iPhone: Not Ready for the Primetime in the Enterprise
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It's hard to keep the popular Apple iPhone from the enterprise, but Forrester Research offers 10 reasons why that's a bad idea. |
The iPhone:
1. Doesn't natively support push business email or over-the-air calendar sync.
2. Doesn't accommodate third-party applications, including those internally developed.
3. Doesn't support securing data on the device through encryption.
4. Can't be remotely locked or wiped in the event of a lost or stolen device.
5. Lacks a hard keypad that provides feedback, which isn't ideal for rapid and accurate input.
6. Has limited service provider support and its carrier lock-in inhibits flexibility.
7. Comes with a premium price tag.
8. Is only the first generation.
9. Lacks a removable battery, so when the battery kicks it, so does the device.
10. Lacks case studies of firms that have deployed it enterprisewide.
But Forrester analyst Benjamin Gray, who wrote the six-page report, The iPhone Is Not Meant For Enterprises, concedes keeping the iPhone out of the enterprise might be an uphill battle: "The iPhone will find its way into many enterprise environments—if it hasn't already—because C-level executives are buying them and expecting support from IT. It's only a matter of time before the iPhone filters down the corporate pyramid, and IT should have a strategy to handle these requests."
