The BlackBerry Browser is utter rubbish.. utter, utter tat. The iPhone is definitely well ahead but once you get past the look it isn’t much better - yes, pages look ok(-ish), but with all the necessary ‘pinching’ and ’swiping’ to simply get through the info on a single page, your fingers will begin to hate you.

Much will be driven by the physical screen size on the device and the choice of input method available (touch/keys/ball)- roll on the BB Indy - but the knockout blow will be delivered by the UI of the browser and how faithfully pages can be rendered to give that ‘desktop’ feel.

E-mail on the move has been done. Whoever delivers a browser people can genuinely use without cursing will win a lot of hearts and minds.

I also agree with what someone else noted: the iPhone has come very far in a very short period of time. Do not underestimate where it might be in let’s say 2 or 3 years.

The screen of the iPhone does offer a potential advantage for the right apps.

That all being said, I agree that the BB is firmly entrenched among large scale enterprises, and that this will not be overturned any time soon, if at all.

Are there any substantial and legitimate business reasons to have those apps on your corporate device? If not, why would any business adopt such a device?

Sure, it’d be cool and convenient as hell for the end user to have a corporate device that also allowed them access to music, videos and easy web surfing. But I’d have to guess that 99.9% of businesses aren’t interested in subsidizing their employees’ multimedia enjoyment.

Yes, they could possibly lock down the device to block iTunes and YouTube and the like, but if they do that, then what do they need an iPhone for in the first place?

What I see happening is that individual users will purchase more iPhones if they can get their work email on it. In my experience, the vast nunber if corporate users were individual liable, meaning that they bought their own phone and plan and were reimbursed for at least a portion of their bill. I think the number of IL users buying iPhones will jump as they are able to access email, calendar, etc.

As far as those that are purchased by organizations, BB still holds an edge as a proven solution that has a very reasonable handset cost.

What’s so ‘not very people friendly’ about my comment? Perhaps your issue with Schizophrena is taking it’s toll. I knew it was too good to be true that you’d stay away…

As for Exchange, if it’s sooooooo good, and a solution for mobile mail platforms, then MS Mobile devices would be selling like hotcakes off the shelves and nobody would be talking about BB’s or iPhones. Or would you care to explain how this hasn’t happened? Do you know anything about security, except for barbed wired fence that is around your house?

The BB will be around for awhile. They dominate the corporate environment. The iPhone is new, and will most likely appeal to the consumer market and the small to medium size business that likes the flash appeal and need for multimedia features. Just like the BlackBerry is trying to crack the consumer market, the iPhone is trying the corporate market. Some will bite, but for now they will dominate at what they know best.

It was also said that corporations will probably be hesitant to give their employees access to such a “fun” device that could take time away from productivity. With the distractions of music, movies and pictures being a fingerswipe away, it wouldn’t make sense.

I found this article in one of my RSS feeds today. It directly relates to this blog.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23510399/

scroll down about halfway and read the paragraph that starts with:
““If you stay up late and watch an infomercial, and they’re touting this new device that’s actually a pressure cooker, and they say how wonderful it prepares vegetables and meats, and it’s the same technology you’ve had around for a long time, but it’s in a new package — that’s kind of how I look at the iPhone,” said Bill Hughes, principal analyst for In-Stat, which does market research and analysis of advanced communications services.”

It goes on to talk about what this writer feels constitutes as a “smart phone”.

The price point issue is a big one for businesses though. The notion, however, that RIM outages are affecting their business is whimsical, given that ATT has EDGE issues periodically that affect ALL users. Check out RIM’s longer term track record of reliability and a few hours every year won’t materially hurt them. Besides, the core architecture is extremely reliable and they have only had issues when upgrading or making changes to the system.

One issue that could be problematic to RIM in certain businesses is the total cost of ownership. iPhone costs are the handset, the data plan, and exchange. Blackberry costs include the handset, the data plan, exchange (or Lotus, Groupwise) PLUS BES and CALs, so iPhone could have an advantage here on TCO calculations even if the handset price is much higher. However, this is offset by the perceived value of what BES provides that iPhone/Exchange doesn’t. Should be interesting to watch, but my bet is both will fare extremely well.

But there’s certainly the prospect that the iPhone can penetrate the corporate marketplace down the road. I think if Apple goes the route of BB and creates an iPhone ‘geared’ towards the corporate market, it would certainly make IT managers think twice. No camera, swapable battery, enhanced security, limited multimedia use, etc. The OS is certainly attractive and easy for the end user to learn and use on the corporate side.

There’s just so many pros and cons to both devices that make it an interesting topic of discussion. Only time will tell as to who wins out…