How many iPhones would fill the Albert Hall? HSBC may find out

If you're the CIO for the ANZAC division of a big bank -- I mean, a really big, global bank -- and you happen to let slip to a ZDnet reporter that your company is considering the iPhone as a possible BlackBerry replacement across the board... well, 200,000 iPhones is enough to get everyone's attention, even though this is about as far from an actual commitment to purchase as I am from New Zealand right now (17 time zones or so).

ZDnet.com.au is reporting that Brenton Hush, the chief information officer for HSBC in Australia and New Zealand, confirms that the bank is "reviewing iPhones from a HSBC group perspective.... I mean, globally." Even if a decision whether to move off the BlackBerry platform and onto the iPhone for mobile users is months or years away, the fact that the conversation is taking place on a more than cursory level is very good news for Apple's efforts to woo the enterprise with Exchange integration on the phone. Now, about that MobileMe situation...

[via Techmeme]

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Source: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/hardware/soa/HSBC-could-order-2…

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Enterprise iPhone

If you're the CIO for the ANZAC division of a big bank -- I mean, a really big, global bank -- and you happen to let slip to a ZDnet...

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robertlam1818

if the iPhone hang like it does when you forget to shutdown apps. And you can't pull the battery. And u happen to be waiting for a conference call then you are screw. I work in hsbc so I don't need another company iPhone.

August 13 2008 at 8:46 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

swherdman

Coming from someone who owns a crackberry and has had an iPhone for the last two weeks, i cant see how any business in there right mind can make this kinda of move. i works for a medium company (~800 people) and there is no way the iPhone can meet my security requirements i dont know how HSBC think it can meet theirs.

August 13 2008 at 6:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Joe

I'm with KarlW on this. I just really want an HSBC application for the iPhone. Bank of America gets one.....at least give us an iPhone-friendly webapp or something. =D

August 13 2008 at 4:40 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

HSBC is the world's largest company and one of the "winners" of the financial crisis.

But I don't think the iPhone is ready for the banking business, at least not for Swiss Banking.
It needs more encryption and security features to protect its data.

August 13 2008 at 3:43 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

KarlW

Nice! Hopefully an HSBC app can come to the app store as part of this new-found Apple love :)

August 13 2008 at 3:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Stan

They'll probably find the battery life to be way too short and the email functionality lackluster if not down-right weak. On the plus side, Super Monkey Ball!

August 13 2008 at 2:23 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Gewalt

I don't think its possible to be more than 12 time zones away...

August 13 2008 at 2:17 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

superjeff

There are only 24 time zones, so couldn't you at most be 12 time zones away from anything?

August 13 2008 at 2:10 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to superjeff's comment

Michael Rose

(Actually I was wrong, it's 16 time zones...)

International Date Line comes into play. Counting forward from Eastern Time, Auckland is 16 hours ahead.

You could say it's 8 hours behind, but you can't be 8 hours behind and a full day ahead. :-)

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

August 13 2008 at 5:08 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Michael Rose

Still. 200K iPhones...

August 13 2008 at 1:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Champs

My wife works for HSBC USA (home lending) and I'm pretty sure they're on Notes. In fact, she uses "SameTime" as a term for IM like the rest of us say "Kleenex" for facial tissue.

August 13 2008 at 1:28 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Champs's comment

itguy07

Probably right. If they use Sametime, they are most likely on Notes. Most really large corporations use Notes because it's more reliable, stable, scalable, and integrates with the "Real" applications.

However, Notes for the iPhone will be here shortly!

Much better than the $hit called Exchange.

August 13 2008 at 4:53 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply