Unless you have been living under a rock for the last few weeks, you know that Apple, Inc. introduced yesterday at its World Wide Developer Conference its latest smartphone, the iPhone 4. Not iPhone 4G, nor iPhone HD, just 4. There’s a Monty Python joke in there somewhere, but I digress. There’s obviously no need to rehash the event itself, because it’s widely available online, with general commentary. But what about the enterprise mobility perspective? Is this a game changer? Hardly. What if I told you in fact that, generally speaking, this was a non-event from an enterprise mobility perspective – from the corporate driven angle. That said, what if I also said this announcement will have deep ramifications for the employee driven enterprise mobility perspective…
If you boil it down, yesterday’s iPhone 4 announcement was nothing more than a hardware launch….and only Apple can somehow get people excited about hardware. Now mind you, the improved screen resolution and typography are nothing short of impressive, but do we really care about a faster processor or that it’s thinner? I’ll argue that these kinds of improvements are incremental and expected. It’s nice from a personal perspective (I’ll get back to that shortly), but I’m pretty sure few companies are going to decide to deploy a fleet of devices because it’s 24% thinner than the previous version or that it’s now using a (very fast) proprietary processor. Yesterday’s launch was nowhere near as important from a corporate perspective as was the earlier annoucement of iPhone OS 4, now called iOS 4 (thank you Cisco for allowing Apple to i-everything).
So big yawn time, right? Wrong. I have an iPhone 3G…and I want to upgrade to iPhone 4. So will my friends. So will yours. And your colleagues, too. The iPhone 4 appears to be a remarkable piece of hardware, and no one can do a better job of making you lust after a piece of technology like Mr. Jobs. (I’ll argue by the way that the new device is reminiscent (from the side) of the SonyEricsson T616released 7 years ago). People will who own smartphones will gravitate towards this device. People who do not currently own a smartphone will want this device. Starting June 24, your company will see many more people looking to use their shiny new iPhone 4 for work. You have been warned. As I tweeted yesterday, the new iPhone will undoubtedly accelerate the consumerization of enterprise mobility.
There are two things I’d like to also point out that may be of interest to you:
- Apple and AT&T have accelerated the replacement cycle. While most people are on two year contracts, there’s a lot of research that shows the average life span of a device is 18-20 months. AT&T will allow customers to upgrade their devices as early as 6 months ahead of their normal contract renewal. That means people like you and me can now upgrade to a shiny new iPhone 4 in as little as 18 months into their contract. Your organization needs to think very quickly and closely about its device retirement and replacement strategy, especially in the context of personally liable devices that you are probably not managing currently. You have been warned.
- On the other end, I really liked the FaceTime application, that Apple is opening up as a standard. This has potentially huge implications for the enterprise. Fan boys were complaining that it’s WiFi only. I actually look at this as a good thing. Imagine an innovative company that chooses to use the technology to create a mobile UC client that allows for video conferencing based upon your Active Directory or LDAP address book. Great video conferencing….and if you are travelling internationally, you’re not going to get slapped with horrendous international roaming bills. That can become pretty compelling, pretty quickly. Nothing more to say on it right now, but I just wanted to throw that one out there.
So all in all, kudos to Apple for hypnotizing the world yet again. The device will undoubtedly gain traction in the general market, which will of course permeate into the corporate sector. However, we won’t know anything about how truly enterprise friendly iOS 4 is until after June 24. I guess we’ll have to stay tuned.
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iPhone 4: The Enterprise Mobility Perspective
If you boil it down, yesterday’s iPhone 4 announcement was nothing more than a hardware launch….and only Apple can somehow get people excited about hardware. Now mind you, the improved screen resolution and typography are nothing short of impressive, but do we really care about a faster processor or that it’s thinner? I’ll argue that these kinds of improvements are incremental and expected. It’s nice from a personal perspective (I’ll get back to that shortly), but I’m pretty sure few companies are going to decide to deploy a fleet of devices because it’s 24% thinner than the previous version or that it’s now using a (very fast) proprietary processor. Yesterday’s launch was nowhere near as important from a corporate perspective as was the earlier annoucement of iPhone OS 4, now called iOS 4 (thank you Cisco for allowing Apple to i-everything).
So big yawn time, right? Wrong. I have an iPhone 3G…and I want to upgrade to iPhone 4. So will my friends. So will yours. And your colleagues, too. The iPhone 4 appears to be a remarkable piece of hardware, and no one can do a better job of making you lust after a piece of technology like Mr. Jobs. (I’ll argue by the way that the new device is reminiscent (from the side) of the SonyEricsson T616released 7 years ago). People will who own smartphones will gravitate towards this device. People who do not currently own a smartphone will want this device. Starting June 24, your company will see many more people looking to use their shiny new iPhone 4 for work. You have been warned. As I tweeted yesterday, the new iPhone will undoubtedly accelerate the consumerization of enterprise mobility.
There are two things I’d like to also point out that may be of interest to you:
So all in all, kudos to Apple for hypnotizing the world yet again. The device will undoubtedly gain traction in the general market, which will of course permeate into the corporate sector. However, we won’t know anything about how truly enterprise friendly iOS 4 is until after June 24. I guess we’ll have to stay tuned.