On Message with Ben Gross
How Viable is the iPhone for SMB and Enterprise Users
A high profile marketing campaign and substantial media attention preceded iPhone's release. Even though the two available models cost approximately US$500 and US$600 respectively, in some locations lines to purchase the device formed more than 24-hours in advance. Initial reviews of the device, most notably by Walt Mossberg of The Wall Street Journal, were largely favorable. The iPhone has been my primary mobile phone for over a month. I have used the device's email, Web browser, SMS, and other applications extensively both in the U.S. and in Europe. My personal experience with activation was seamless, although there were widespread reports of initial problems with AT&T's activation process. All activation, provisioning and synchronization are completed via iTunes. The self-service activation process is straightforward and should be rapid even for nontechnical user; although people may not be accustomed to using iTunes for such tasks. For me, the phone was usable within fifteen minutes of plug in. This included activation, configuration, and synchronization of my existing data.
The user interface is very responsive, more so than any smartphone I have used in the past—by a good margin. Moving from one application to another is quick. Email messages, attachments, long SMS threads, and Web pages all scroll smoothly. The 3.5-inch display is very bright, supports a resolution 480 x 320 equating to 160ppi and is quite readable in direct sunlight. The default Helvetica font is highly readable. The battery easily survives several days of heavy mobile or WiFi data usage.
Due to its higher than average learning curve, the virtual keyboard has been the source of some controversy among reviewers. Those who spent a limited amount of time with the device tend to dislike the keyboard. Other reviewers, such as myself, who have spent more time with the keyboard, found it quite efficient after the initial adjustment.
As Compared to the Competition
As a network enabled mobile device, the usability of the iPhone has a substantial lead over the competition. However, longtime BlackBerry users who value utilitarian email and SMS efficiency may not be swayed. Users that have been waiting for a smartphone with a greater focus on usability and are not bound to tightly integrated Microsoft Exchange environments will find that the iPhone a viable alternative.
In addition to the consumer market, the iPhone is currently a viable solution for the SMB market. The phone is missing functionality, however, that would allow it to smoothly integrate into a number of enterprise networks, namely support for push email via Microsoft Exchange, group calendaring, LDAP access, and 802.1x authentication. In addition there is no ability to remotely wipe a device, although there is an option to lock the device with a password.
Security
In terms of security, the device currently supports WEP, WPA, and WPA2 encryption for WiFi networks, as well as PPTP (MSCHAPv2) and L2TP (SharedSecret + MSCHAPv2) VPN connections. Cryptocard is supported for user authentication with pre-Shared Keys (PSK) only. The email client supports SSL encryption for POP, IMAP, and SMTP connections in addition to authenticated SMTP. Email authentication methods include plain text, NTLM and MD5 challenge response.
Exchange
Current Microsoft Exchange users can use Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access (OWA) via the built in iPhone Safari browser. Funambol offers a solution for accessing Exchange by synchronizing with a Microsoft Outlook client and offering Web-based access to the data on the iPhone. The latest release of the Synchronica Mobile Gateway synchronizes with Exchange via OWA and the native iPhone mail client. Visto Mobile says it will offer iPhone synchronization with Microsoft Exchange and IBM Lotus Domino by Q32007. Apple could negotiate a license with Microsoft for ActiveSync and provide direct synchronization with Exchange. This would seem like a desirable path forward if Apple targets enterprise customers.
Clients
The first iteration of the iPhone software has many features friendly to business users. The mail client is excellent for basic email use and supports multiple email accounts. In addition to POP, the phone supports IMAP and IMAP folders well. The email client supports a number of formats and attachment types including: HTML, rich text email, plain text, PDF, Word and Excel including the .docx and .xlsx files from Office 2007. Power emailers, however, may find the management features frustrating. For example, there is no mechanism to file or delete groups of messages and no ability to flag messages.
Configuring mobile email clients is usually a tedious process. On the iPhone, email is automatically configured using information from existing applications. Contact synchronization is supported with Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express (Windows Address Book), Apple Mail (Apple Address Book), Microsoft Entourage and Yahoo! Address Book. Calendar Synchronization is supported with Microsoft Outlook, Apple iCal, and Microsoft Entourage. Mac users can synchronize individual address book groups, but not smart groups. For users of Windows, there is currently no ability to sync address book groups or sync individual calendars.
All contract data plans for the iPhone include unlimited data. The plans are less expensive than comparable (BlackBerry, Treo, Windows Mobile) GSM plans in the U.S. However, the international data plan for the iPhone includes 20 megabytes of data a month and requires a one-year contract, compared to the international BlackBerry plan offering unlimited use on a month-to-month contract.
Limitations
Overall, while there is much to recommend about the iPhone, there are a number of downsides and limitations. Missing features include: an instant messenger application, a to-do list, the ability to synchronize the memos, and group calendaring. There is currently no support for Flash or Java on the phone and no over the air synchronization of contact, calendar, or notes. There is also no autofill or password storage for the browser, and no generic copy and paste mechanism. The software is designed so that cut and paste is typically not necessary. For example, URLs and phone numbers in email are automatically sent to the correct application. However, retyping data can be an annoyance when there is no built in mechanism, such as sending contact information to another user. It is likely that many of the gaps will be filled in later releases. Some of the missing functionality, such as to-do's, memo synchronization, and group calendaring will likely follow the October 2007 release of Apple's operating system Mac OS X Leopard that supports all of those features.
Despite a substantial list of small grievances, the initial version of the iPhone works admirably well, even when compared to established devices and mobile operating systems. Even with potential business hurdles, such as the device is only available for use on the AT&T network and the lack of corporate plans, the iPhone is likely to integrate into small or medium-sized business environments immediately. Enterprise users, however, may need some additional functionality before adopting the device. BG/TMP