Originating Author: G Berton Latamore
When Apple introduced the iPhone and iPod Touch, it obviously considered them basically as a next-generation iPod in two flavors — with or without cell phone. I have no connections inside Apple, but I suspect Steve Jobs was surprised when the industry saw them as the next generation smartphone/PDA. When purchasers began complaining that they couldn't get their office e-mail, industry pundents ragged them over the lack of advanced computing functionality behind the gorgeous interface, and third-party software suppliers for handhelds clamored for the APIs, I suspect Apple's initial internal response was, “This isn't what the iPhone is about.”
The people at Apple are nothing if not smart, however, and if that was their initial view (and their marketing certainly gives that impression) they have since realized that they may have a major market they never considered. For the fact is that the iPhone/iPod Touch have nearly everything they need to be the next generation smartphone/PDA, everything except functionality, which a legion of third-party vendors such as SplashData are more than happy to supply.
Why iPhone? First, the iPhone/Touch has a beautiful, clean design that maximizes screen real estate, always an issue in a handheld. Compare the iPhone design to the popular Palm Treo, with its physical thumbboard and tiny screen. Sure you can read and edit a presentation or spreadsheet on the Treo, but who would want to? The virtual keyboard that pops up when it is needed and disappears when it isn't is a particularly good touch that preserves maximum screen real estate for displaying information, whether that is an album cover or a presentation page.
And of course there is the famous user interface. For years handheld industry critics have been calling for a new generation UI. Then Apple built it, and the market response confirmed that Apple has it right.
And behind these brilliant design elements are huge amounts of power. From the start the iPhone has sported a powerful processor and a lot of flash memory. The latest models have 32 Gbytes. By comparison, the HP iPAQ 211 Enterprise Handheld, which retails on the HP site $500, has only has 128 MB SDRAM for running applications and 256 MB flash ROM – less than 1 Gbyte total. Of course the iPhone needs that space to hold a music library, but if you can spare just 2 GB for applications and data you have a PDA that will blow away anything else out there in its basic capabilities. And as the price of flash memory continues to drop, the amount of memory in the iPhone will continue growing.
Then the iPhone has full connectivity, not the crippled half-measure of most smart phones. It has both cellular and WiFi (the iPod Touch, of course, just has the WiFi). And Apple insisted that the iPhone have access to the entire Web, not just sites owned by the carrier. That means you can download your music over the high speed WiFi connection when it is available and post your photos to your Facebook page rather than to AT&T's private photo site. It also means that you can use your corporate Intranet and any Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) or other online services your company uses. That goes a long way toward making the iPhone a true business tool as well as a personal accoutrement.
Adding productivity By itself, however, that is not enough to make it a personal productivity or mobile business platform. Some applications require a true intelligent front-end, not just a Web interface. Mobile users need some functionality to be available whether they have connectivity or not. Apple has attempted to fix the famous problem with enterprise email by supporting Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync in iPhone 2.0. That is fine, if your company uses Exchange. Many companies do not, and those need third-party software, which is available on other handheld platforms and which presumably will be ported to the iPhone now that Apple has released the iPhone developer's kit.
And handheld users need some functionality whether or not they have an Internet connection. That implies a full handheld software application that can operate on airplanes, in sites where cellular connectivity is blocked by the exterior walls and pass-through WiFi for guests is not available, in cellular coverage “holes”. A salesperson who cannot enter an order because he cannot connect to the network from his client's office may well lose a sale.
Third, some data requires a high level of security. Today doctors can access the entire electronic medical records of their patients on a handheld. Financial managers can review proprietary market analysis and conduct trades over their handhelds. This kind of information requires very strong data security both in transmission and when on the mobile device, and that security requires encryption and decryption on the device. It may also be desirable to use a store-forward approach that minimizes open connection time for such data rather than holding a connection open that could become a conduit to allow unauthorized third-party access to very sensitive information.
And then finally literally thousands of small applications from shopping lists to astronomical calculators to many games simply do not require connectivity. They can run perfectly well stand-alone on a PDA or smart phone. And handhelds are all about personalization to individual needs and interests.
Releasing the APIs Clearly Apple has realized this, with the result that it released the iPhone developers' kit this spring and has preannounced the App Store on its Web site. And already some third-party suppliers such as SplashData are getting close to releasing new versions of their software for the iPhone and iPod Touch. And, the developers' kit is available to anyone on the Apple Web site, opening the door for internal custom development on this platform as well.
Action Item: Action item: IT organizations supporting senior executives carrying iPhones should keep in touch with the business software, starting with email clients but also including such items s electronic wallets that can store user passwords securely and mobile versions of Office that can be used to read and edit common email attachments, that becomes available for this next generation handheld. Organizations with internal development teams should also start developing expertise in the iPhone APIs so they can support custom front-ends or other software on the platform if necessary. As increasing amounts of productivity software appears for this platform, the excuse that the iPhone is not a corporate standard platform will not cut it with CEOs in love with their device. And the logic of upgrading will eventually turn all those iPod users in your office into iPhone carriers. Count on it.
