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iPhone Bricks Prove Apple Isn't Ready For The Business Market

InformationWeek has been taking a look at Apple in the business market. While Apple has always been big in certain verticals -- publishing and education, to name two -- it's been weak in corporate IT as a whole. No matter what the Apple fans claim, this week's fiasco with bricked iPhones proves that Apple still isn't ready for the business market.

My colleague Tom Smith took a look at this issue a few weeks ago. Here is his analysis of Apple in the enterprise:

In a survey of 310 business technology professionals, InformationWeek finds 37% of companies currently use Mac computers. Yet Apple can't make a dent in corporate America -- by one estimate it has just a 3% worldwide market share in computers.

Our survey helps explain why the company isn't making more inroads into a market that could be so lucrative:

* Apple's ecosystem of software and developers is too small (64%)

* Perceived difficulty (52%) in integrating Macs into corporate America's Windows-centric infrastructure.

* A small installed base and therefore a limited track record in business (41%)

These factors likely explain why more than half (54%) of companies have no plans to buy Macs in the next 6-12 months, even though 44% of these same companies believe Apple products are more innovative than competing wares and offer greater ease of use and management (43%). Among nearly three-quarters of Mac users, the platform makes up less than one-third of their computing infrastructure.

That's pretty strong stuff. Even though IT professionals think highly of Apple's technology, they won't buy it. And then there was this bit about the iPhone:

Despite its strengths, the iPhone will have minimal impact in business; 71% of companies say they haven't purchased and aren't considering iPhones.

InformationWeek readers cited two factors -- Apple's exclusive carrier relationship with AT&T and cost -- as the biggest barriers to enterprise adoption of the iPhone. But, I am going to point out the elephant in the room. The fact that Apple's iPhone -- and many of its other devices and services -- are locked down from third-party applications and modification renders Apple dead in the enterprise market.

Enterprises modify devices. Period. They install all kinds of third-party software on laptops and, increasingly, they're putting more software on smartphones too. They need access to third-party platforms for security, mobile device management, and other crucial functions. Apple products haven't traditionally played well with third-party platforms. And in the case of the iPhone, they're totally banned from the playground.

Let's also not forget that Apple's products are really expensive. However, I'm convinced that if Apple were more open to third-party applications and platforms, more companies would pay a premium for their products, even at Apple's boutique prices. If the technology is more innovative, some firms will pay for it. But it has to be open first.

I still think the iPhone is an example of Apple trying to have its cake and eat it, too. Apple wants the iPhone to be closed (again, that iPod + phone model), but it also wants the iPhone to have all the cache of a smartphone. Sorry, but enterprise-ready smartphones are more open than the iPhone.

What do you think? Will the iPhone ever take off with the business market? Or is the iPhone, like the rest of Apple's products, doomed to remain at the periphery of the business technology marketplace?

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