IT Jobs
Gartner warns IT to avoid Apple's iPhone
It's just a music player with a built-in phone - and no firewall.
By Jon Brodkin, NetworkWorld | Network World US
Published: 13:04 GMT, 22 June 07
Analyst firm Gartner has told IT executives to keep Apple’s iPhone away from their networks, in a research report due out on Monday.
"We’re telling IT executives to not support it because Apple has no intentions of supporting (iPhone use in) the enterprise," Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney says. "This is basically a cellular iPod with some other capabilities and it’s important that it be recognised as such."
The iPhone, scheduled to ship in the United States on 29 June, appears to be a great consumer device but has no redeeming qualities from the perspective of a business user, Dulaney says. Besides lacking security features like a firewall, the product does not support Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes, so corporate users would have to forward email to an Internet service provider, he said. Gartner’s research note warning against business usage of the iPhone will likely be issued Monday, according to Dulaney.
"You’ll have email in a place that’s unsecured. There are no firewalls on the device. There’s no ability to wipe (data from) the device if it’s lost," Dulaney said.
Businesses have little, if any interest in the iPhone and Apple isn’t marketing it to the business sector anyway, says Randy Giusto, who leads IDC’s analysis of mobile devices, computing and computer markets.
“The iPhone is not positioned at all for the IT world,” he say. "It’s a very personal device. Most corporations are probably not going to support the iPhone on their networks."
Apple may not be making a direct appeal to enterprises, but AT&T is betting that business users will want the iPhone, the IDG News Service reported in April. AT&T plans to market the iPhone to business users and is making sure its backend enterprise billing and support systems will accommodate the device, the report stated.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that Apple does plan to go after the business market with the iPhone, but must come up with a strategy for integrating with business software systems that will be acceptable to IT executives.
Apple’s spokeswoman for the iPhone could not be reached for comment.
Businesses tempted by the iPhone should resist for a number of reasons, Dulaney argued. The high price tag – up to $599 in the US – is exorbitant for most enterprises, he says. Even if the iPhone met the security requirements of an IT executive, there’s no real reason for employees to have one. To make it worthwhile, an enterprise would expect firewalls to prevent unauthorised access, long-term maintenance and support commitments, support for an email client like Microsoft Outlook, and PBX integration.
"Enterprises are not going to buy this so employees can buy music and watch movies," Dulaney says. "Business has a very narrow purview of what they want to get done. … From the consumer perspective, Gartner is really positive about this device and it really changes the game."
A 451 Group analyst agrees the iPhone has no place in a business, and thinks the new product won’t even live up to its hype as a consumer device. Tony Rizzo, director of mobile technology research at the analyst firm, doubts Apple’s assurance that the iPhone’s battery will provide up to eight hours of talk time, six hours of Internet use, seven hours of video, and 24 hours of music playback.
“If a user were to click on the Wi-Fi radio inside an iPhone, the battery life would probably significantly drain. Using a large touch screen to do anything is going to eat up a lot of battery life,” Rizzo says.
The touch screen will disappoint both business users and consumers, such as young people who do lots of instant messaging and text messaging, he says.
"It doesn’t have any features that would make it successful as a business tool.
The other question, is it even going to be successful as a consumer device?"Rizzo says. “I’m not giving up my BlackBerry. I like the keyboard, I like the trackball and I like the service."
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Add your commentComments
Kris | Published: 22:13 GMT, 25 June 2007
Have you heard of IMAP? IMAP will work with IPHone, which means you can download your Exchange mail to your IPhone.
taojones | Published: 21:28 GMT, 22 June 2007
how could it possibly be more dangerous than a laptop that any employee takes home. Sonny boy gets ahold of daddys laptop downloads lime wire and get s some "cool stuff" daddy goes to the office the next day and logs on to the network and Sonny boys trojan horse is now behind the firewall and all of a sudden everybody in daddys adress book is getting all daddys records mailed to them (daddy is a shrink by the way) whooo Hoo! i think the damage potental of a phone with browser capability is a lot less dangerous than that (how many are banning bluetooth on their present cellphones) the bad thing is ever since apple opened up the stores we have had jerks like this "switching" and it has diluted the quality of our mac community greatly. stay with your blackberry ...please whoo wants to peek at their stuff anyway get serious
Jan | Published: 20:40 GMT, 22 June 2007
Gartner's warning is not based on facts.
Jonny | Published: 19:07 GMT, 22 June 2007
it has os 10 which has a built in firewall it also has support for word excel and pdf so yes no good at all !!!
John | Published: 18:59 GMT, 22 June 2007
I work in a very high tech leading edge semiconductor firm having about 5000 employees. During one of the last quarterly meetings, surprisingly, the iPhone was the subject of interest by all the execs. They were anxious and very enthusiased about it. It's very possible that iPhone could be one choice for company provided/supported cell phones. I think Gartner research hasn't done all it's homework. I do agree the iPhone is poised at the Consumer base and that is what makes this phone so much better for IT. It's easy, intuitive, simple, elegant and it just works. These other phones have proven to be a horrible experience for the price. Personally, I can do with out the sync to Lotus notes email which is ancient and cluttery. I think IT will love the iPhone.
hardman | Published: 18:06 GMT, 22 June 2007
I wonder how much bounty that certain parties are offering the first hackers to cause crashes on iPhones?
What's amazing is... | Published: 18:05 GMT, 22 June 2007
...that in spite of the fact that none of the "experts" quoted has ever actually held an iPhone or had any chance to evaluate it objectively, they are: 1) publishing reports on it, and 2) claiming expertise in understanding how it will affect business users. Any "expert" willing to be quoted in the press making definitive statements about something which they demonstrably know nothing about should be instantly recognized as a charlatan. I especially love the quote: "It doesn't have any features that would make it successful as a business tool." Thinking of ONLY the visual voicemail feature, I can see VERY high value in just that feature that would pay for the device (e.g., on the first successful immediate callback to an important client that was facilitated by this feature). Gartner will never get another dime of my research money.
wayne thompson | Published: 17:45 GMT, 22 June 2007
A person that has never used or seen and not knowing all the spec sure is a know it all.
ShadowIT | Published: 16:50 GMT, 22 June 2007
I use a Treo 700p, and I absolutely hate it. It does nothing but crash, run out of power, drop calls, and crash. It doesn't work well enough for it to matter that it supports enterprise features. I'm not saying the iPhone is the answer, but it certainly has the capacity to improve on what's out there already (including the CrackBerry). It's all software anyway, the hardware is in no way lacking (that we can possibly know of at this point).
Tampa Tom | Published: 16:39 GMT, 22 June 2007
IT people are geeks who hate anything Apple. Screw 'em.