hang up to several times a day.
I have to look for a server that isn't so vulnerable to a marginal connection or hope that Apple sees they've created a new condition and does something about it. Meanwhile, no iPhones, please.

[VidPro]

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And there is really no justifiable reason to have a bad attitude toward's Apple. That would fly in the face of the ridiculous notion that Windows is a good thing to recommend instead.

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The main reason PCs took off in the business world was that when IBM entered the market, the mantra was that no one ever got fired for buying IBM.
With Windows and other Microsoft products so entrenched in the business world today, that saying is still being followed, except, of course Microsoft has replaced IBM as the "safe" purchase. Not the best purchase, not necessarily the cheapest (Microsoft's fake surveys notwithstanding), and definitely not the safest in terms of viruses, malware and stability problems, but the safest in terms of job security, both in the sense of approval from higher-ups, and the constant need for keeping the machines secure from the aforementioned viruses, malware and stability problems.

[trip1ex]

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And there is really no justifiable reason to have a bad attitude toward's Apple. That would fly in the face of the ridiculous notion that Windows is a good thing to recommend instead.

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The main reason PCs took off in the business world was that when IBM entered the market, the mantra was that no one ever got fired for buying IBM.
With Windows and other Microsoft products so entrenched in the business world today, that saying is still being followed, except, of course Microsoft has replaced IBM as the "safe" purchase. Not the best purchase, not necessarily the cheapest (Microsoft's fake surveys notwithstanding), and definitely not the safest in terms of viruses, malware and stability problems, but the safest in terms of job security, both in the sense of approval from higher-ups, and the constant need for keeping the machines secure from the aforementioned viruses, malware and stability problems.

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That's the way it works in the investment world too. Hence the old saying that 'No one ever lost their job losing their client's money in IBM.' /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Dan Frakes]

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The arguments against using the iPhone for business are ridiculous. It is by far the most capable smart phone that I've worked with.

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Unless your company uses Exchange, in which case the iPhone is largely useless as a mobile email/calendaring solution. And Exchange is firmly entrenched in many (most?) large businesses.

[Mindflayer]

Rad:
That's odd. I run a server with several hundred users and I have not seen this problem. What popd are you running? At work, we also run servers for several tens of millions of users - admittedly the number of iPhone users is small, but no problems there.

[deasys]

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These things are logging on from marginal ATT connections and hanging the POP server

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Beware of jumping to conclusions:
Duke now says Cisco, not iPhone, caused Wi-Fi snafu

[emork]

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I run a server for a few small businesses and non-profits. An iPhone seems like a good option, at least it did until someone actually got one and started retrieving their mail from the POP server. These things are logging on from marginal ATT connections and hanging the POP server. A single one on my server is causing the POP server to hang up to several times a day.
I have to look for a server that isn't so vulnerable to a marginal connection or hope that Apple sees they've created a new condition and does something about it. Meanwhile, no iPhones, please.

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Don't most mobile phones that use POP-email accounts log into POP-servers in the same way? I use my Nokia 6280 (sometimes) to log into my POP-mail. What might be new here is that iPhone users would do this much more often, possible checking automatically throughout the day, as this feature is infinitely more usable on the iPhone than a Nokia. (or so I presume, since the iPhone hasn't come to Norway yet, but it wouldn't take much...Nokias solution to this is horrible and it takes hours to figure out how to configure.)

[hayesk]

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RIM got it right with engineering a end to end solution.

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Apple and RIM should partner to make a RIM email app (or connector) for the iPhone. RIM has done that with other platforms, so there's no reason why they couldn't do it with Apple.

[farlander]

As one of people, who tries to use iPhone in business, there are many things that create problems:
1) No support for enterprise suite (read: MS Exchange).
2) Alarms are too quiet, vibration is very short and weak
3) No e-mail push (Yahoo Push is not working 99% of the time and is a joke).
4) No remote access for admins (for example, if the phone is lost - no way of erasing its contents remotely)
There are the most important things for using it in the enterprise.