New iPhone with OS 3.0 enters the enterprise
The new iPhone 3GS, with its new 3.0 operating system, allows Apple to move itself into the top tier of business smartphones with apps that are tailor-made for the enterprise.
In some circles, the iPhone has always been seen as the smartphone toy for the idle rich, a sentiment that has always been incorrect. Still, detractors were able to point out a few actual flaws in the capabilities of the Apple mobile platform. It was missing things like cut and paste and did not have a valid notification system, to mention two shortcomings. OS 3.0 puts those problems in the past, and the new iPhone hardware makes the iPhone by far the shiniest smartphone in the land. Even guys in suits like shiny things.
Now business types won’t have to be ashamed to take out their iPhone at the next board meeting. Here are just a few of the new things that iPhone developers now have to work with:
Push notification
Copy and paste
Improved mail support
Spotlight search
Photo messaging
True GPS functionality
Better calendar protocols
More landscape mode
Voice memos
Note synch
This new operating system, and its new API that lets developers into much more of the native abilities of the iPhone (some have counted up to 1,000 new OS hooks), will allow much more sophisticated apps to be built. The Apple App Store is already the king of mobile applications by a wide margin, but now we will be seeing a lot of enterprise level applications emerging. The new iPhone 3GS takes full advantage of the new operating system.
Senthil Krishnapillai, director of product management at Sybase, is in a good position to see the possibilities. He says, “For a long time you’ve heard people talk about dual-purpose devices that are really personal but can be used safely in an enterprise, and the iPhone is the first device we’re seeing to do that as mass volumes. The 3.0 software should accelerate that trend.”
These new enterprise-level apps will allow the iPhone better access to the board room, and to all those corporate middle managers as well. It is simply a better platform than the competition, and as corporate apps grow in number it is difficult to see how the iPhone will not become the Apple of the enterprise smartphone eye.
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