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Tuesday August 5, 2008
 Topic: Mobile Devices
Reference: Garcia, Andrew. “iPhone 2.0 raises device’s enterprise profile”. eWeek. July 21, 2008. p.41.
The launching of the new 3G iPhone has led to increased requests for widespread enterprise adoption. Employees love the iPhone. I personally witnessed a line around the block at the Apple Store in Chicago, as people waited over an hour to get access to the new phone. That level of interest, functionality, and performance are causing organizations to seriously consider the iPhone for enterprise use over and above the Blackberry and the Treo. Based on the new software support provided by Apple, CIOs are beginning to deploy iPhones in their mobile arsenal. As noted by the commentator in the referenced article, “among the new enterprise features included in the new release are Exchange Activesync for over-the-air synchronization of e-mail, calendar and contacts; the new Cisco Systems, IP Security VPN client for secured access to enterprise applications; WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access)/ WPA2 Enterprise support for Wi-Fi security; digital certificates; and restricted access to on-device applications.” These things make the iPhone much more attractive and enterprise friendly. However, the article points out that several concerns remain with iPhone roll out including the impact of push synch on battery life; version control issues, configuration management, and policy control. The impact of these concerns may be lessened by having only 3G handsets as opposed to a mix of first-generation and 3G equipment. Equipment price concerns, text based service plans, and in-house expertise remain stumbling blocks for more aggressive adoption. Many organizations lack talent in Apple based configuration, security, and back office functionality. In my opinion none of these flaws are fatal and it seems inevitable that Apple enterprise use will grow because the functionality of the iPhone is overwhelming and user demand is very high. If you have not considered this application previously, it probably makes sense to get in on the ground floor and to start to pilot iPhone deployment in the near future. The iPhone promises to take the user experience to a whole new level. Let me know how you are planning to manage the iPhone juggernaut in your organization.
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