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Microsoft Says iPhone Is Irrelevant To Business
An anonymous reader writes "A Microsoft exec has turned attack dog, lashing out at Apple's iPhone by saying the device isn't good for business. Why? Because the iPhone is 'a closed device that you cannot install applications on.' Specifically, he's talking about Microsoft Office. 'While the entry of the iPhone (with its cut-down version of Mac OS X) into this market offers new options for consumers, Sorenson believes user familiarity with the Windows Mobile interface — and the ease with which companies can buy and develop applications for the platform — will sustain its increasing popularity and help keep the iPhone out of the lucrative corporate market.'"
Yeah, because I always use my telephone to write Word documents. You can bet that if Microsoft is trying to cut this down, it means a threat to Microsoft. And this early too -- the product does not even ship until June. How does Microsoft know what the iPhone can and cannot do?
It used to be "What's good for General Motors is good for the USA."
I guess now it should be:
"What's good for Microsoft is good for business."
DMCA - Chilling free speech since 1998.
Microsoft complaining about a company locking competitors out? that's rich...
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
'course, a more likely explanation is that MSFT already has a cell phone OS biz they'd rather keep protected from such things as competition, no?
IOW: Nothing to see here, move along... :)
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Irrelevant? No. Limited in its appeal to mobile corporate users? Yes. Without the ability to install custom apps on it, the chance that the iPhone will be a popular choice for mobile corporate users does seem pretty slim. That being said, I hardly think Apple cares, it's not their target market anyway.
And I haven't seen MS Office on the device. It runs Java, which is not Microsoft owned as well. Business is addicted to the things so much they are referred to as crackberries. The blackberry blackout was BIG news, so it seems to be prominent.
I think they are being a little delusional.
Scott Carr
has ever edited a .doc on their phone ? Is there some secret sub-class of ubber biz user who works on biz docs on his phone ? I'm a geek and I've never even thought of it. Porn, well, ya. Work on that merger ? No.
So?
Apple doesn't target large business/enterprise markets. They never have. Their products are always marketed as tools for empowering individuals. If you didn't know better and could only guess from reviewing their advertising, you might think that businesses don't use personal computers. Often in these cases they behave more like a consumer electronics company rather than a PC maker.
Apple has never shipped HP or Dell level volumes and they've never seemed interested in trying. They get waiting lists for some of their products as it is.
Adding enterprise app accessibility would only introduce bugs, increase complexity, and reduce the overall user-friendlyness of the device, none of which would be Apple's fault (and I'm not even a fanboi). Besides, can anyone imagine Jobs up on stage at some show, introducing the latest email or ERP integration piece? No one drools over that kind of stuff.
It's clear that part of Apple's rep for simplicity is due to the avoidance of the products and systems that can't be made simple. Enterprise apps are necessary and useful, but their deployment and use are a clusterfuck and probably always will be. Apple can't change that, so why take the downside?
What would you rather sell? 1 iPhone to every business person, or 1 iPhone to 1 out of every 100 Mr. Joe Public? I would rather sell to the Joe Public market because of the sheer volume of sales. The target market of the iPhone is not to kill the blackberry - yet. It is to go after the market that the Razr has. And since it is essentially a pocket PC, if there is demand, then maybe other apps could be installed with later revisions.
Apple is not stupid, they did their market research for this thing and know exactly what features Joe Public wants, not what Mr. Jack Business or Mr. Slashdot Nerdling wants. They want to woo the Joe Publics, and I strongly suspect that they will.
I think MS is complaining because they know that the iPhone is going to destroy the Zune, and they have nothing to compete with it. Not only that, once enough Joe Public's get a hold of these things, there market for WinCE will be under fire - and then their market for Office on such devices. Apple is smart, they are picking their battles. They are not even trying to compete with the business market at this point. They are targeting a totally different segment, and MS is scared that they will win.
Think of the changes in the marketplace, if everyone owns an iPhone in the public space, and becomes accustomed to using OS X on their handheld... What sort of PC will Joe Public consider buying after using a OS X device? I suspect more iMac's will fly off the shelves after the iPhone becomes established. I think Microsoft is seriously afraid of losing the mobile market, the DRM/Music Market, and eventually the desktop market. And the iPhone is the device that will drive in that wedge.
Try to hack my 31337 firewall!
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Apple says Vista is irrelevant for business...
