Apple answers the prayers of many an iPhone owner announcing that enterprise Microsoft Exchange “Push” technology is being added to the device via the iPhone SDK. That’s right fanboys and fangirls, you will soon be able to get your email, contacts, and calendar pushed directly from Exchange to your iPhone.
So, how does this news affect Research in Motion and the top position that the BlackBerry has in the enterprise today? Well, I don’t think it affects them any more than it did when Apple first released the iPhone back in June of last year. RIM had to have known that the next logical step for the iPhone was for it be able to get email directly from Exchange, and, quite honestly, I am kind of surprised that it didn’t day one when the thing shipped.
Surely some would be BlackBerry owners will opt instead for iPhones if they can get their “work” email on them. Let’s not, however, adorn the iPhone the next “BlackBerry Killer” just yet. At least wait until you can get an iPhone without a camera, with a physical keyboard, and on a network other than AT&T.
Exchange Push is just one thing on the list of many things that, in my mind, keeps the iPhone from truly being ready for the enterprise. We should also note that the ability to wipe the iPhone remotely was also added to iPhone SDK so there are actually two less things, but, I digress.
I do acknowledge that Apple is doing what they need to do to tap into an enterprise market that is completely dominated by the BlackBerry, however, my guess, at least in the short term, is that the iPhone will eat into the share of some of the other manufacturers like, Palm, Motorola, HTC, and Samsung before you see BlackBerry numbers start to taper off.
[Source]
Amen. Good first step but a ways to go.
iPhone still lacks a comparable BIS-type solution. Exchange push is great for business users, but you’d think Apple would try to aim their efforts toward getting push for the average, non-corporate server user as well. I guess it’s easier said than done.
Well, technically, they offer push from yahoo, of course, no yahoo, no push.
I think 4 years probably isn’t that long away to build up a market with one carrier i n the states before slowly overtaking it once they are free to sell the iphone through other carriers.
In that amount of time, I’m sure they will have improved it to the point of making the iphone an adequate Blackberry Killer.
I for one, won’t be considering one until they are no longer only on AT&T so I’ll be quite happy with my BB. We’ll have to see how much either has improved in that time frame and who’s trying to kill who then.
I love my Pearl, but having had the opportunity to use an iPhone for a few days, the decision to get one is a no brainer now.
The keyboard isn’t too bad at all, actually it is pretty intuitive – and I don’t miss tactile feedback that much. But where the difference ends is the UI. Until you use an iPhone you have no idea. It is light years ahead of anything else out there. It isn’t perfect (no Bluetooth audio/synch, so so camera, can’t take video) but the applications that are available for it (cracked) are amazing.
RIM had the advantage with true push email – that is there golden calf, but it is only ONE application. The iPhone has an SDK that is unparalleled for a mobile device, and the app’s are going to come in droves. RIM won’t be able to match this device for years – Apple learned data faster than RIM learned media.
The killer apps that will come for the iPhone will dwarf what the BB community has come up with, not because the BB developers aren’t as talented, they are just working on an inferior platform.
Now if Rogers would just wake the F#$$ up…
No matter what we all think of the iPhone, this is really going to hit RIM one way or another. It may not be a quick change in offices across the countries that carry the iPhone, but it will eventually come. I like this because it brings a flame under RIM’s ass to bring us new features and maybe some that we have been requesting for years. Everyone laughed at the ipod when it came out, and I can see the iPhone changing the mobile world as we see it. I love my BB because of the hardware keyboard so I look forward to RIM’s future products.
Jon,
I think you make an excellent point. The threat of the iPhone to RIM will cause them to get cracking on improvements and only make future devices even better. In fact, RIM will force the iPhone to improve as well. Goodness all around.
The hardware keyboard is also a big deal to me. Typing with my pointer on an iPhone was a non starter for me. Too used to using my thumbs!
But as I remember Robb’s and Thoughts posts (and I agree’d)
Rim will not be able to out Apple Apple.
Think it’s a mixture of RIM fanboism and callow thinking that thinks Apple’s new iPhone SDK and Enterprise solutions is not a MAJOR threat to RIM and it’s Blackberry devices. Say what you will about att, but remember att has the MOST Blackberry customers on their network.
