5 reasons the iPhone will infiltrate your business

Apple's iPhone resets the bar for technology hype. One mobile industry analyst goes so far as to call Apple's new iPhone the "most anticipated phone since Alexander Graham Bell did his."

As the iPhone makes its debut, we're going to stay down to earth and try to answer this question: Will the iPhone infiltrate corporate America? To read why it very well could, read on. To scan a list of reasons why it won't, see here. We invite you to read both lists and tell us what you think is going to happen with iPhones in the enterprise.

1. It's unlike anything else out there

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Apple's iPhone resets the bar for technology hype. One mobile industry analyst goes so far as to call Apple's new iPhone the "most anticipated phone since Alexander Graham Bell did his."

As the iPhone makes its debut, we're going to stay down to earth and try to answer this question: Will the iPhone infiltrate corporate America? To read why it very well could, read on. To scan a list of reasons why it won't, see here. We invite you to read both lists and tell us what you think is going to happen with iPhones in the enterprise.

1. It's unlike anything else out there

It's aesthetically pleasing, to put it mildly. The user interface is breathtaking, the graphics are beautiful, the design is cooler than cool and the functionality is impressive--a mobile phone, touch screen keyboard, video and music player, Web browser, camera, e-mail and more, all in one sleek device. I particularly like the "accelerometer," which, according to Apple's site, "detects when you rotate the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display, so you immediately see the entire width of a webpage or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio."

David Pogue, the The New York Times technology critic, is one of a few people who has held an iPhone. He writes: "The bigger achievement [of the iPhone] is the software. It's fast, beautiful, menu-free, and dead simple to operate. You can't get lost, because the solitary physical button below the screen always opens the homepage, arrayed with icons for the iPhone's 16 functions."

Pogue goes on: "You've probably seen Apple's ads, showing how things on the screen have a physics all their own. Lists scroll with a flick of your finger, CD covers flip over as you flick them, e-mail messages collapse down into a trash can. Sure, it's eye candy. But it makes the phone fun to use, which is not something you can say about most cell phones."

According to a recent advisory report ("Mobile Devices") from market researcher CurrentAnalysis, the market is Apple's for the taking. "The iPhone stands apart because of Apple's brand, a unique UI, storage, functionality, marketing, and the fact that the fiercest competitors in the high-end media phone space have unwisely chosen to give Apple the U.S. market all to itself," the report states.

2. Unbounded curiosity

If iPhone purchases can spread outside of the core Apple audience (those zealots who will be buying one no matter the cost), then it has a great chance of promulgating inside today's enterprises. CIOs will find that there's just too many users to say "no" to. A survey by M:Metrics cited by Computerworld estimated that 19 million U.S. cell phone users would be willing to pay US$599 (8GB model) for the iPhone, which, it was reported, was nearly double the price Apple says it will sell the device by the end of 2008.

"I have both a Mac and a PC, and I want one," says Steven Sommer, CIO of law firm Hughes, Hubbard & Reed, which has 330 lawyers worldwide and is a BlackBerry-only shop. A small portion of his users are excited about it. "They're definitely curious," he notes. However, "I don't know if it's going to get in the mainstream at a law firm," Sommer says. Sommer adds that he doesn't plan to let the iPhone onto his systems now--but that could change in the future.