Apple takes on BlackBerry for business users
Posted
Mar 06 2008, 03:11 PM
by
Kim Peterson
A friend of mine was thrilled to get an Apple iPhone for Christmas from his wife. But he returned it a few weeks later. Why? Because he couldn't access his work e-mail on the device. The iPhone, for all its cool features, lacked one essential tool: the ability to sync easily with corporate e-mail on the Microsoft Exchange server.
How many times has this story been repeated? That's why today's news from Apple is huge. The company said it will work with Microsoft to license the ActiveSync synchronization program, which lets iPhone users get e-mail, contacts and calendar information from Microsoft Exchange servers. It sounds like this could happen sometime in the summer.
The move means Apple is going after Research in Motion's ubiquitous BlackBerry in the corporate market. But this isn't a death knell for Research in Motion, which has a huge lock on enterprise customers. RIM had a 73% market share for smartphones in February, according to ChangeWave Research. Palm's market share has declined over the past year to 18%, and Apple's iPhone is around 5%.
RIM shares fell nearly 4% today to $98.02 and Palm dropped almost 5% to $5.94. Apple shares closed down nearly 3%, perhaps because the company didn't say anything about a faster, 3G version of the iPhone expected later this year.
So after being all but annihilated in the business PC market, Apple could finally make its way into corporate environments with the iPhone. Just as the iPod boosted consumer Mac sales, perhaps a business-oriented iPhone might help Apple make inroads for the Mac into the enterprise. But that would be years down the road at the earliest.
Also today, Apple unveiled a software kit that lets developers create games and other programs for the iPhone. Apple will share the revenue from the programs with the developers.
Here's what others are saying about today's news:
Fortune: "Finally! Eight months after it was introduced, the iPhone is finally getting the e-mail service it deserves."
Between the Lines: "Enterprise strategy? I didn’t think Apple had one -- or at least one it talks about. That’s about to change though."
Seeking Alpha: "Is this big? Well, it will certainly help the iPhone win business customers, and it will mean that Blackberrys and Treos will have to get a whole lot better or they're going to lose sales to Apple."
IT exec George McQuillister, in Computerworld: "The SDK release seems to want to say that Apple has the enterprise blessing and that everything is wine and roses, but I will believe it when I see it."
24/7 Wall Street: "This is going to help get the iPhone more subscribers and more users. But the company is going to find that this is not just an effort that pays off rapidly. This is a quest that will take the Knights of the iTable many years."
Disclosures: I don't own shares of any companies mentioned in this post. And while Microsoft owns this blog, Microsoft doesn't control, censor or otherwise have any editorial influence over what I write.