“Here’s a flowchart about “the old way” of doing phone e-mail. It’s a cartoon phone that looks like a Blackberry. Schiller is showing how mail goes through a middleman, a message server, and an Exchange server, before it gets to your phone. “And of course it adds risk to reliability, as we’ve seen from time to time,” he says, winking at at recent Blackberry outages.”
“More talk about iPhone versus Blackberry. “Why aren’t CIOs really worried about security? Every email message sent to or from a RIM device, goes through a NOC up in Canada. Now, that provides a single point of failure, but it also provides a very interesting security situation. Where someone working up at that NOC could potentially be having a look at your email. Nobody seems to be focused on that. We certainly are.”
RIM has no choice but bring BlackBerry Connect to iPhone as soon as possible. Small enterprises have a viable choice even with Windows Mobile and executives are going to drive their IT staff to make iPhones work for them. Professional consumers have a lot of choices with iPhone and Windows Mobile Devices and would like to use the same inside the enterprise. RIM cannot afford influential users in enterprises connecting directly to their Exchange. There will come a tipping point where the enterprises will decide to switch over. RIM will have to tackle it both by bringing better devices, which I believe is happening and enhancing the BlackBerry Connect experience to prevent users from switching over.
Although the iPhone is undoubtedly the most viable threat to the BlackBerry in the Enterprise, the device as we know it today won’t dethrone the BlackBerry and as Robb said, probably pull share from other manufacturers in the short term.
As for the long term, I don’t know that worry is proper term, but, RIM should at least be aware that there is a legitimate alternative that will be a major player in the enterprise market once they come out with a few more form factors for the iPhone, address the gaping security holes in the iPhone, and Apple makes the iPhone available on more than just one carriers.
I had heard about this when the news first broke…good move on Apple’s part, and oddly enough the news broke when I was purchasing my new MacBook Pro. While it’s going to be attractive for some, I don’t see it being a threat to BB in the corporate spectrum in the near future. First off, all of the multimedia features that make it rich, such as the ability to watch movies and download music and movies off of iTunes. Secondly, the camera. If Apple offers an iPhone without a camera, it will be ‘attractive’ to corporate users, but I can tell you that a big concern among corporate IT managers is productivity issues (employees checking out movies on their nice display) and using corporate cards on iTunes. It sounds funny, but it’s a topic of discussion among those who make these decisions.
But it’s certainly a good step forward. I can see small to mid-size firms signing up. Especially those in the creative field.
PS – One thing that I found odd was that Jobbs and the gang over at Apple decided to do away with Flash support on the browser on the iPhone. What is that all about? I know that Apple and Adobe don’t play nice in the sandbox, but what a nice feature it would be to have supported considering the ability of the browser.
@ Norman
I agree, security is absolutely a big issue, especially since the OS is really…an OS. However, I don’t see it being too much of a concern for the small to mid-sized companies. Ah security…
Dinesh,
Thats a great thought “RIM has no choice but bring BlackBerry Connect to iPhone as soon as possible.” I was about to point out Apple’s license of MS Exchange also helps MS’s cause. RIM also can not afford to play games waiting for Itunes to support the Blackberry. Been watching the keynote: Push Email, Push Calendar, Push Contacts, Global Address List, Cisco IPsec VPN, Certificates and Identities, WPA2/802.1x, Enforced Security Policies, Device Configuration, Remote Wipe all have been assked for by Corporate users and Apple is delivering ALL the above with the next software update. Ah SECURITY indeed. Ah Apple listening and producing for it’s customers.
All the above puts RIM in a precarious position in two ways not only is the BES / BIS service threatened, but ALSO the second precarious position it all puts the Blackberry devices in.
Oh “one more thing” add a third way it puts RIM in a precarious position. RIM’s software, BlackBerry Enterprise Server is also threatened by today’s announcements. MS Exchange is in the spotlight suddenly Corporations have no need for BES software or to continue to support it since mail now goes directly from MS Exchange to the iPhone.
Robb did you watch the keynote before making this Discussion thread? Not sure “threat” is a good word, but since you did we’ll go with it. I’d say the Apple iPhone is a BIG “threat” to RIM.
http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/rtp20e92/event/index.html
RE: Post 15 — How exactly is BIS threatened by today’s announcement? BES for sure, but I haven’t heard anything today that sounds threatening to BIS (not that it wouldn’t welcoming news).
