Gartner: iPhone 2.0 cuts business mustard

Apple's iPhone 3G is fit for business use, according to analyst house Gartner.

But interested parties should approach adoption slowly, with Gartner warning that there are various "inconveniences" to consider, such as the iPhone's relatively poor battery performance--and the thorny issue of dealing with iTunes in the enterprise.

Earlier this year the analyst firm said it would be giving businesses the green light to use the device in a limited capacity after Apple detailed enterprise-friendly changes that would arrive with iPhone 2.0, such as support for Microsoft Exchange push e-mail.

The new firmware arrived with the iPhone 3G, which was launched to markets worldwide on July 11 and, after completing tests of the hardware, Gartner says the Mac maker has delivered on its enterprise promises. But organizations will need to develop strategies to support it.

In a report titled "iPhone 2.0 Is Ready for the Enterprise, but Caveats Apply," the Gartner states: "The iPhone meets our minimum requirements and can be moved to the appliance support level, which means support is limited to a narrow set of applications, such as voice, e-mail, personal information manager and browsing."

To pass Gartner's test, the iPhone needed to support "at least one popular enterprise e-mail system" and, on the security side, remote wiping of lost/stolen devices, and a complex user password "consisting of a combination of alpha, numeric and special characters in a pattern that cannot be easily guessed."

Analyst house Gartner says the iPhone 3G is fit for business use.

(Credit: Apple)

The iPhone 2.0's ActiveSync support ticks the first box. Microsoft Exchange has some 70 percent of the enterprise e-mail market--meaning "many end users can now use the iPhone."

Users of other e-mail systems--such as Lotus Notes--"must employ previously released methods, such as IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), in the concierge support level or await third-party products that can tie into the security policy features delivered with the Firmware 2.0 upgrade."

Not all non-Exchange enterprise users will be happy with that situation however. Associated Newspapers Chief Information Officer Ian Cohen recently told CNET News sister site Silicon.com that the lack of Lotus support is one of the main reasons his company won't consider adopting iPhones.

Another CIO, Matthew Sinclair of Marsh, told Silicon.com: "Organizationally, we're heading toward migration from Lotus Notes to Exchange, which will take some time. Once we've done that we'll evaluate the use of iPhone versus BlackBerry."

The iPhone passed Gartner's security tests too. The report states: "The device can be wiped clean via the issuance of a standard instruction from Exchange, and can force the use of a complex password if the alphanumeric setting is checked on the Exchange 2003 SP2 or 2007 administrative console."

When it comes to remote wiping, Gartner said "the iPhone reacts similarly to a Windows Mobile device, clearing contents when the security policy is violated." The iPhone also follows Windows Mobile devices when it comes to setting parameters for password enforcement policy.

"Organizationally, we're heading toward migration from Lotus Notes to Exchange, which will take some time. Once we've done that we'll evaluate the use of iPhone versus BlackBerry."

--Matthew Sinclair, CIO, Marsh

The report states: "Microsoft uses a confusing approach, assuming that the end device will decide on what type of password will be enforced when the policy is received by the device. There is no feedback to the console that the policy has been enforced. Windows Mobile interprets the alphanumeric parameter as an instruction to force the user to employ a complex password. The iPhone replicates this function in the same manner, despite Microsoft's awkward implementation."

But the cautious thumbs-up comes with various caveats for businesses considering adopting iPhones.

For businesses that simply want to make use of the device in a consumer-style way--that is, primarily as a personal assistant tool with little or no integration into business systems--the analyst said there is likely to be no more security impact than there is from an employee using a work mobile for personal use.

However, organizations seeking to put it to work as mainly a business tool will have to recognize that it could lower their overall security footprint--and therefore limiting browser access could be "one way to mitigate concerns."

Moreover, as it stands, the device "does not deliver sufficient security for custom applications." So businesses wanting to deploy custom apps can either "accept the lowered overall security footprint that adoption will dictate or block the device from use," said Gartner.

The iTunes factor
The report also considers the implications of running iTunes in an enterprise setting--as it must be running on the desktop of every iPhone user--a situation that is not ideal for businesses.

Apple uses iTunes to automatically send out firmware updates to end users, "which could be an issue if the IT organization hasn't verified what Apple has delivered," the analyst warns.

It adds: "We strongly suggest that enterprises use existing management tools to modify the iTunes registry entries to disable firmware updates, file transfers and other activities that could inject unwanted content into the enterprise, as well as to lock down the registry."

