"driving-unfriendly button-less interface"? I don't know about that, unless you are dialing every number manually, I don't see how tiny plastic buttons are easier to use when driving, and never mind that you are suppose to be driving...

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iPhone business applications? Not yet. The latest i heard echoes your comments on the battery, and the software just isn't there yet (or is it?) There is also a major shortcoming of the service provider with AT&T. They do not have as advanced networks as some of their competitors at this time, i think most BB users and enterprisers want the full tilt boogie, not the iPhone and its' 2.5 G sheen.

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These analysts don't seem to think things through very much.

1. There are plenty of external booster battery packs for the iPod. These should work for the iPhone too. And some have the added benefit of being able to use disposable batteries in a pinch.

2. Dont be dialing your phone when you are driving!! Thats dangerous. And the iPhone is powerful enough for some basic voice recognition for dialing so this really should not be a problem.

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Once the iPhone is released in June, there will be a big discrepancy in the number of people who currently say they will buy the $500 iPhone from those who actually do. There will also be a big discrepancy in purchasing numers between different demographic age groups. Young people will care less about the actual functionalities of the product and more about the hype and “coolness” of it. Older business users are the exact opposite. Because of this, I think it would be a waste of AT&T’s resources to market towards business users (for the first generation iPhone anyways).

There have been quite a few polls from different research firms showing a wide range of interest in the iPhone.

Change Wave Research: "9% of the population that is somewhat to very interested in getting the iPhone"

http://www.intomobile.com/2007/03/23/most-people-do-not-want-an-apple-iphone.html

Lets Talk: "52% of the surveyed users answering that they will NOT buy an iPhone"

http://www.intomobile.com/2007/03/18/current-music-phone-users-dont-want-an-iphone.html

PiperJaffray: “85 percent of high school students said they were already familiar with the multi-function Apple gadget, and of those students, 25 percent said they'd be willing to buy one at the previously announced $500 entry point.”

http://www.intomobile.com/2007/04/11/high-school-teens-ready-to-pay-500-for-an-iphone.html

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I can't seeing this go over well in enterprise environments. This is no Blackberry killer by any means, simply because the desire to get email pushed (not pulled) via Exchange or BES will outweigh the need to play music.

I just can't see why ATT would waste their time and effort on marketing this towards this market when this phone is clearly a consumer item.

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Blackberry is pretty well established. I suspect that Apple will succeed at this about as well as they've succeeded in putting Macs in the enterprise.

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Blackberry software is being emulated on Windows Mobile devices according to this weeks announcement. Could Blackberry also be emulated on the iPhone under OS X? Just speculation but it would be a suprise to the market and Microsoft.

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"Without a removable battery" hmmm. When I upgraded my BlackBerry to an 8700 I thought my lack of spare would be an issue. I travel full-time (Home approx 4-8 days a month) and am usually in transit once every 3 days. I still VERY rarely have it die on me. It will always get through at least 2 days of heavy usage. I haven't had the need to order another batt yet, and I could at the drop of a hat.

As for push email, the last I heard this device was going to support WebDAV. As a Mac user working remotely, I've recently discovered that little wonder that allows me to be connected to Exchange via Entourage WITHOUT my VPN. w00t. My emails arrive in Entourage at Starbucks at the same time as my BlackBerry, or within a few seconds. Good enough for me!

As soon as Robbers Wireless (Rogers for those of you who haven't dealt with / worked for them) announces, sign me up!

-Adam

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"I can't seeing this go over well in enterprise environments. This is no Blackberry killer by any means, simply because the desire to get email pushed (not pulled) via Exchange or BES will outweigh the need to play music."


the i phone works with push-imap... onmac this is an implementation Cyrus. But i assume Exchange is jsut a specialty imap server - if not it odes at least support imap. The question is how mych wrangling is needed to make this work and will the wrangling be able to be acheived on a closed device. And dont forget Apple is releasing a server implementation of iCal in 10.5 Server, so i would assume they are building in support to this on the iPhone. I hope anyway. This is what wil make the determination for me to buy. As i can build and install the iCal server on my client machine or on another box and use that as my server. Thus bypassing the cost for Exchange and a Windows Server with most of the key benefits.

Otherwise its worthless. Im not necessarily a business user but i want all my information consolidated and stored serverside.

Of course were it an open device this wouldnt even be a question. id be busy working to port afp and ssh clients over to iPhone myself.

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