It will take a bit, but RIM is going down. This is just the beginning for the iPhone and it is already rapidly gaining market share on RIM, in less than a year. Let’s see what happens in another year or so. I think you all will be very surprised. Don’t underestimate Steve Jobs and Apple.
As I’ve said before, I will be the first one to swicth over to the iPhone for business use as soon as it is ready. I already have for personal use.
I need a device without a camera simply because most places I work don’t let camerphones, into the building.
The iphone is grabbing consumer market share faster than anything we’ve seen but the BlackBerry is growing faster in the corporate world. We will see what happens when the SDK comes out but many government contractors won’t be able to use an iPhone even if they wanted to if Apple doesn’t come out with version without a camera.
You know that they will!
Greg B,
To answer your question lets first see what little BIS is, IMO BIS was “threatened” by the iPhone the second it was released. Again like with other non-RIM devices a 3rd party is not needed to have email pulled and pushed. Much like the MS Exchange solution the third party (and possible failure point) Rim, is not needed.
(BIS)
Simple set-up on the phone or via your PC
Easy to use
Associate up to 10 email accounts, including AOL®, MSN®, AT&T® or POP3/Internet Service Providers (ISP)
Out of Office reply
Customizable signature
Choice of “Sent From” addresses
Optional BlackBerry email account: yourname@att.blackberry.net
View popular attachments in color (JPEG; BMP; TIFF; Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Corel®; WordPerfect® and Adobe® PDF)
Access individual email account icons on your BlackBerry home screen for each integrated Internet email account. Click on each icon see the incoming and outgoing messages related to that particular email account.
SSL data transmission and onboard data encryption”
Anyone with a iPhone or knowledge of the iPhone spec knows out of the box the iPhone easily handles any and all of the BIS offerings without the need for a 3rd party (and potential failure point) over and above our service provider.
(iPhone – These spec’s and functions available prior to the upcoming 2.0 software upgrade and SDK)
http://www.apple.com/iphone/features/index.html#mail
&
http://www.apple.com/support/iphone/mail/
iPhone supports the most popular email standards — IMAP and POP3. Check with your email provider to make sure the provider uses these standards. iPhone works with most popular email services, including Yahoo! Mail, Gmail, AOL, and .Mac Mail. Yahoo! Mail supports “push” email and can automatically deliver new email messages to your iPhone.
iPhone displays most picture attachments (JPEG, GIF, and TIFF) inline with the text in email messages. iPhone can also view PDF, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft Excel email attachments.
You can send and receive email from multiple email accounts on your iPhone.
iPhone can connect to VPNs that use the L2TP or PPTP protocol. VPN works over both Wi-Fi and EDGE network connections. VPNs (virtual private networks) are often used within organizations to allow you to communicate private information securely over a non-private network.
Like many others I’ve been able to leave the BB sitting at home while the iPhone has more than completely taken over. Not bad for a v1 device which has yet to reach it’s 1st year on the market.
Hellno, I would love to know how to get push e-mail on an iPhone like I do on my blackberry.net e-mail account, which allows me to get push e-mail for all my personal accounts.
@ Greg
His answer will be that you need to buy, set up, and install an exchange server in your house. Now that’s too funny!
Ah RIMarkable’s resident troll comes out of his hole to thread crap and take a personal shot yet again. bluehorseshoe like RIM your over and done, your not “funny” and your games prove you ignorant. Grow the F*** up, have some respect for the first time in your pitiful life and listen and learn, your personal crap is not needed, nor wanted at RIMarkable.
Greg B, Now that RIMarkable’s resident troll has been given the attention he desperately craves maybe the rest of us can discuss the topic of the thread.
push email / automatic pull email don’t see much of a difference when pull email is done right like on the iPhone mail app.
Yahoo has “free” push email for iPhone customers. “www.mail.yahoo.com
iPhone supports free Yahoo! email accounts. For iPhone customers only, Yahoo! provides free “push” email accounts. With a push email account, email is transferred to iPhone as soon as it is received by the mail server.”