...compete you attack
Seriously, get a clue.
That exec has it pretty much spot on. But you know what? It doesn't matter. Because the type of people who'll buy the iPhone prefer form over function anyway.
With the increase of rich applications in the browser (AJAX etc.), the need to install binaries on a mobile decreases. If, as promised, the iPhone basically has the full build of Safari on it -- then this should be possible.
I'm no Mac fan boy, but realise with each passing year I use a web browser more, and stand-alone applications less. The iPhone fits with that trend.
Maybe so, but is iPhone really targetting the corporate market, at least initially? Nothing I've seen has suggested that. Why say that your product is better than someone who isn't even targetting in the market you are referring to? Maybe because you've got no advantage over your real competition?
That exec has it pretty much spot on.
Sure he is... assuming your office only uses desktop-installed versions of MS Office software. But what if the iPhone had a full-capability web browser installed on it, and you used one of several web-based Office-like applications, and your company had web-based email & calendaring interfaces, and used IM for business communication as well?
Suddenly that non-business iPhone looks pretty darn business-capable. Microsoft has already stumbled several times in recent memory by dismissing the ability of these internet tubes to route around their monopolistic strategies... how many more of these mistakes can they afford to make?
Create? No-one. View? Quit a few.
Check out Apples' parody-tastic new product.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzBmHY3URWs
Go take a look at the ads for the iphone on Apple's site. Here's what you WON'T hear:
::touches picture of guy wearing a blue tie:: ::clicks picture of guy wearing red tie:: Hi Mike, I've got that spreadsheet you were waiting on.
MIKE: I need to call Chet ask him about that spreadsheet
CHET: My phone is ringing!
MIKE:Great, let's call Sue and look at the powerpoint!
CHET: As long as it has plenty of bar graphs!
See for yourself. Apple doesn't give a flying flip about the suit, at least not while they are at work. Their ads are filled with attractive youngsters talking about meeting up for bike riding and whitewater rafting! They don't CARE about the business market.
I had no problem using my PDA for writing. I would enter it as plain text, and then format it in MS Word when I got the big computer. The PDA was to keep contacts and appointments, and jot down drafts. I saw no one complaining that theri franklin planner was inadequate because it did not include a typewriter. Same thing.
I suspect the problem with the iPhone is that it is not going to fit in with the MS workcylce, specifically exchange. Of course blackberry is not a problem because I believe it does have an exchange component. Apple, OTOH, is just uses standard protocols, and does nothing special. Therefore, when the executives get their iPhones, which they will, it is conceivable that at some point MS will have to open up exchange. This means the MS should be scared because the iPhone is the thin end of the wedge. MS lucked out that the there were enough hacks to maintain the monopoly with the PDA threat, but they may not be so lucky with the phones. Just look at what the iPod is doing to the precious WMP formats.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
What they're really worried about is that the iPhone will integrate flawlessly with iCal and Address Book. While there are some 3rd party apps that try to do this, MS has nothing to offer cell phone users on this front. And it's actually pretty damn useful, as opposed to the 'not being able to install Word' bullshit.
Thank you, and goodnight.
I like to place meaningful quotes in my sig, so people will know that I know what meaningful quotes are.
Please will all persons here that actually use MS Office on their PDA raise there hands please?
...
Anybody else?
Thank you sir, you may lower your hand.
--------
* Sigh *
I am just adding fuel to the rumors, but I seem to recall hearing that the definition of "closed" that apple is using is very loose.
From what I remember reading (no links sorry), the iPhone will not support the installation of unsigned applications and plug-ins. However, everyone expects this to be simple to disable or override at the cost of invalidating your warranty.
Also there was some discussion that suggested that 3rd parties can request that their code be signed...
Apple just wants to prevent people from turning their iPhone into a spambot or worse, and they also want to keep support calls to a minimum.
I suspect that most Mac users, like myself, will not be inconvenienced by these restrictions in the least... in fact, unknowingly we will probably welcome them as they help ensure that our phone "just works" whenever we need to use it.
Besides... if the iPhone attracts as much interest as is expected... it'll be hacked in a week just like the AppleTV was.
Sometimes the best solution is to stop wasting time looking for an easy solution.
Are you suggesting running a web-based AJAX office application on a phone instead of a native mobile application?
