Moderator: Peter Burris
Analyst: Kaushik Das
After months of speculation, the big day for Apple geeks has arrived. The iPhone is here, and lines of potential purchasers are winding their way into Apple and AT&T stores nationwide. While it is clear that the iPhone will be a consumer hit, we wonder about its implications for the enterprise.
The iPhone satisfies many physical requirements for a high-end cell phone -- it is small, attractive, light, by all accounts hardened and durable. However, it is what Apple has done with the software in the iPhone that will make or break its enterprise adoption.
The most important feature of the iPhone to the enterprise is the availability of a full-function, general-purpose browser on the iPhone itself. It is this availability that puts the iPhone in a new class -- a handheld computer with a built-in phone as opposed to phones with some computational ability. Prior to the iPhone, developers had to find ways to pack complex functions onto a tiny screen using archaic and sometimes ill-conceived technologies to distribute function. A full-function browser, in this case Safari (which now is also available on Windows) allows them to deliver that functionality via the browser, the most popular way to reach remote users (both employees and customers) today. This makes it less complex to write, distribute and maintain functions to mobile users.
However, the benefits are moderated by doubts. The chief of these is security. So much attention has been put on the iPhone as a consumer device that security issues — the ability to secure phone conversations, email, IM, and data transfers; to blank the device remotely if it is lost or stolen; to defend it against malware — has not been discussed. However, security is critical in the enterprise world. A second major concern is ensuring that all music and video content users may download to corporate-owned iPhones is properly licensed.
Of course there are many other benefits (iTunes availability, multiple wireless modes) and negatives (AT&T exclusivity, inability to edit Office documents), but we see these as secondary and in some cases rectifiable in future software releases or hardware add-ons.
Many IT organizations will gain experience with the iPhone over the next months if only because senior executives will buy and demand to use it with their corporate email. IT should make a conscious effort to use that experience as an opportunity to develop the expertise to make the decision on whether the iPhone becomes a standard IT device.
Action Item: The iPhone is here and coming to an executive near you. IT organizations must focus attention first to the security issues. This will mean paying close attention to the rate at which AT&T and Apple expose critical security services on the iPhone. This will provide the first insight into whether or not Apple can successfully present itself as the suppler of a new class of enterprise IT devices.