Yahoo, Gmail, AOL, any email using IMAP make email on the iPhone
Hellno, I realize that you can use any email app on the iPhone, it’s just the way it works for the user that’s different. I can get Gmail pushed to my Blackberry instantly; this cannot be replicated on the iPhone. Pulled e-mail every 15 minutes, yes, but that’s not the same. I am aware of the Yahoo push service, but am equally aware of how unreliable it is (check a discussion thread about it on Apple’s site to get an idea of what I mean).
Greg B, I hear you and for the most part agree with all but the pull email. BIS is not instant either, although it might be quicker than 15 min, I seem to remember that BIS took about 15 minute too? BIS email needs to be found by RIM’s NOC, sent to Canada and then pushed to a BB device) IMO the iPhone’s automatic pull every 15 minutes or more for email is sufficient. If things need more urgent care a simple SMS or IM is there to handle that.
I should probably have prefaced my posts that I am one of those people (in the minority I’d imagine) that needs push e-mail but isn’t on a corporate server. My blackberry.net e-mail is as close to instant as you can get–just as quick as SMS. The 15-minute lag wouldn’t cut it for me, hence my personal hesitation with the iPhone’s e-mail abilities. That said, I’ve been told that “pull every 15-minute e-mail” is more of a battery drain on the device that BB’s push system is. Of course I can’t prove that.
Greg B,
I thought I’ve read multiple places normal BIS polling takes ~15 minutes too no?
That hasn’t been the case for me. I use my blackberry.net -mail address for instant e-mail, and I also have my Gmail forwarded to that account and get that instantly as well– no lag at all. I mean, maybe a few seconds… I have friends that bypass that approach, opting instead to just setup Gmail directly on the BB, and for the most part their e-mail comes through almost as quickly. Never a 15-minute lag.
Just to add to that …. it sounds like splitting hairs, but believe me, once you get used to the instant e-mail, waiting up to 15 minutes seems like an eternity! It didn’t take me long to realize why they call it a Crackberry.
I hear you Greg ” why they cal it a Crackberry”. Glad I’ve been able to find a IMO superior device to break the addiction. 🙂
That’s the great thing, isn’t it? What is the perfect device/carrier/whatever for one person isn’t necessarily the perfect for another. You found a device that works great for you. I found one that works great for me. We’re both happy. I think that’s something we all tend to forget when making our arguments as to what is better, who sucks, etc. Kumbaya.
Apple casts withering gaze upon RIM
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/16622/
“This takes the iPhone from being not really in the running in the enterprise to being very much in the running and gives RIM a serious challenge,’ Van Baker, an analyst with market research firm Gartner,”
“Apple answered the majority of objections that most IT professionals had to the iPhone as an enterprise device,’ Baker said,”
MacDailyNews Take: “Apple is so better-positioned and more capable of taking on RIM in the enterprise than RIM is in taking on Apple in the consumer market that it’s laughable. Apple has most of the enterprise stuff lined up for June; RIM will have an iPod in their devices the day after never. Apple will pass RIM in U.S. smartphone market share so quickly, it’ll make many so-called analysts’ heads spin”
http://macdailynews.com/index.php/weblog/comments/16620/
“IT administrators may have a much harder time telling users that it no longer meets corporate security policies or doesn’t work properly with their Exchange Messaging system. In fact, Microsoft Exchange business users will be able to take full advantage of the iPhone’s ActiveSync functions, including push e-mail, push calendars, push contacts and global address lists. They’re all there,” Weintraub writes. “It isn’t just Exchange enterprise functionality that the iPhone will soon offer business users. The market-share-leading Cisco IPsec VPN is also supported. IT administrators will soon be able to enforce security policies and device configurations and even do a remote wipe of iPhones.”
Because of what Apple announced yesterday, Weintraub writes, “There should be significant concern in the RIM camp… By summer there could be hundreds, if not thousands, of applications ready for the iPhone.”
MacDaily news is a blog geared towards Mac users kind of like how RIMarkable is a blog geared to BlackBerry users…
How is this bloggers opinion that “the Blackberry will lose share so quickly that it will make analysts head’s spin” any different than Robb saying that he doesn’t believe that it will?
By the way… Robb is referring to himself in the third person for the rest of the afternoon. 🙂
Preach on…Robb (I think). LOL…
Robb,
The difference is YES while both are blogs, MacDailyNews at the end of each story posts the link which supports the topic, what’s written, and where some quotes came from.