In the longer term, Gartner is keen to see Apple offer the option to "eliminate iTunes (as a desktop application) as a necessary component to access business applications and manage the device, as Microsoft and RIM have done."

Other iPhone "inconveniences" enterprises should be aware of include its limited battery life, which on default settings--and only using the device for e-mail and some limited browsing (not for any phone calls)--"seldom" yielded a full day of use for Gartner's testers.

The report adds: "Although we cannot confirm what is causing the battery life to be so short, we believe it to be Apple's implementation of Exchange ActiveSync and/or Wi-Fi."

Testers also reported issues with attachment handling--as files must be downloaded before they are read, which it warns "may take time." This stands in contrast to the BlackBerry, which gives users the choice of a "quick rendering from the server." Moreover, Apple does not support attachment editing.

The ongoing lack of cut and paste is also troublesome for business users and the analyst also claims to have stumbled on some glitches with Outlook calendar and e-mail integration. The lack of options to create sophisticated user profiles, such as "meeting" and "car" and so on are another gripe.

But it's not all bad--the browser is lauded as "excellent" and the App Store is also flagged up by the analyst.

The report concludes: "Apple has delivered an iPhone that is acceptable for business use at the appliance level. Most prospective iPhone users will judge the device based on consumer appeal. The App Store applications and the iPhone's excellent browser are supplemented with an e-mail client, which provides acceptable business capability with excellence in some areas."

It adds: "Those who previously used a BlackBerry, Windows Mobile or Nokia smart phone device should note that the iPhone will require an assessment of trade-offs in hardware design and onboard functionality. However, each enterprise will view iPhone through its own lens, which will be heavily tinted by the organization's security and management needs. Enterprises should approach expanded use of the iPhone slowly and with close examination."

Natasha Lomas of Silicon.com reported from London.

[Vegaman_Dan]

I hadn't really thought about it, but iTunes is a large problem on a corporate network if allowed to run unmonitored and controlled by the local IT group. With Apple's ability to reach out remotely to remove content and control what is allowed on the unit, there are some very serious security issues at hand.

If you can get away with not using iTunes at all, then that is the best solution from the information provided in the article.

Interesting thoughts the author brought up.

[Penguinisto]

@Dan: Nice FUD.

To be honest, there comes a point where you have to treat your employees as if they were adults (hard to do at Microsoft where you work, I know, but still...)

/P

[Vegaman_Dan]

Excuse me? I resent your comments greatly. Please keep your childish and hateful comments to yourself if you wish to have a conversation with the rest of the grownups. If you wish to spread lies, hatred, FUD, and bigotry, then you may wish to do it someplace else. CNET readers do not have to stand for your BS.

Good grief, Tommy. Get a bloody stupid clue. Really. Not everything in the world is about *YOU* or your ego.

[yelocab]

@Dan

Can you elaborate on what you mean by "iTunes is a large problem on a corporate network"? I think anyone with an iPod and using their work computer as their main/only computer will install iTunes on their corporate PC. Maybe my 25,000-person corporate environment is the exception, but 7 of the 10 people I work with has iTunes installed. We have a firewall installed on each computer, which blocks iTunes sharing.

Users who buy Blackberrys can install Blackberry Desktop software.

[pjhenry1216]

Your 25000 person corporate environment is indeed some sort of exception. I can't understand how so many users are given administrative access (admin access is required to install iTunes) to their work computers. Your IT infrastructure needs serious work. Also, it must be a pain to upkeep that many firewalls. I have little faith in the IT management at your place of business.

[Vegaman_Dan]

iTunes pushes out updates to the software automatically, which can cause problems at the enterprise level if they push out an update that causes conflicts with other applications. Most network admins prefer to control when and what applications are updated by third parties. Add to it that the default choices for iTunes now installs Safari as well, and you can see there can be some issues with that process.

Intercepting and blocking these updates and allowing them to be pushed out by the IT group gives them a chance to test the update first and ensure compatability. Allowing a third party company to come into your network and blindly start rolling out software updates is a recipe for disaster later. It's also a security risk.

Apple isn't the only one that does this, of course. Adobe, Sun, and others do this as well.