Why run something bloated when you can run something bloated on web page running off a web browser inside a tiny mobile phone... web office apps only make sense on actual PC's with solid connections.
Office Mobile is designed for MOBILE PHONES it is optimized for MOBILE PHONES- I couldn't imagine running web applications on a cell phone- that's so counter-intuitive. What would happen if you went through a tunnel on at rain or something? What if you were on a plane?
You need local office apps that play nice with your business infrastructure, so that they're always available and are not tied to a web connection. Microsoft is correct, here.
It doesn't even matter, because a it would be retarded for a business to give its employees something like an iPhone. It's designed for doing everything BUT working. Maybe if you're working for a magazine that writes movie, tv, or music reviews...
I'm not sure they haven't already past that point, it may be that the last mistake they could afford (and maintain their top-of-the-heap position) has already been made, and not caught up to them. One place that may have been is not staying out ahead of the OLPC. One thing that isn't often mentioned about the OLPC project (not the laptop itself, but the whole program) is that, included in it is one of the biggest ground-up rethink of usability, collaboration, security, and software and information distribution for what is, essentially, massive coordinated enterprises with common platforms.
Sure, the context is educational, but many of the issues being addressed aren't restricted to that context. If it is successful, there is going to be a lot that is applicable to the traditional, lucrative first-world enterprise market, and plenty of open-source code designed for Linux will be available for it. Potentially, it could provide the killer application that stops the question about Linux adoption from being how Linux can ape Windows features, and instead provides a compelling reason for enterprises to jump to Linux.
The iPhone is *irrelevant* for business. It's not a business device. You won't get an iPhone for business or, really, for any practical reason at all. Anyone who actually needs anything in the iPhone's feature list beyond actually making phone calls has already got a gadget that does whatever it is better than the iPhone ever will. Including being a music player (in which case that device is likely to be an iPod). And if that device isn't a phone, it's almost certainly better off for not being a phone - simply because even the optimistic estimates of bettery life Apple's listing on their website are profoundly unexciting (even the iPod shuffle beats them), and rumor has it that they're profoundly optimistic as well.
Apple's market is the same as the market for things like the Motorola RAZR. I'm sure it will be sell well just from the cool factor, no matter how impractical it is.
I'd like to suggest an axiom for writers:
Ask a company about its competition, and they will trash the competition.
Let's get serious here... asking Microsoft what it thinks of its competition? Such an interview has no value. The response will always be negative. Ask Microsoft about any of its competition, and the response will always be the same.
Our chief weapon is surprise. Surprise and fear. Fear and surprise. Our two weapons are fear and surprise... and ruthless efficiency... Our three weapons are surprise, fear, ruthless efficiency... and an almost fanatical devotion to Bill Gates... Our four weapons... no, amongst our weapons... amongst our weaponry are such elements as fear, surprise... I'll come in again.
What sound do people on rollercoasters make? Hint: it's not Xbox 360.
Etch-a-sketch is better than Windows Mobile
http://www.apple.com/itpro/
Here's just some of their headlines from the news box:
Apple Takes on Exchange Server
Apple's Open Calendar Server vs. Microsoft Exchange
Xserve Review
Apple's Xserve Gives an Enterprise Alternative
http://www.apple.com/itpro/solutions.html
Need Help Configuring Apple Solutions?
Contact Apple Consulting Services for comprehensive onsite consulting and enterprise-oriented services.
One of Apple's big enterprise selling points always has been interoperability with MS & UNIX products.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
In the Microsoft playbook: say device is beneath your worry;
Step 2: Attack device as imminent failure;
Step 3: Watch as device becomes success;
Step 4: Purchase company which produces device. If this is not possible;
Step 5: Release half-assed version of device which fails on all levels except hype.
I am a believer of momentum and curves.
The PC wasn't for the corporate market either when it came out. It was considered and ment to be a toy.
Apple is together with Google in offering Google Maps on the iPhone. I clearly remember the impressive presentation of that specific feature. It's bound to move toward a killer application for those offering Navigation systems. And before you can say 'MS Office sucks' we're likely to have Google Apps on mobile devices. And they definitely are a competion to anything MS in the mobile area.
