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Apple's iPhone Gets Ready for Work

Barry Levine, newsfactor.com Tue Jan 22, 12:47 PM ET

The iPhone is getting ready for work. On Monday, AT&T announced business plans for Apple's popular touch-screen device, and there are reports that IBM soon will announce Lotus Notes e-mail for the iPhone. ADVERTISEMENT

When the iPhone first was released in June, the criticisms leveled at it centered around its lack of support for enterprise requirements. For instance, anyone who was already a business customer of AT&T and wanted to get an iPhone had to get the consumer plan.

The new business plans, announced on AT&T's Web site, require a two-year commitment -- as does the consumer version -- either as a new service agreement or as a renewed agreement for existing customers.

Lotus Notes E-Mail Support?

Three plans are available: the Enterprise Data Plan for iPhone 200, the Enterprise Data Plan for iPhone 1500, and the Enterprise Data Plan for iPhone Unlimited. All three offer unlimited data access and visual voicemail in the U.S.

The plans differ in the number of short message service (SMS) communications that are allowed. The iPhone 200 plan, for instance, offers 200 SMS messages monthly for $45, the iPhone 1500 is $55, and the Unlimited plan is $65. There are also step-ups for global data plans, which cover 29 countries.

The next step toward welcoming the iPhone into corporate I.T. departments, according to an Associated Press report last week, could be an announcement from IBM that will come later this week. IBM reportedly will offer Lotus Notes e-mail for the iPhone, free to users with a current Lotus Web-access license, and $39 a year for new users.

Dropping the 'Other Shoes'

"Right now," said Avi Greengart, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, "the iPhone is still a consumer device." No matter what functionality or plans are added to it, he said, it has been designed to be the best entertainment device for music and video.

But it could be accepted by I.T. departments, he added, if "other shoes dropped." It needs direct support for Lotus and Microsoft Exchange, he said, and, in addition to the just-announced business-oriented service plans, the iPhone also needs some kind of remote management and a software development kit.

The remote management is needed not just to offer a remote kill switch if a business user's phone is lost or stolen, Greengart said, but to modify functionalities, such as turning off the camera function if the user is in a location with sensitive information. He noted that an SDK is important because some companies want to extend their corporate applications, and currently they are limited to Web applications on the iPhone.