Now that you might have corporate data (email) involved, it becomes a much larger risk to allow a third party company to make changes to your systems remotely. Time will tell if this becomes a problem or not. If an end user loses their email due to an iTunes corruption (not uncommon), and that change is replicated to the server, then that mail is gone unless they have a backup, which any competent sysadmin will make sure happens. But that downtime for the loss of the email may have very real financial repurcussions (sp?) that may need to be addressed. Will Apple be willing to take that financial hit? Will they be willing to be responsible for their products and the damage that they may cause? RIM and Blackberry have dealt with this for years and have ways to work with the issues. Apple is a newcomer to the group and don't have a very good history of playing nice with others in such areas.

It will be an interesting situation to watch. It could be trivial, or it could become a very real nightmare of lost information or worse. Sticking your head in the sand won't work in this situation, so it's worth keeping tabs on this one.

[ulric2]

if your company is a writing software, no doubt that group are running admin and trusted. but that shoundn't be the case for all employees, and most companies are not in fact in field that requires everyone having admin access to windows machine, and therefore the ability to install apps (and viruses) and wreck the machine.

[ulric2]

In any company, some people will install their own apps, including iTunes, and including illegal MP3s.
But that's not for all employees and all companies.
The first point here is that iTunes might be required to be installed. In that case, it should be automatically deployable like all the other necessary apps that IT manages. IT can remotely deploy and administer, including lock down or change settings, the other big corporate apps. This is an area of MS Office and it's other apps that generally people are not familiar with.
IT should also be able to prevent people from installing apps that could be dangerous, including leak information. It's the company's phone, after all.
Imagine an innocuous app that happens to upload the mail or the list of contacts to an outside server. Or load something illegal onto the device.

The second point is that Apple really lost credibility earlier this year by sneaking Safari on people's machine. This is not acceptable in a corporation. No doubt someone not familiar with the subject will say that MS does this with windows update or other things, but in fact these things do not happen in an IT-managed corporation. Windows Update, especially, has a server product that allows IT to accept, block or force update.

[bommai]

I work for one of the largest companies in the world and our IT environment with Windows laptop all provide admin access to Windows XP. I have iTunes running on my machine. Of course, I cannot access the store or anything like that, but I like to listen to my music.

[jfromboulder]

Why do people keep complaining about battery life? This is not just a cell phone, get use to recharging at some point during the day. It's a great tool, not your typical cell phone.

[reddawnz]

3G is what eats up the battery life. Turn off 3G and be surprised you'll have an iphone that last a day and a half to two days.

[BruinGuy]

Two deal killers at our corporation are:

1. Battery life. With no replaceable battery this is an unacceptable situation in a corporate environment. We use the Samsung Mobile PC devices and everyone carries a spare battery in their pocket.

2. AT&T. With a company full of executives used to Verizon EVDO and the 16% discount given by Verizon the AT&T requirement is a problem.

[Thomas, David]

iTunes isn't a practical obstacle, what I mean by that is not a real obstacle because of what it is. It is a perception issue of how it is used, and can be controlled.

To be perfectly honest, I would not be surprised if Apple simply didn't introduce a server/client (subset of iTunes), and renamed it to be more accepting (to eliminate the perception issues). If they are truly serious about enterprise saturation, I am sure they are considering this.

[Vegaman_Dan]

There has been plenty of grumbling on the net that Apple's iTunes has quickly become so bloated as to be an operating system all by itself. It has long since lost simply being a means to sync music files to your iPod and is now a large information managment system. The updates that Apple rolls out with automatic installs of Safari didn't meet with much approval and you still have to manually override that option each time it comes up. There aren't any very good alternatives to it at this time, so people use what is there- not because they like it, but because they don't have any other realistic choice in the matter.

If Apple put out an app for a local server within a corporate network and allowed the local admins to configure and use that instead, that could work out well. You'd have to lock down iTunes to only connect to that server and prevent people from going out to Apple and installing iTunes from there which would totally mess things up. It's not impossible, but it would take some thought and preparation. I'm not sure corporations really want to get into the business of having to manage a third party company's products though. Time will tell.

[Mr. Dee]

Its strange how that guy Ian Cohen is so dead set on Lotus. If he is such a fan of that email system he would have already known that IBM is working on a web based version of Lotus Notes called iNotes for the iPhone.

[ChrisFleck]

Citrix has been seeing significant demand for a XenApp client to access corporate apps on the iPhone. Gartner's endorsement may accelerate the enterprise adoption as well. After using the 3G iPhone for the past few weeks I can better understand the requests. iPhone users will live with the limited battery life and the keyboard limitations, and IT is increasingly paying attention to user productivity and desires.

http://community.citrix.com/x/R4DoAQ