Do you people still remember Ami Pro, Lotus 123 and Windows 3.1? That was all we needed back then and with the browser apps we get exactly that. On top of a bazillion layers running them on a performance hog called JavaScript. But it's all we need. With phones running 500Mhz CPUs and Full Scale Browsers stripped down versions of expensive proprietary shrinkwrap applications are getting more harder to sell by the minute. And MS is feeling that right now.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
You've got a good point that the AJAX-y experience wouldn't be optimal on a web browser inside a cell phone. It'd be pretty crappy... but then again attempting to do most business-related things on a cell phone-based application is typically a last resort, so I still think there is some applicability here.
I have a Palm 700p as my main cell phone. While I don't use the Office-compatible apps too often, but it's handy in rare instances. For instance, a client emails me a Word document detailing changes to a contract... it's great to be able to open the document on my phone, read it, then email or call them to discuss. That scenario is within the realm of the possibility of a web-based AJAX app, even on a mobile phone, isn't it?
I admit I've never used the genuine Office Mobile apps. But neither of us has seen how well the browser on the iPhone (or the keyboard, for that matter) work. If it's as good as the hype (well, at least close), it may be able to bridge the gap. Should be interesting to see....
The iPhone integrated office suite doesn't even have to be good. It just has to suck slightly less than Office does. Apple gets their claws into you. They got the kids and an ever-growing number of adults with the iPod. The iPhone will subvert the CEOs and upper managers who currently force me to use Microsoft's crappy software at work. People will buy them because they're shiny. Then they'll say something like "Wow... this is actually an incredibly easy-to-use device! Maybe I'll check out an Apple computer..." Next thing you know, everyone in the family has one.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
The reason you don't see much criticism of the iPhone on Slashdot is because it isn't out yet. Seriously, why does a person like yourself have to waste energy making shit up about it?
That one bug in the email sure is annoying. Too bad I can't try a different email app.
You're arguing that a hypothetical bug in an unreleased product makes Windows Mobile better?
I wish this thing played videos.
Uh, it does. Standard MPEG-4/h.264.
Will this thing ever support Flash?
Nobody in any position to know has said that it wouldn't, so again you're pulling out a strawman.
I contacted Apple for the 4th time about my need for PowerPoint support.
PowerPoint is a Microsoft product. Complaining to Apple would get you nowhere. Even if iPhone was completely open there's no reason to think that it would have PowerPoint support. If it were truly necessary to view presentations on your phone (who does this?), any decent presentation software is capable of exporting to standard formats such as PDF, which the iPhone supports.
Windows Mobile can do everything I need this iPhone to do and an MDA is $300 instead of $600.
Most people consider this before buying. I don't understand why you are so mystified by it. The MDA might be fine if you don't care at all about media playback features or web browsing or Mac integration. Not everyone does. Some people care more about PowerPoint presentations, and they have a world of other phones to choose from. They're different.
If you don't believe me, look at the Hiptop/Sidekick - http://hiptop.com/forums/ A bunch of Apple employees left and made that platform which is mostly closed.
I know you're trying to make it sound like Danger, Inc. and Apple are somehow closely related, but the facts don't follow. "A bunch of Apple employees"? One of the founders had come from Apple. Oh, and Steve Wozniak is on the board. Whoopty shit. Furthermore, you've not actually given any evidence to support your claim that "every long-time user is tired of the same old lackings".
The iPhone will be more locked-down and WORSE than that.
Says who? All Apple has said is that it isn't an open platform. In all probability, Apple will operate the same way Danger does, by screening third-party software submitted to them, and selling through their store. iPhone has already been demonstrated as syncing with iTunes, and iTunes already distributes applications in the form of iPod games. It is no more closed that the Sidekick.
Don't become a regular here -- you will become retarded.
Apple isn't after the business market by design, and Microsoft knows this. But it's likely MS has conducted research, and they can see that the iPhone has even attracted the attention of the high-end market that uses MS mobile applications on "smart" phones - a market that isn't as locked in as the desktop users. They likely don't want any of that base to defect, and this is done by jumping up and down about the importance of Office (even though it isn't as important in a mobile setting).
It's a preemptive move to hold what they've got.
I love Apple, and hate Microsoft, but IMHO, the iPhone has two big failings.
1. No unsigned apps is a big one. This is really a damn shame, and limits the iPhone to a certain crowd (fashion-conscious blackberry users and Apple devotees).
