iPhone’s Enterprise Reach Falls Short

Enterprise customers remain largely unimpressed with Apple’s efforts to promote the iPhone as a tool for business. While hordes of consumers worldwide are willing to stand in line for hours to buy one of the touch screen gadgets, business customers are proving a more wary audience. The disconnect could be a crucial indicator to the company’s future direction.

The shortcomings of Apple’s first generation configuration tool for the iPhone bear all the hallmarks of Apple’s long-standing lack of understanding for the needs of enterprise customers, according to eWeek. Problems with security and application delivery call into question the company’s ability to create an effective solution in-house that can serve the needs of its largest customers. As it stands, the iPhone might be effectively integrated into small business environments, but the tools as currently structured lack the security and remote reach large deployments require.

Apple is rumored to be coming out already – possibly this week – with fixes for Exchange support, which has been declared by some a complete mess. A whole host of features Windows Mobile users are used to seem to be missing or inadequate, according to a review in Mobility Today, and even Apple itself has backed away from its original claim that “”Push happens automatically, instantly, and continuously” via MobileMe, which Apple promotes as “Exchange for the rest of us.”

Apple’s simultaneous worldwide release of new hardware, a major firmware update, a complete overhaul of its web services product and a significant effort toward enterprise configuration must be applauded as a swing for the fences. And the fact that everything has not gone smoothly should come as no surprise. As ever, it will be interesting to watch where the company goes from here.

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