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Corporate IT Hanging Up on Apple's iPhone
WSJdpatton writes "iPhones can be used for email, but many businesses don't plan to sync them with internal systems used to power Blackberries and Microsoft mobile devices. Employees eager to use the cool new gadget, however, may pressure IT departments to support iPhones even if it means incurring more costs and changing policies. The WSJ reports: 'Incompatible technology has become an increasing problem for businesses as hand-held email and phone devices are evolving into minicomputers that can do such things as download music, take pictures and surf the Web. In the past, businesses have been unwilling to support certain devices, like those with cameras, for instance, because of concerns employees could use them to document company secrets. But these tensions would be magnified if the iPhone is as popular as Apple is hoping and some analysts expect.'"
Companies who've locked themselves in to a proprietary email system can't change when a new (and potentially better) product is available.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
MS, to an extent, but mostly RIM.
I could be wrong, but I was under the distinct impression that the iPhone would do POP3/IMAP4, just like pretty much every other phone released in the past 12-24 months.
Or use Exchange, and then not have to make any sacrifices at all. Businesses don't want to lose the competitive edge they have, so cutting back on functionality, especially functionality as important as group calendars, is a deal-breaker. Exchange isn't re-inventing the wheel, it's clearly better than the solution you suggested, functionality-wise at least. I'm not trolling for MS or anything, it's just that companies don't give a rat's ass about F/OSS (often to their detriment) - they look at feature lists.
There's nothing wrong with having well supported proprietry kit, if you're already bound in, just make sure you've got a good handle on the bed you've chosen to lie in. We run exchange here, that means I can sync all my mail and appiontements to my windows mobile device (which I happened to already own). The standard device of issue here is the blackberry. It works well, the firm knows how much it costs to run, upgrade, support and what they get out of it.
As people move from one firm to another, Crackberrys are so common the transition is often seamless. It's also nice in the fact that because there are so many users, I often overhear the execs and managers discussing tweaks and doing self-support.
For what it's worth, OTA syncing of mail and calendering is so totally piss poor being, as it is, supported by some of the most conveluted, non standard, standards you've ever seen. Have you ever tried writing anything to use syncML?
iPhone works with POP and IMAP. They found a couple of IT drones who hadn't bothered to find out what was involved in supporting the iPhone, and just assumed that they'd have to jump through the same hoops that RIM requires.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
John Gruber has an article about this, for those interested.
One of the key functions of RIM-style e-mail is that the server tells the phone that it has to download something instead of the phone polling the server if there is something to do. It is useful if you need to be informed of something immediately after the e-mail arrives instead of waiting until the next scheduled contact.
With reduced cost per megabyte, higher data rates and increased battery life, this is becoming less and less relevant. I am completely happy with my IMAP, mainly because, when I really need to know, my server sends me an SMS that arrives in less than 10 seconds.
http://www.dieblinkenlights.com
Exactly. People crying about the iPhone supporting POP3 and IMAP are obviously not working in a corporate environment. Getting mail to the phone is the easy part folks. Getting mail to the phone in a way that doesn't drain the battery instantly (push), and in way where the mail can be locked and secured in an instant.. That's the tricky bit. The Blackberry is a good device, but -and make no mistake- Blackberry Enterprise Server is the key to RIM's success. I busted out laughing during last year's keynote when Steve mentioned Yahoo! Mail for push.. WTF?
Furthermore, people talking about putting tape over the iPhone's camera or those commenting about the camera being the least of the security concerns since the thing has bluetooth or can be attached via USB also don't get it. With BlackBerry Enterprise Server a corporation has the ability to lock that stuff down in the same way as they can lock down a user's computer. I can disable the BlackBerry's camera, bluetooth, usb.. I can push software down to all devices (SUPER convenient during that idiotic change to DST), and I can remove software from all devices. This combined with flawless syncing with our messaging system via push technology is why BlackBerry wins in the corporate environment.
The iPhone looks sweet as hell, but -in the end- it is just out of place in a serious corporation.
Calendar - iCal/CalDAV (open standard, same as Mozilla's Sunbird)
Contacts - vCard, open standard
Todo - iCal again
Notebook - on the iPod, the notebook is a directory of regular text (.txt) files - I imagine iPhone will do the same.