At one time, the only enterprise users of Apple products would have pony tails or job titles with the word ‘creative' somewhere. That's no longer the case. The mainstay business tools that reside on desktop PCs running Windows across most enterprises - Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and shortly Outlook - run just as nicely on the Mac today. Sure, there are Apple equivalents some would find more glitzy, but compatibility and uniformity with PC users is generally possible, although for native Windows-only applications this will mean the additional purchase of a virtualisation capability and a copy of Windows.
So whether it's at a desk or on the move, Apple has a desktop or laptop that will give a very businesslike experience, just with a few more shiny edges and generally a higher price. Still, upfront hardware cost is only one part of total cost of ownership, and past Quocirca research has shown that end users take more care of their mobile equipment if they like it rather than have it forced on them. Loss of laptop and, more importantly, data through theft or user carelessness is one cost many businesses bear, along with the inevitable need to replace badly treated devices as they break. Apple laptops can be more commonly seen in traditional mobile business venues - coffee shops, airport lounges, railway carriages - so clearly more IT purchasers are buying the Macbook case.
On the communications front, the iPhone - initially slated by many analysts as ‘just for consumers' - has become enormously important to many as their business mobile device. Largely it is down to the applications. While many see the BlackBerry as a fantastic, well integrated email device, perfect for the enterprise user, they also (wrongly) perceive it as email and personal information management only. It is not yet seen as a multi-application mobile platform like the iPhone, or for that matter, Google's Android.
The sheer volume of applications for the iPhone are huge - over a hundred thousand on the App Store and billions of downloads to date - and they range from free iTat (and there's plenty of that) up to some reasonably priced and rather useful tools. Few stretch up into the comprehensive business client applications, as it's difficult to sell at high end prices on what feels like a music and media like experience storefront, but there are some significant ‘Pro' widgets making good revenues for serious ISVs.
The main problem with the iPhone has not been the ‘i', but the rest of the name. It's not been the greatest of phones, with call drop out reminiscent of the early BlackBerry and a lack of staying power in the battery department. It's not just that the battery isn't replaceable; it's also difficult to rely on it having sufficient power at the end of a day away from a charging point. That's not good as so many in their personal as well as working life rely on being able to make mobile phone calls.
