Apple’s business call
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| With the addition of Microsoft Exchange, the iPhone is open for business. Image: Apple |
Steve Jobs sent a clear message to the technology world Thursday: Apple wants it to view the iPhone as an opportunity, not a threat.
To drive that point home, Jobs gave up the stage for most of Apple’s (AAPL) highly anticipated software event at its Cupertino headquarters. Rather than hog the spotlight with his legendary presentation skills and personality, he let deputies and partners explain how entrepreneurs can start writing their own software for the iPhone, and how businesses can use the device to seamlessly access corporate e-mail.
That warm embrace of business customers was critically important for Apple. Because of a slumping economy and earnings projections that didn’t thrill Wall Street, Apple has soured a bit in the eyes of investors in 2008. The only thing that can reverse that sentiment is the iPhone, an Internet-capable touch-screen device that Jobs has promised will sell 10 million units this year.
For that to happen, Apple probably will have to sell quite a few iPhones to businesses, who have been leery of a product that initially seemed tailored for consumers, not corporate IT managers. Corporate buyers, who were weaned on Research in Motion’s (RIMM) no-nonsense BlackBerry, have voiced uncertainty about the iPhone’s touch screen, its incompatibility with corporate e-mail, and its tightly controlled software.
Apple is signaling that it’s ready to do what it takes to put big business at ease. Not only is the company working with Microsoft (MSFT) to bring Exchange contacts, calendar and e-mail to the iPhone, Apple is also reaching out to developers like Epocrates and Salesforce.com to make sure the iPhone can run the kind of software that doctors and salespeople need to do their jobs.
And contrary to what some in the industry expected, Apple is not going to force businesses to use its consumer-focused iTunes software to manage the phones. Executives said the company is working on a method that would allow companies to load their own software into the iPhone without going through The App Store, a new clearinghouse that Apple will use to distribute software for the phone.
Another sign of Apple’s determination to be business-friendly: Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller started his presentation by showing a laundry list of new features that big businesses had demanded from the iPhone, and saying that Apple plans to supply them all. Most companies make such pronouncements all the time — but Apple has long prided itself on not doing focus groups and not taking orders from The Man. (The recording industry and movie studios have tried bringing Jobs their own lists of iPod-related demands, and it hasn’t gone so well.)
But this time around, we could be seeing signs of a kinder, gentler Apple. In a telling moment last year, Steve Jobs said one thing he envied about Bill Gates is his ability to work with business partners. “I think if Apple could have had a little more of that in its DNA, it would have served it extremely well,” Jobs said. In the early days, Jobs said, Apple’s go-it-alone mindset was probably a mistake.
Based on the iPhone news, Jobs is determined not to make the same mistake again.
Chaco: If you did not check out the features before buying a product, don’t blame the company that sold it to you.
Gary: The statements do not mean the same thing. There is a difference when you announce in 6/07 that that you will sell 10 mil. by the end of 2008 (18 months) and saying you will sell 10 mil in 2008 (12 months). Apple has modified their original statement and they state they will sell 10 mil in 2008. This is not a big issue now but you should get your facts straight before complaining about others.
iPhone, If it is not fully open to all the carriers then It doesn’t matter. People won’t buy it. If we were open I would sacrifice and try to buy it myself but for now I just wait until something better comes along.
I have to agree with the people who think aapl should have been up 10! My work computer has VISTA, how people put up with it is beyond me! What a joke! If aapl had put out such a useless system they would have been laughed off the exchange! Get off MSFT’s jock strap!
I *might* actually think about getting an iPhone under the following conditions:
1) UMTS/HSDPA connectivity.
2) Exchange access
3) Removable Battery
4) Get rid of that atrociously stupid ATT contract.
RIM will never die. Wanna know why? Because, unlike their MS-Mobile contemporaries, they work. The just work.
You turn them on, you make calls, you send and receive e-mail all the time, without fail. They’re totally bulletproof. You don’t have to pull the battery out of them five times a day like you have to do with a Palm Treo or a Windows Mobile-based phone. The battery life is stellar, and my BlackBerry 8830 has the very best implementation of Bluetooth I’ve ever seen on any device that supports the horrible, hopelessly-broken protocol.
The 88xx-series phones lack a camera because that’s what RIM’s customers–government types, who aren’t allowed photographic equipment in a good number of places they have to work–asked for it. That bologna a few posts back about how RIM neglected to put cameras on their handsets because they were “resting on their laurels” is complete rubbish. The Pearl and Curve were released because RIM wanted to cozy up to the consumer market.
Yes the interface is a bit clunky and needs a freshening. But you ask the vast majority of business professionals if they’d trade in their Ol’ Reliable BlackBerry for any fancy-schmancy MP3-player-turned-cellphone that doesn’t even have a proper keyboard? “Not on your life,” they’ll say.
There is enough room for RIM and iPhone, AAPL will cut into the RIM market, but RIM will be around for a long-long time. Too many companies have to much invested in RIM devices and IT. However smaller, newer, or companies looking to update/revamp their business smart-phones now have a viable option. I think this is huge for Apple, for the basic business person who mainly wants his/her Outlook email options, why buy a Blackberry when you get so much more on iPhone? Of course AAPL needs to do more updates/enhancements, but all in due time people - this is a first of many big steps into the Enterprise market.
