The Real Impact of Apple's iPhone

As the time of this writing the lines have formed outside of Apple stores and AT&T retail outlets in growing anticipation of the sale of the iPhone later this evening.  The introduction of the iPhone is arguably the most hyped event in the history of the consumer electronics industry, representing not just an introduction of a new phone, but a major news and media event.

From an enterprise perspective, iPhone’s real impact isn’t as a “do it all” devices that allows you listen to music, surf the web, and watch videos.  Rather, the iPhone redefines the expectations of the mobile device market.  Business people stuck with older model BlackBerry’s (like my 7520), as well as other cell phones lacking multimedia capabilities are quickly going to demand an iPhone-like experience when they are out of the office.

We’re already seeing the iPhone force competitors to quickly develop alternatives.  Motorola’s Razr2 debuted this week in Korea.  Ultra-mobile PCs such as the Samsung Q1 Ultra are increasingly an option for those who can justify high-end portable devices.  More products will come on to the market, especially if the early sales projections for the iPhone prove accurate.

So what does this mean from a collaboration and communication perspective?  It means greater capabilities for remote and virtual workers.  It means that given access to larger screens and mobile high-speed data services, remote workers will increasingly be able to participate in web-conferencing, video conferencing, and other interactive conferencing and collaboration sessions, free from the limitations of micro-browsers, slow network services, and low-resolution screens.

Now, more than ever it is imperative that enterprises consider mobility, and new mobile devices and services, as part of their overall communication and collaboration strategy.  So far this isn’t happening.  Only 40% of the enterprises we interviewed for our Building A Successful Virtual Workplace even had an enterprise mobility strategy at all, much less one that covered integration of mobile strategies with collaborations strategies.

Still, as new devices rapidly come to market, those with a mobility strategy will be best positioned to pro-actively determine the benefits, while those lacking such a strategy will be faced with reactive measures – such as the discussion that I’m sure will be going on in IT shops around the country next week, starting with “I just bought an iPhone, how do I sync my mail?”