2. EDGE?! EDGE sucks. The latency is beyond terrible. Now that Cingular has UMTS, Sprint/Verizion have EVDO, and even T-mobile is going 3G, why would ANYONE consider a "nextgen" phone to be an EDGE-only phone. This is a *terrible* decision. As much as I love Apple, I would *never* trade in an EVDO capable PDA for an EDGE one; even if you paid me to take the EDGE one. EVDO (or any low-lataency 3G) changes the way you access the internet while mobile. With EDGE, you putter around slowly, and you don't use an EDGE device while driving about 50 mph, or riding the train. With EVDO, you're always online.
As far as I'm concerned, #2 is damning. Especially now that Sprints super-cheapo SERO plans are avaliable to anyone in the know, there is no reason whatsoever to go with some crappy overpriced EDGE device, even if the UI is Nirvana (and given that its a first generation product, I'm skeptical). Don't look at the bandwidth numbers and think that your EDGE device is similar to a dialup; its not. It's more like a low bandwidth satellite connection, with roundtrip latencies approaching 2-3 seconds while the connection is maxed out (and given that its 128 kbps, thats not hard). EVDO, UMTS, and other 3G technologies blow the doors off this; both Sprint and Verizon sell PDAs and Phones that give you live streaming video, even from things like ORB and Slingbox.
Don't go with EDGE. It sucks. I worked with an EDGE phone for a long time, and now that I've got EVDO (particularly Rev A) I would never, ever go back. Even at twice the price.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
People think they want this. Nobody would ever use it though.
"When I first heard Daydream Nation it quite frankly scared the living shit out of me." -- Matthew Stearns
The iPhone has KHTML, and that's powerful enough to display Google Docs. So, it can load, display, and edit Microsoft Office files.
Microsoft is about to get their ass handed to them again and they know it. Consumer device or not, gimmick or not, the iPhone is already having a huge impact on the moble market - AND IT'S NOT EVEN OUT YET!!!
Next up: "One time software giant Microsoft files suit against Apple, Inc. for monopolizing the mobile business device market"... well, it wouldn't be the first time someone snatched the pretzels out of Ballmer's mouth.
ewwww... I just grossed myself out.
Most of the stuff on
Have anybody ever tried developping software for Windows Mobile 5? It's fracking simple. It took me about four hours from scratch to develop a custom made gps software for my WM5 PDA with c#.
Microsoft knows how valuable good development tools are. That's about the only thing they have done right (in my opinion).
I seem to hear this a lot, and doubt the degree to which it will apply. While the wifi is going to exist, it is not being treated by the manufacturer or carrier as a cost substitute for the data plan. It is exceedingly unlikely that ATT will be allowing a per-use internet service on this phone any more than they do on Blackberries. The sale of this phone will be more akin to how Verizon sells Blackberries than to how any "normal" phone is sold: it will only be offered on certain plans which include the data package. Since the exclusive channel in the US will be the Cingular/AT&T corporate stores, and the Apple stores (which are installing the Cingular point of sale account access system for provisioning this phone).
Prestaging for this phone comes among other things in the form of Cingular finally offering an unlimited SMS package; devices like Blackberry now can get "unlimited everything but out of network voice" service for about $90 a month. If you didn't notice, the iPhone demonstrated features are loudly absent any IM application other than SMS, which, wifi or not, only operates on the GSM/UMTS network. I would not be surprised if the whole $49.98 data nut was completely comulsory with the iPhone purchase, and became part of the associated two year contract.
So no, I don't think the built in wifi will have any adverse impact on the carriers whatsoever. Err, not on Cingular anyway. It will, in all likelihood, be used as compensation for the lack of 3g, which on the GSM network in the US is actually less widely deployed than wifi. AT&T does in fact own a more extensive wifi hotspot network than t-mobile, and I have never heard of such an offering from Verizon. So maybe Apple's assistance to rapidly deploy a wifi-GSM hybrid onto the Cingular network will help achieve a new and chilling level of market dominance.
"One hundred and forty phone models already run Microsoft's Windows Mobile operating system..."
Now that's the most abusive utilization of the term "run" that I have ever seen.
You aren't remembered for doing what is expected of you
That would be accurate, if not for the fact that on a EDGE (!) phone, AJAX and other Browser apps, take forever to load. Just mentioning. /still regrets no 3G on Iphone
I take my children to see Madonna(..), but I never for once ever thought I was in the same business.Chris Rea.