The iPhone Doesn't Ring With Business
06/10/08 - 02:22 PM EDT
Priya Ganapati
RIM's secret sauce is its BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which connects with Microsoft Exchange, IBM's Domino and other email systems and links wireless devices to business applications and wireless networks.
The server offers strong encryption to ensure the best security, centralized control and management and features that allow IT managers to wipe all personal data off the phone in case the device is lost or needs to be decommissioned. "Until you can do all these things with an iPhone, I just don't see mass deployment among businesses," says Palen. Shares of Apple were up $4.08, or 2.2%, to $185.69. The stock is down 4.5% since the beginning of the year but has run up nearly 42% in the last three months. Apple's much-touted independent applications, soon to be available through its App store, are also likely to send a shudder down the spine of IT managers. "There is no way to push or remove these applications through a centralized management system," says Palen. "IT managers have to know what apps are running on the device and have the ability to control the device or change its security credentials." For businesses that may have hundreds of employees carrying around a mobile phone, the ability to manage those devices easily from a single centralized console is an extremely critical need, the lack of which could become a deal-killer for the iPhone among enterprises. IT managers need to able to extract data about the mobile phones that their employees are using, query the device and ensure it is secure and compliant with the enterprise' policies, says Palen. It's not just a matter of security but also compliance, especially for companies in the financial services sector that need to ensure all their devices, computers and handhelds yield to regulators' demands.
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