The key reasons why the iPhone will win are:
- Employees are demanding a great user experience and their companies will respond to support the iPhone. The engagement that users have with their iPhone is similar to the Crackberry phenomena years earlier, but an order of magnitude higher because of the Apps model and user interface. The increase in personal productivity for users in their home and work life is measurably increased, and users don't want to carry two devices. Enterprises are responding by supporting the iPhone and re-thinking their mobile strategies based on the bottom up pressure.
- Smart businesses are seeing increased ROI and reduced TCO from iPhones. Rather than just being a managed expense, the iPhone enables critical business goals such as collaboration, sharing and the ability to build custom apps for competitive advantage relatively quickly and easily. Yes, it's true the Blackberry has apps, but historically these have been focused on logistics and operations and have been costly to develop and maintain. The iPhone makes it possible for virtually all business functions, including sales, marketing and HR, to develop truly innovative solutions. Plus, B-to-C apps can provide new models for sales, support and service. Finally, the cost of ownership for iPhones is proving to be lower than Blackberries as companies avoid the "Blackberry Tax" imposed by BES. What's more, users are more self-sufficient which lowers support costs.
- Apple is investing in enterprise support for the iPhone – and IT is starting to believe. Apple clearly focused on the consumer market more than the enterprise when the iPhone launched. IT departments were justifiably skeptical about the cool iPhones executives were showing off around the office. However, Apple is focusing on the enterprise both from the engineering side – with new releases – and the sales side by enhancing the team with enterprise mobile veterans. Much needs to be done, including continued improvement on device management, application deployment and security models. But Apple appears to be on track to provide this support. There is still cynicism about Apple from hard-bitten IT managers, but Apple appears to be balancing these concerns while maintaining the ease of use held so dearly by users.
The iPhone is already on a great trajectory within the enterprise. What's exciting is the iPhone's stealth entry occurred mostly organically, without a strong marketing or sales focus (at least compared to the consumer side).
Demand has been driven by users at all levels of the organization, from the CEO to the salesperson. Just imagine what can happen when Apple puts its back to the wheel and starts to push the enterprise market – especially as it considers leveraging iPhone acceptance as a way to engage IT about getting more Macs into the enterprise beyond the traditional marketing areas.
In fact, the iPhone has created a halo effect that is causing companies to rethink their compute platform. Look around and you will undoubtedly see more and more MacBook Pro laptops.
If Apple can continue to amaze users with its technology and provide a great experience, and simultaneously provide IT with enough to keep things in control, the iPhone will win. The disruption in the market has been driven by users who are going to use the iPhone whether IT says it's OK – or not.
It's Apple's game to lose, as long as users continue to drive mobile adoption in the enterprise.
Goldman is CEO of Apperian, a mobile application development company with a team from Apple, Motorola, and General Dynamics whose resources and talent are unmatched.
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