If you prefer:
Apple iPhone targets RIM with corporate e-mail
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN0623559220080307
Analysis: iPhone SDK release offers big potential for users, developers
If you think the iPhone is popular now, just wait
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9067138
So if you look at MacDailyNews big picture it’s a blog, but it goes further adding links to the facts, truth, and reality.
I would point out that regarding security, BB is approved by the US Gov. for use. As far as the Push email, i would also point out that isis not here yet. My judgement will be reserved for when it is out and really works.
Is MS Exchange not approved by the US Gov? Taking the now extrainious step of sending data to a 3rd party, single failure point NOC, out of the system seems the data is more secure, and more reliable. As pointed out earlier which you must have missed:
“”IT administrators may have a much harder time telling users that it no longer meets corporate security policies or doesn’t work properly with their Exchange Messaging system. In fact, Microsoft Exchange business users will be able to take full advantage of the iPhone’s ActiveSync functions, including push e-mail, push calendars, push contacts and global address lists. They’re all there,” Weintraub writes. “It isn’t just Exchange enterprise functionality that the iPhone will soon offer business users. The market-share-leading Cisco IPsec VPN is also supported. IT administrators will soon be able to enforce security policies and device configurations and even do a remote wipe of iPhones.”
Because of what Apple announced yesterday, Weintraub writes, “There should be significant concern in the RIM camp… By summer there could be hundreds, if not thousands, of applications ready for the iPhone.”
And BINGO was his name OH!
FACTS and TRUTH before fanboy FICTION and FUD.
Hellno,
I have noi idea what you are ranting about but the reason Blackberry’s were adopted quickly by th eFeds is that they were considered secure. As inth President carries a BB, or at least his staff carries his. This hurt Sprint in the Federal space as their Treo email solutions were not considered government spec. It was more about the handheld and how email was sent to it rather than the email server used. Goodlink was trying ot get the approval for secure operation with the feds when I left Sprint.
There were concerns about data routing to Canada. I cannot recall exactly how this was addressed. I seem to remember that a data center was set up in the US for the government’s secure traffic. In any event, the only handheld approved for use in Fed agencies was the BB. Since I left that space in 2006, that may have changed.
@ Hellno,
You should note that I have said that I hope Apple gets this right. Competition would be excellent. The consumer, whom you have expressed concern for in the past, woud only benefit from competition spurring innovation.
But an announcement does not a solution make. Let’s see it before we annoint it.
Now Now JHP2, no backtracking on your doubting and un-“baked” comments. To SEE “it” all one has to do is click, listen and understand.
http://www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/iphoneroadmap/
Competition is a good thing and is pro-consumer but RIM and the BB are no competition for Apple and the iPhone. Apple brought a handheld computer to the match and all RIM has is a smartphone which is beholden to a single failure point NOC for all of it’s data. Poor RIM still hasn’t been nor will be able to catch up to Apple and the iPhone even with Apple giving them 6 months head start between the iPhone being announced and the iPhone being available for sale. Now what 15 months later and still poor RIM still hasn’t been nor will be able to catch up to Apple and the iPhone. Apple”s iphoneroadmap is not “competition” it’s complete industry changing dominance which is sure not a positive for RIM or it’s BB’s.
@ Hellno,
Do you even read before you respond? I have said several times that i hope Apple gets it right. I have also said that until they have proven they have it right, i withold judgement. And a video put out by Apple is not proof. Just ask all those who were early to upgrade to Leopard.
And as BGR has pointed out, there appear to be some limitations ot the SDK that are just being discovered.
I am probably wasting cycles saying this to you, especially since I have said it before, but a viable Enterprise solution from Apple will only make RIM better but Microsoft, Palm, Symbian, etc. If not, they deserve to fail. But we have a long way to go before that happens.
@ Hellno,
In fact in the first comment on this thread I said’
“Amen. Good first step but a ways to go.”
Have a nice day 🙂
@ Greg B,
I decided to forward an email from work to my gmail account set up on my Blackberry. Time elapsed from hitting th esend nutton to the buzzing of my Blackberry indicating that I had received a message, < 30 seconds. Oh yeah!
@ jhp2
I use BIS for one of my work accounts (I have a few) and I’ll get the email sometimes sooner than 30 seconds. And I don’t even use the blackberry email account that you can use to forward email. Just a basic pop3 account.