Ian Thain

No one can doubt the success of Apple's iPhone, as it's now sold in over 70 countries and to date has well over 13 million units in use. I have been keeping a close watch and I'm sure that each one of us can say that they have seen one in use by a friend, neighbor and even a passerby in the street. It is my opinion that the success story has happened not just because the iPhone is a great device, but it is the all-around user experience that it creates which makes it so compelling!

With the iPhone more than earning its place in the consumer market, it is now being adopted by corporations. So the next time you see the hottest device around, it may be in the hands of colleagues or competitors, giving them the edge over you! This adoption is being driven by such factors as the multitude of general applications available via Apple's iTunes AppStore. But let's ask ourselves, what needs to be in place for wide-scale corporate adoption? Corporate deployments will require that high security standards be met, both on the device and over the air. For the majority, this business data will be in the form of Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and, most important, Email. Once this business data resides on the device it increases its value, beyond the mere "device" asset value.

Check out my colleague Bryan Whitmarsh on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUUzvn1js2o&e where he is demoing a new enhanced version to iAnywhere Mobile Office for the iPhone. This update will allow corporate IT to isolate and secure their business data on the iPhone, with a new security model, without touching the users' own personal data...Why? Well, the fact that the iPhone is such a personal device means that the traditional approach of enforcing corporate policies across devices may infringe on usage habits around applications like iTunes and videos. Think of this...for activities like walking or jogging, how much of a hassle would it be to punch in a password every time, especially if you're trying to get to another playlist? That would be enough to break anyone's rhythm or cause an accident while you take your eyes off the road!

iAnywhere Mobile Office will securely deliver data over-the-air from IBM Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange servers, and it will enable configurable application password protection and provide on-device encryption for all business data contained within the iAnywhere Mobile Office application on an iPhone. It's my belief that this will drive adoption of the iPhone further into the corporate market. Up until now corporations have primarily deployed smart phones with just a single application like corporate e-mail, despite the myriad of applications that exist like mobile CRM or ERP. Mark my words, the use of mobile devices in corporations in 2009 and beyond will, without a doubt, get more complex with more customized mobile applications being deployed as well.

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