AT&T plans to market Apple iPhone to enterprise customers

AT&T plans to market Apple iPhone to enterprise customers

Apple iPhone does not look like a mobile phone developed for business customers but mobile service provider AT&T has said that they would indeed target the phone at the enterprise customers.

The phone is due for a launch in June this year and it combines the capabilities of Apple iPod with a mobile phone and an internet communication device.

AT&T said in a statement that the iPhone will appeal to business users and they are working hard on making sure that its backend enterprise billing and support systems will accommodate the device when it ships.

Market analysts are however surprised at this revelation as they believe that the phone is not a suitable product for business customers.

Ken Dulaney, an analyst with Gartner said: “we’d be against it. We’d immediately tell our customers that’d be a very serious mistake.”

Dulaney added that the Apple iPhone is a first generation product from the company and it is likely to have its share of flaws. He also said that the phone comes powered with several processors which are likely to consume more battery life resulting in a phone which does not suit corporate environment.

Avi Greengart, principal analyst for mobile devices at Current Analysis added that since the phone is being powered with a version of the Mac OS X and it would be probably locked by the company, enterprises would not be able to write applications for the phone.

He said: “Companies like to extend corporate apps to the mobile space and in order to do that you need an open OS.”

Market sources however also claim that RIM is likely to make available a Blackberry version which would be compliant with the Apple iPhone.