Companies Debate iPhone’s Impact In Enterprise Market

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting Planet Cell Phone!

Apple has not been content to categorize their iPhone as a mere telephone. From the start of the product’s launch, they have attempted to go as far as they could in “revolutionizing” the mobile phone market. Now, with the release of an iPhone SDK, they are attempting to turn the iPhone into an Enterprise platform of sorts.

Several experts are debating how much of an impact their recent moves will have.

Sacconaghi said the SDK is “critical to Apple’s maintaining the iPhone’s [ market] positioning,” but that it won’t necessarily make the iPhone more attractive to enterprise users.

“We note that many mobile enterprise applications likely to be available on the iPhone (such as Salesforce.com) are already available for other wireless devices,” he wrote.

However, Andy Hargreaves, of Pacific Crest Securities, said the iPhone should attract new developers to Apple’s technology platforms, and “will likely be the first Apple device for millions of corporate users, and positive impressions could drive stronger demand for Macs over time.”

Hargreaves estimates that the addition of the SDK and ActiveSync support will, over the next year, drive 5 million iPhone sales to corporate customers.

A large measure of what needs to happen for iPhone relates to the acceptance of the iPhone at the enterprise level. Whether that will happen or not remains to be seen.

If you enjoyed this post, subscribe to the Planet Cell Phone RSS feed!. You should also visit the Cell Phone Forum.