iPhone to work with Microsoft Exchange

In the last ten years I’ve been fortunate to have dealings with hundreds of business owners and decision makers. I’ve found that there is one techie trait highly common amongst execs in organizations both large and small; that being that most have the ‘Oh I’ve Got to Have That...’ mentality when it comes to new gadgets. The iPhone release last June was no exception.

Apple claims that in the last year they conquered 28% of the smart phone market since iPhone’s debut. The iPhone places second to Research In Motion Ltd’s Blackberry who continues to lead the market with 41% of the smart phones out there.

Like the Blackberry, Windows mobile phones appeal directly to the business professional focused on email and office communications for most of their daily phone use. Some of the benefits of these brands are the means to easily maintain real-time access to business emails. Windows Mobile enhanced the email connectivity providing Exchange ActiveSync in which you could seamlessly sync not only your email but also your calendar, contacts, and tasks already in use within your Microsoft Outlook program. The iPhone on the other hand more so appeals to the everyday consumer more focused on Internet, Music, and Photos. 

This June, that’s about to change. The new release of the iPhone software, targeted for June 27^th of this year, is known as iPhone 2.0. This update includes the much anticipated Exchange ActiveSync common to the Windows Mobile phones that will now connect business professionals to their back-office email system in real-time via their iPhone.

Unlike Blackberry, which requires emails and synchronized content to pass through their NOC in Canada, Exchange ActiveSync provides users with a directly secured connection to their Microsoft Exchange Server hosting their mailbox. This a big factor to users after experiencing a widespread system failure of the Blackberry system last year resulting in an outage of systems providing service to all of North America leaving many Blackberry users without mobile email connectivity.

Exchange ActiveSync also provides Microsoft Exchange users the benefit of mobile email without the purchase of additional software as with the Blackberry. Already a part of their Windows Small Business Server software, small business owners find it discouraging to have to buy Blackberry server software to take full advantage of their Blackberry handheld while the functionality is already built in to Microsoft Exchange and easily integrates with Windows Mobile.

Although the device and functionality will appeal to most business professionals, the exclusivity to AT&T wireless does not. Having to make the change to AT&T from their existing wireless provider may discourage a widespread adoption of the iPhone 2.0 for many in business interested in picking one up. For others it may be worth the change to appease their desires for the much talked about new gadget.