Companies Hang Up on Apple's iPhone
Workers Beseech Employers
To Add Device, but IT Units
Cite Email Incompatibility
By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO and NICK WINGFIELD
June 19, 2007
While millions of consumers are eagerly anticipating Apple Inc.'s launch of its iPhone next week, Bill Caraher is bracing for the worst.
Mr. Caraher, technology director of von Briesen & Roper, a Milwaukee law firm, says he is being besieged by inquiries from employees wondering whether the office's email system can be used with the device.
His answer, at least initially, has been no. The main problem is that the iPhone can't send and receive email through the company's corporate BlackBerry email servers. He says he is unwilling to look into workarounds, because they might compromise the company's security. "It's another hole in the system people can exploit," he says.
TALKING TECH
The iPhone, much like its iPod cousin, will present security challenges for corporations.
This scene is being repeated in workplaces throughout the country as Apple moves closer to its much-ballyhooed rollout of the iPhone. While iPhones can be used for email, for now, many businesses don't plan to sync them with internal email systems that use technology from BlackBerry maker Research In Motion Ltd., Microsoft Corp. and Good Technology, owned by Motorola Inc. That means many iPhone users won't be able to directly send and receive messages through their corporate email systems, although they may be able to forward their work emails through a third-party service like AOL or Yahoo Mail.
All this may change later this month when Apple plans to unveil the iPhone. According to a person close to Apple, the company is expected to fight for this market, currently dominated by players like BlackBerry's RIM, Palm Inc. and, increasingly, Nokia Corp. and Motorola. If Apple comes up with an acceptable strategy for integrating with business software systems, many companies might change their tunes.
Apple's plan to go after the business market represents a shift for the company, which has never been a strong player in corporate technology. In recent years its focus on the consumer market has accelerated with its products like the iPod and its effort to open a broad network of retail stores.
The initial plans of many companies to snub the iPhone will likely come as a disappointment to many consumers who are eager to substitute the iPhone for the multiple devices they carry around for music, cellphone and both corporate and personal email services. These users may put pressure on business technology departments to support iPhones even if that means incurring additional expense and changing their policies.
Incompatible technology has become an increasing problem for businesses as hand-held email and phone devices are evolving into minicomputers that can do such things as download music, take pictures and surf the Web. In the past, businesses have been unwilling to support certain devices, like those with cameras, for instance, because of concerns employees could use them to document company secrets.
But these tensions would be magnified if the iPhone is as popular as Apple is hoping and some analysts expect. The public's broad acceptance of the iPod, more than 100 million of which have been sold, has given Apple a hip currency among many professionals, including business travelers for whom iPods are ubiquitous gadgets on the go. That, in turn, could translate into strong demand for the iPhone among business users.
A business email system can use a popular email standard known as IMAP to sync with an iPhone. While many large companies have the ability to activate IMAP, they have chosen not to because they are worried about exposing their mail servers to the public.
Some companies are warning employees who are planning to buy iPhones, which will cost $499 and $599 depending on whether they have four or eight gigabytes of memory. Bear Stearns Cos. last week sent its global staff of 15,000 an email saying that the iPhone won't work with the company's email service. "At this point we are not aware of any plans to change the device to become compatible with corporate email systems," it stated.
Other businesses are taking a wait-and-see approach. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP of New York has been getting hit with a range of iPhone inquiries, according to spokeswoman Claudia Freeman. The law firm may try to support the device once it is launched, she says.
Even some companies that have activated IMAP for external traffic don't want their employees using iPhones on their network. Troy Saxton-Getty, vice president of technical operations at St. Bernard Software Inc., a software company based in San Diego, says he currently wants to support only BlackBerrys. The system becomes less reliable when other devices are introduced, he says.
But Mr. Saxton-Getty says he is worried that "rogue" employees may figure out ways to route their corporate emails to their iPhone. "I am getting a lot of push back, and people saying they are just going to go get it on their own," he says, adding that an employee asks him about the iPhone and whether the company will support it about every hour.
Jonathan Anderson, who works for St. Bernard Software, says he plans to ditch his new BlackBerry for an iPhone as soon as he can get his hands on one and set it up on his own. "Other people might be intimidated but I don't care," says Mr. Anderson, who adds he is happy that he will be able to have access to television shows and music from his iTunes collection on the device.
One way Apple could make it easier for corporate users would be to license software from Microsoft or Research In Motion for their devices that would allow them to act like virtual BlackBerrys or Windows Mobile devices. That would alleviate many of the security and compatibility concerns voiced by corporate technology departments.
Apple may face pressure from iPhone customers to make the devices more compatible with their corporate email systems, according to Ranjan Mishra, a director at consulting firm Oliver Wyman in Boston. "They [Apple] should focus on the white-collar traveler segment who would like a nice storage device and some music and a corporate cell."
In one step that might enhance the iPhone's appeal among business users, Apple yesterday said the iPhone will come with significantly better battery life than the company had initially promised. The company said the iPhone will deliver eight hours of talk time, compared with the five hours it originally promised and the four hours of talk time each for the Blackberry Curve and Palm Treo 750. Apple also said the iPhone will offer 24 hours of audio and seven hours of video playback, compared with a previous estimate of 16 hours and five hours of playback, respectively.
Apple declined to say how the company achieved the improvements. Generally, engineers can achieve longer battery life for products with hardware and software enhancements, including code that more efficiently handles power-hungry functions like backlighting a screen.
Apple also said yesterday that iPhones will come with a glass screen that will have better scratch resistance and clarity than the plastic screen Apple had originally said it would include with the product.