Infinite MonkeysAs an Apple fan and tech-obsessed freak, I'm really interested in the new Apple iPhone, but I think once again Apple has either failed to see or chosen to ignore a critical requirement for widespread adoption by mobile professionals, the sales target most able to foot the $500-600 bill: seamless integration with business e-mail, calendar, and contacts.
When you see a mobile professional (sales, consultants, etc.) running around, they are glued to one of three devices: a Blackberry, a Palm Treo, or a Windows Mobile device. All three devices have the same thing in common: Each has several options for sending and receiving BUSINESS e-mail (not Yahoo! mail) and synchronizing their calendar and contacts. Like it or not, the de facto standard for business messaging is Microsoft Exchange, followed distantly by Lotus Notes and Novell Groupwise. These platforms are where mobile professionals keep their mail, calendar, and contacts. When a device can synchronize these items transparently, its purchase will be rubber-stamped by management.
Now maybe Apple is working with vendors like Good to port their synchronization software to the iPhone, but so far nobody has given any indication that this is the case. Until this happens, Apple will be missing a lucrative opportunity to escape their niche and start selling their products where the bulk of technology dollars are spent.
Posted by RobbL at January 26, 2007 09:26 AMI'm wondering about some of that too, but certainly it'll integrate with email... I mean, c'mon... we're talking email here.
Now, if only they'll add an electric shaver I'm sold.
Posted by: Paladin at February 1, 2007 07:48 PMIntegrating with e-mail SOUNDS easy, but integrating with CORPORATE e-mail is another beast altogether. Getting e-mail from an Exchange server isn't just a matter of using POP3 or IMAP to pull your mail. First of all, most corporations won't expose ANY of the communications ports on their Exchange server to the Internet, preferring that all inbound and outbound mail go through some sort of security-hardened "gateway." Hence, the rise of companies like Good and Research In Motion (the Blackberry people) who provide custom messaging gateways between corporate Exchange servers and handheld PDA phones such as the Blackberry, Treo, and the myriad Windows-based phones.
So far, the four dominant operating systems for handheld devices are (in no particular order) Blackberry, Palm OS, Windows CE/Mobile/Smartphone, and Symbian. Since the iPhone runs on a special version of Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard") which Apple has not yet released to vendors for custom application development, it will be very difficult to deliver the "automatic" synchronization enjoyed by mobile professionals.
This is why I say Apple doesn't "get" what is necessary for penetration into corporate life. The first thing they should have done after they secured their contract with Cingular is to start working a synchronization deal with Good or RIM or IntelliSync and get them a prototype on which to develop the application.
Which brings us to the only reason I can think of why Apple might have CHOSEN to avoid this path: Good and Intellisync are both now owned by major cell phone manufacturers (Motorola and Nokia, respectively.) Working a software deal with either of these providers prior to release of the phone would give their parent companies a head start on copying the best features of the iPhone. But that still doesn't explain why they didn't do something with RIM, arguably the most reliable and most "Apple-like" in their ability to inspire cult-like loyalty from their customers.
Posted by: Monkey RobbL at February 1, 2007 08:30 PM