Microsoft?s Chris Sorenson said Apple iPhone will be irrelevant to business user

[oalvarez]

Wrong. But please think that if you wish. If you don't believe it just read throughout the other devices forums. They're dumping their bricks by the truckload.

By the way, I still yet to see wall street personnel armed with treos. I wonder why?


See ya

 

[MerQ]

Wow, those Microsoft guys are real masters of the obvious. Of course the iPhone won't be for business people. It doesn't do Exchange or BB. I love it when Microsoft idiots say stuff like that. It just makes them looks like real tools.

Joe

Add to the fact that the iPhone has a hard drive that will eventually be hacked and it also has a camera which more businesses aren't allowing to be had in the workplace anymore.

 

[Pearl_Diva]

I think it's a flash drive.

 

[Pearl_Diva]

Overated in that everyone thinks that BB email is the be-all-end-all. It's not.

(No one picks a BB when they can have a Treo.

I'll agree that BB email isn't the only option.

BUT read my sig. :evil:
When that 3G and wifi BB come out later this year, I'll be looking at it.

 

[taroliw]

Microsoft?s Asia-Pacific head of smartphone strategy Chris Sorenson said that If you?re an enterprise and want to roll out line of business applications, it?s just not an option. Even using it as a heavy messaging device will be a challenge.?

I'm sorry... is the implication that if you don't support Office attachments then messaging in the enterprise becomes pointless? That's a really funny assertion since I am a very heavy email, SMS, and IM user on my phone and I can't remember the last time within a year that I just couldn't survive without opening an Office attachment. And, yes, we do have DocsToGo... I just find little need to ever use it, except maybe to open the occasional PDF.

That said, I tend to agree the iPhone will flop for business... but only because it's not a true smartphone. I reject the notion that if you're not in bed with Microsoft then you aren't serious about business. That's just a foolish as Apple selling us the idea that Web 2.0 and Ajax is a realistic third part application option for iPhone.

 

[taroliw]

Not to me, I use my blackberry for email, and IM far more than making phone calls. Im sorry, but with IMAP, and pop access only, the iPhone will never be a successful business device.

My usage pattern on my Treo is very similar. I can go a week without realizing i have voicemail because I'm almost never in the phone. And I agree that without a realistic means of supporting third party app development -- no, a new-fangled J2ME/MIDP solution doesn't count -- then it will just a be fancy, overpriced feature phone.

 

[taroliw]

I still yet to see wall street personnel armed with treos. I wonder why?

That's easy... these people are not technical and rely upon whatever corporate tells them to use. And most of these large institutions bought into Blackberry a long time ago. Getting them to change that now would be a Herculean effort. So a lot of what /keeps/ them on BB is inertia.

These days, there are fully functional alternatives to the basic wireless email, IM, PIM functionality... that don't require a central server or huge licensing and service fees. By the way, the same goes for GoodLink. These services do have ways of adding other value, such as remotely managed device security, deployment of centralized applications, etc. But if you're not doing any of those things, then their relevance in today's market for a new entrant is seriously reduced from what it was 4 or 5 years ago.

Having made that point, though, does the iPhone offer functional alternatives to such a serivce? No. It doesn't have OTA PIM sync, it's not particularly clear if it's going to have IM. About the only area where it seems to do OK -- and only if you can live with the on-screen keyboard, which is still a wildcard for me until I actually get to try one -- is email. Yeah, people seem to pan IMAP in preference to ActiveSync and DirectPush... but guess what? It works. Before Chatter supported EX directpush, I used IMAP quite successfully with Exchange to do push email.

So, overall, I'd say iPhone will be a no-go for me. It won't include the things I personally need in a device and it absolutely will not allow me to add antyhing optional and fun. I'm sure there will be some people who will find it useful and adore it. In fact, Palm has acknowledged there is such a market by trying to sell *downward* into the market. But it is becoming painfully obvious of late that trying to make the case that iPhone will compete with smartphones is just not going to fly.

 

[mikec#IM]

bingo

Bingo...perfectly stated taroliw

 

[oalvarez]

not sure what mikec is pointing to. regardless, successful companies decide what is best for their needs. blackberries and bes (maybe goodlink) seem to provide the best, secure, real-time email application for them. finance industry types (and i'm really speaking about wall street professionals) depend on SECURE email, phone and data....that's really it, especially when out of the office (they carry laptops if doing presentations and the like)....so like you said Taroliw, that's what these people do, and that's what these people need, and that's why Blackberry's are so popular in that universe. like 'em, hate 'em, it doesn't matter.....they do what is required, best. if they didn't, they wouldn't exist.....as in the Treo or iPhone for that matter. but you're not going to tell me that Blackberry devices don't have a purpose or place in the marketplace.