I don’t have an iPhone and not a big business user, so I have little use for the Exchange feature, but would be nice to be able to check my work email from anywhere. These new updates have finally got me highly interested in buying an iPhone even though I recently bought a touch - that will be sold. Add in all the future SDK development with games and high-level apps, music, video, etc etc - this is increasingly becoming the ultimate device.
As for SMS and keyboard - Cacho you’re an idiot, how many business people use SMS at a high level? I never see my coworkers or people in the airport using SMS on their Blackberries, they mostly use email. And the keyboard on my iPod touch is fine, after a few days I was good with it, occasionally make a typing mistake, but that happens on a full-size keyboard also.
Personally, I feel anyone who is still “hating” on the iPhone are just people who would never be happy with it under any circumstances. All they need to do is add 3G and keep the enhancements and updates coming. I hope to get my iPhone by years end, congrats AAPL for always moving forward and forcing other companies (RIM, cell makers, soft/hardware dvlprs) to keep up and not becoming lazy with their current success.
I’d love to buy an iPhone to use for my business, but I won’t leave Verizon for AT&T. And Verizon won”t even touch the iPhone until Apple makes a version where the battery could be replaced easily. I hope the Apple engineers are working on that… Steve, are you listening?
To say that the iPhone is a smartphone is a huge understatment. The thing is an amazing platform. I dont´know how many of you watched the demos yesterday, but I was really amazed. The potential for the applications considering the computing power and the connectivity are really big. I was not very good at typing in the iPhone, but to be honest, with most phones these days mistyping is very common. After a while it becomes very natural.
I see Apple doing the right moves lately. I´m sure now is a good time to buy, but I don´t expect the stock to skyrocket in the short or medium term.
They talk about it.
There is GOING TO BE for businesses solutions.
Jobs allowed someone else to talk about how it will be used for business.
But where is the solution?
THERE IS NONE that any IT company would allow or purchase for it!
Thus, this story is fluff unless they actually have a product.
Are you kidding me?!?! Why is everyone so obsessed (and upset) by the terms “in 2008″ and “by the end of 2008″? THEY MEAN THE SAME THING!!! If I believe my company will sell 10 million units of something by the end of a specified year then I am saying I believe 10 million units will be sold within the year… as in… by the ending date of 12/31/0?… Jeez people… Stop arguing over something so unimportant…
I am a businessman that depends on the mobile phone. I bought an iPhone only to discover that is far from a phone to be used by a businessman! What a disappointment.
The developers had not idea how a businessman uses the SMS functions. no doubt it was develop for kids that chat on the SMS, without having to edit, forward, ensure they get delivery reports, etc.
No, Steve, I am afraid your iPhone will never make it to the business world unless you change the sms features drastically.
Cacho
Blackberry was surpassed by MS Mobile in 2006 with respect to features. The Blackberry devices are archaic and outmoded. Now Apple comes along and will totally outclass RIM. Time to start re-evaluating strategy corporate America. Right now it’s MS, RIM, Apple in terms of corporate technology. Soon RIM will be #3…
I hate my iphone. Parts of the screen consistently don’t work by touch, and it drives me nuts. There’s not a scratch on it, and Jobs doesn’t offer a protection plan for a perfectly GOOD PHONE that I DID NOT DAMAGE. SO i have to just LIVE WITH IT. So kudos for mentioning the “questionable” touch screen. Agreed, it sucks.
The death of RIM is long overdue. For years, while cellphones of the same size embraced increasingly sophisticated features like cameras and multimedia applications, RIM rest on its laurels. It neither felt the need to make itself more portable, more useful or easier to use. Then in 2007 a plethora of new versions surfaced - suddenly it was thinner, lighter, had a camera, could play audio, came with a trackpad… all because of competition from the iPhone. Well the days of RIM monopolizing the market is over and all these efforts are now too late, too little… Finally, I can soon junk my clunky 8700 Blackberry which is only good for work emails and only carry the iPhone.
Going after the business user is all fine and good, but they could reach their goal of 10 million units sold EASILY by simply doing away with the exclusive AT&T service contract. I know SO many people, including myself who simply don’t want to unwind their service contracts. No brainer in my book. How long is that exclusive contract anayway? 1 year? Anyone?
lmao @ dave…
you’ve been saying apple will be over 200 in two months for how many months now?? well your timeline has come and gone, yet you still spout ‘aapl @ 200 coming soon’ to a fantasy world near you!
aapl will not be near 200 by 2009 let alone any sooner….u missed that boat in 2k7 and should have sold at 200, not bought. (typical buy high, sell low investors)
as i always stated…do your research..not just hopeful wish-n-hope investing.
and then you have the idiocracy to make a statement like ‘the idiots on wallstreet dont understand the power of apple and…yada, yada, yada…
do you know how a free market investing works? the wallstreeters don’t set the prices…..the investors…ALL OF THEM do!
