We’ve all had a few days now to nitpick through the Apple iPhone SDK, and one of the elements which has of course interested most of us here in the BlackBerry world is the support for Microsoft’s Exchange Server mail platform. Does this entrance in to the corporate space really pose a risk to our trusty BlackBerry’s though? Having worked with a variety of mobile email platforms and smart devices for around seven years I would have to say ‘no’. Behind the glitz, glamour and hype of glass top screens, animated menu systems and Steve Jobs wearing those same tatty Levis, black polo neck and New Balance trainers there are several key factors which, at least for the moment, prevent it seriously impacting the corporate space which RIM so effectively dominate.
There are several reasons for my coming to this conclusion. Firstly there is device cost. Over hear in the UK (like the US) the iPhone is a very expensive piece of hardware. In Europe especially we are used to dealing with our contracted airtime needs in one of two ways – we pay low line rental and higher handset costs, or we have higher line rental and heavily subsidised handsets (never the worst of both, which is what Apple have done with their carriers). Move this argument in to the corporate space where you’re purchasing not one phone, but 50 or 100 at a time – you’ll soon be kissing your budget goodbye. BlackBerry devices, although perhaps not looking as slick and trendy, are functional and affordable, just what a business needs. Secondly, IT departments are rightly frightened of an unproven corporate solution, even though their bosses (the decision makers) may have bought in to Steve Jobs sales pitch. BlackBerry is the industry standard with several incarnations of its mail server platform and an excellent track record. Like Exchange Direct Push to Windows Mobile, what possible device management, lockdown and server side reporting could Apple offer, and this is a key factor which BlackBerry copes with well.
To conclude, we can all be excited by the latest Apple keynote speech, but once Steve and Bono have left the stage let’s look at what it means carefully before we think about dropping our proven and trusty kit for latest Penthouse centrefold.
Man, the way people are responding to this iphone news, it seems like more and more people are trying to convince themselves NOT to get an iphone than how great their blackberrys are.
That being said, I’m a BB user and will be so for at least another 4 years if at all.
Didn’t we just have this discussion a few days ago in the SDK post?
Of course it has a risk on RIM and the Blackberry’s market share. With this announcement you been scared along with the rest of the Blackberry fans. Your all talking about it for a reason, because it will have an impact on the company and devices you all love.
The iPhone is hot right now. Now that the SDK is out you will see a huge amount of apps being developed in a short amount of time making the iphone more appealing to the consumer. Even though there is some limitations with the SDK such as no multitasking, the average user will not notice that.
Micheal, your comment made an important point in that it will make the iPhone “more appealing to the consumer”. Businesses are not consumers, and at these price points they will not want to finance the iPhone as an unproven corporate tool. As for applications, they’re secondary to the email platform in the eyes of most businesses.
I think bluehorseshoe is right… we did have this discussion a few days ago. I think it was said that, no matter how good the iPhone gets… the BB will likely keep up with it. The bottom line is that a corporation is not going to spend the money to switch all their wireless devices when what they’re switching to will do the exact same thing as what they have now.
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”.
It’s not going to be mainstream anytime soon…that being the iPhone in the corporate world. An example is a sales person looking to link into the company database, assuming the ability is available via the iPhone, and they connect through the VPN, get to the database only to be disconnected because a phone call came in. They’d have to start over. Sure, Apple can come up with a fix for this, but until they do, and add 3G capability to the device, it’s not going to happen. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but battery is going to be an issue too since you cannot swap it. Sales people complain about laptops running out of juice at times, but at least they can carry a spare. An outlet isn’t exactly available everywhere. And these are just a couple of reasons.
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…
You guys all miss the larger point here. The market for smartphones is growing by a huge amount, about 30% per year, so both platforms should fare well in the coming years. The idea that RIM is “taking on water” is a joke. iPhone will not crack the large enterprise market but will do very well in small and medium sized business, especially where iPhone’s true killer app (Safari) can be harnessed effectively. And the consumer market should continue to adopt both as choice is king and each individual will decide what they want most.
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.
The iPhone aside, which is obviously a huge part of the equation. But this is also bigger than big news for MS which for the first time will have it’s software running on a top tier device that people want. RIM not only has to deal with the iPhone but suddenly MS Exchange Support becomes front and center in pointing out or at very least questions the need for BES and BB data service. Thats bigger than big “risks” for RIM.
I think bluehorseshoe is right… we did have this discussion a few days ago. I think it was said that, no matter how good the iPhone gets… the BB will likely keep up with it. The bottom line is that a corporation is not going to spend the money to switch all their wireless devices when what they’re switching to will do the exact same thing as what they have now.
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”.
@ hellno…I mean Thrillseeker…I mean Bob.
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.
We really should seek out Hellno on this issue as only he has the TRUTH and FACTS.
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.
I have to agree with those who don’t see the iPhone having much of a value-add over the BB for business use. I mean, what does an iPhone offer that you can’t have on a BB? Safari browser? iTunes? YouTube? Visual voice-mail?
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?
I do agree that the more immediate impact of the iPhone in the enterprise segment will be among small and medium sized businesses, where an individual’s preference may make a greater difference.
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.
For me, the next round is all about who can come up with the best mobile browser solution.
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.
You guys are missing the point. All the thing you have mentioned are fixable. iPhones will be coming out every year with better features so if corporate users really want a keyboard they will get a keyboard on the iPhone. Mark my words, the iPhone will get Blackberry support if they want to retain there market share against Microsoft exchange, that’s why they were happy to do the deal with Apple. Apple is coming out with iTunes for enterprise software down the road that will allow your employer to control what is seen on your device and disable camera so all those secuirity risks will not be a factor. With that said, Blackberry will not go away as a communications platform but it’s say to say that on the hardware side there days are numbered.