 

[mikec#IM]

hmm

Overrated and "not having a place in the market" are two completely different things.

Even my old Compaq Aero has a place in the market. ;-)

Like I said, BB are, just not the BAEA.

As for security in financial services, I have a goo story on that.

Turns out a major bank misprogrammed their call center for online banking to transfer escalation calls to my phone.

It got annoying to get dozens of calls per day from dissatisfied customers.

I tried to tell the bank, and they said it wasn't possible and wouldn't fix it. Really annoying to get all the calls (I get business calls from all over US, so it was hard to tell who was a client and who was from the bank.)


So I had a little fun.

At first, I just listened empathetically, and offered a $1,000 credit to their account. That got some wonderful responses.

Other calls I decided to go down the "what are you wearing route", which was fun.

Finally, I did the ID thief move and asked for their name, address, account numbers, credit card numbers, SSN, mother's maiden name, passwords and PINs. The customers, thinking they were internally transferred, glady gave up the info. (Esp. when I offered the $1,000 credit).

I compiled a list of about 50 customers, and Fedexed it to every officer and board member of the bank, as well as their security folks with a little love note about security, identity theft, and the going rate for choice IDs in Estonia.


I got a call a couple days later from a vampire (lawyer) with an threatening attitude...I told him if another lawyer calls me back, my next Fedex would be to every national daily newspaper and TV station.

The next call was from some Veep, who was actually pretty cool and let me explain the story.

They fix their phone, and compensated me $200 in overage changes on my cell phone.

Not much to do with BB, but the point is that mobile device security is a small piece of the puzzle.

 

[oalvarez]

enjoy your "goo story" ??...please enjoy it all by yourself.

be all end all? you mean like the treo? what are you speaking of?

not to do with BB?

figured as much.

 

[mikec#IM]

ollie

The Treo isn't the BAEA. It's just the most functional attempt to date.

The keyboard (and operater ;-) ) need some work. Meant to type "good".

SAND.

 

[samkim]

Wall Street Journal today has a story on corporate non-adoption of iPhones.

Companies Hang Up on Apple's iPhone
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118221943189139997.html?mod=home_whats_news_us

 

[mikec#IM]

says alot

Nice article...the iPhone is a toy...the fact a bunch of lawyers want it speaks volumes about them charging big $$ and goofing off.

But...I think the issue is email "lock-in"....expose those Exchange servers to SPOP or SSL IMAP and call it a day.

Old school VPN is dead.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Pop doesn't do the trick for some of us. Have you ever had a conversation with someone via email and had to wait 5 minutes between each sentence?

Well one could use a telephone and do it in 25% of the time

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Nice article...the iPhone is a toy...the fact a bunch of lawyers want it speaks volumes about them charging big $$ and goofing off.

I would say a substantial number of this forum's user use their Treos more as toys than as business tools. Seinfeld reruns and mp3 issues seem to dominate a large percentage of the the forum traffic.

 

[braj]

I would say a substantial number of this forum's user use their Treos more as toys than as business tools. Seinfeld reruns and mp3 issues seem to dominate a large percentage of the the forum traffic.

How about 'business toys'?

Nice avatar BTW, :thumbsup:

 

[oalvarez]

I would say a substantial number of this forum's user use their Treos more as toys than as business tools. Seinfeld reruns and mp3 issues seem to dominate a large percentage of the the forum traffic.

i suppose it takes a JackNaylor to say such without getting too beat up about it.

 

[Malatesta]

i suppose it takes a JackNaylor to say such without getting too beat up about it.

I would have said something but then JackNaylor would have written a a full treatise on the issue, which I would have skimmed and probably shrugged at, whereas you keep your retorts short and sweet.

(Jack, nothing personal...for context this is an inside joke)

 

[Pearl_Diva]

I would say a substantial number of this forum's user use their Treos more as toys than as business tools. Seinfeld reruns and mp3 issues seem to dominate a large percentage of the the forum traffic.

I don't see that, I'm sorry.