Working for a company that has roughly a little over 4000 Blackberry’s in service connected through BES servers, opening up the IPhone to be compatible with MS Exchange is a HUGE thing to do! I am certain people will flock to these because there is a lot of opportunity to do more with an IPhone than you can with the blackberry’s that are out today…
The Iphone is very easy to type on. The first time can be a little odd, but after a couple of days it becomes very fast.
Apple still has hurdles to be competitive. While these new developments speak to Apple’s technological drive into the enterprise, issues such as price (you can get a Blackberry for free with a locked-in plan) and carrier lock (AT&T only) as well as demonstrated enterprise level tech support for the device still need to be addressed.
I love Apple stuff, but the enterprise is a different animal.
As a casual business user who was very leary of the iPhone originally, I can say that todays announcement marks the end of RIMM as we know it. When I got my iPhone my comment was simply “This would be a superior device to any Blackberry, if it had push email”. Well in June, that will be the case. I’ll have push email on my iPhone, and I will begin to encourage everyone else in my office to drop their antiquated Blackberries.
Funny that an earlier poster mentioned that AAPL should have been up 10, as that was my exact prediction when the news broke.
I remember when the iPod first arrived, People would say why would I buy this if I can take a CD and just put it in my portable CD player and hit play and listen to my music, now the CD-walkman is as good as dead! The iPhone is slowly starting to take the same route. I know a lot of people who have a Blackberry but only use very little of the features offered on the device. Look at how many people on the iPhone use google, or surf with Safari, its the ease of use that the iPhone is all about and this will win the Corporations over to the iPhone as well.
Technically speaking, iPhone’s microsoft exchange support is a NO event for BlackBerry. All these offered by apple is not too much than what’s already offered by free mobile-email applications, window mobile application.
The way Steve Job ridicured BlackBerry’s NOC architecture, just shows that Apple has NOT even found the door to enterprise mobile application. Don’t get me wrong, Steve Job is a very very smart person. But, it is just the fact that he and apple do not know anything about the enterprise mobile application (not much more than those free mobile email application providers)
I see these comments dissecting whether Steve Jobs said this or that…10M by the end of ‘08 or 10M in ‘08. Who cares? Are people hanging on every word this man says like he’s a techno god? I’ve never understood the Apple following. Good products yes, but some of these blogs make it seem like a cult. I’ll pass on the Kool Aid.
Fortune is correct. The first time Apple introduced iPhone (Macworld Expo 2007), Jobs said they would start selling them in June, with a target of 10M units by the end of 2008. However, since then Apple clarified that they expected to sell 10M units in 2008 alone. The latest repetition of this stated goal was several days ago, during the shareholder meeting. Please stop perpetuating that the goal is 10M units by the end of 2008.
Hearing too much of the great apple hype these days. Has any serious user tried typing on the iPhone?
Apple should have been up 10 points today! The idiots on Wallsteet don’t understand the power of Apple and the IPHONE. By the time they do, Apple will be over 200.
I think one issue has been overlooked by all the media and even Apple (or at least they didn’t amplify on the issue)and that is the issue of RIMM’s NOC…going down several times in the last year if I am not mistaken…by going direct this critical weakness is removed…with business communication critical at the level of most Blackberry users…the reliability and security of the connection without a third party server in between will prove most attractive. This will strike an emotional chord within both IT and managment…
If Apple is serious about the business and Government market for the iphone then they will need to release a model without the camera.
Dude,
You’re right about the “end of 2008″ quote, but Apple has explicitly clarified that it intends to sell 10mm phones “in 2008″.
Thus, Apple, itself, has upped the original target.
John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins said the iphone is bigger than the personal comptuter, I agree, the enterprise integration, SDK, App Store and IFund guarantee that within a year, the iPhone will be our most important and valuable possession. Watch the video of today’s presentation, it is simply awe inspiring. This will be the best gaming, cellphone, PDA, portable Computer, location, etc device on the market. Better than Blackberry, Sony PSPs, Palm PDA, GPS devices, etc. I am sure 3G will be out sometime in the summer as well. Apple has got it right this time.
yes, that is what I heard, too. End of 2008, 10M.
Does the media ever get anything right. NO!
By the way, I’m not complaining about the article, it’s a good article, just curious why writers from Fortune as well as other analysts continue to say Apple’s goal was to sell 10 M phones in 2008 instead of by the end of 2008. it’s the difference of selling the 10M phones in 18 months (by the end of 200 
or 12 months (in 2008).
hopefully they will sell 10M in 2008, but that was not their stated goal.
The 10M goal in calendar 2008 has been confirmed multiple times by Apple.
When the iPhone launched, Steve Jobs said that Apple will sell 10 million phones “by the END of 2008″.
Why do articles from Fortune continue to say they will sell 10 million iPhones “IN” 2008??
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A senior writer for Fortune, Jon Fortt focuses on technology and innovation in Silicon Valley - a subject he's been reporting on since his days as a rookie reporter for the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader. Before joining Fortune in 2007, Jon had reporting and editing stints at Business 2.0 magazine, and the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, Silicon Valley's hometown newspaper.
Apple’s iphone needs to add other carriers. I think the fcc should step in.
Thanks
Jason Berkes