Jobs confirms iPhone corporate e-mail support

[AppleInsider]

Apple Inc.'s chief executive has confirmed that iPhone will ease its way into workplaces after all, according to a new interview.

Speaking alongside AT&T's recently promoted CEO Randall Stephenson about the iPhone's release in a joint interview, Jobs delivered a small but significant hint that Apple would quickly address concerns about integrating its phone mail client with business e-mail systems.

"You'll be hearing more about this in the coming weeks," he said. "We have some pilots going with companies with names you'll recognize. This won't be a big issue."

Access to work e-mail has frequently been cited as one of the primary roadblocks to the iPhone's acceptance beyond personal use. Many, though not all, companies with larger-scale e-mail systems currently use Microsoft Exchange -- a service which Apple will only partially support with the shipping version of its handset, which so far connects to Exchange only through the IMAP e-mail protocol.

The concern that workers may pressure employers to integrate the iPhone regardless of actual support has prompted some to develop workarounds, such as a web-based service from Visto.

Jobs' interview time also provided the executive an opportunity to publicly comment on the expected turnout for the Friday iPhone launch. There have been no serious concerns about lineups getting out of hand as most Apple fans have been "respectful" in the past, he said. The 6PM lineup was also chosen to give as many people as possible a chance to buy the phone during daylight hours without leaving work.

When asked about the growing possibility that the iPhone will sell out by the weekend and that people might clamor for paid pre-orders, the Apple CEO was direct in advising eager buyers to wait for the next shipment.

"You're going to have to come back in," Jobs said. "When you start taking people's money and can't deliver the product, there are lots of legal issues. It's easier to disappoint people."

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[amac4me]

If true, this would be HUGE news. If successful, this will help bust open the door and help Macs in the enterprise.

[SpamSandwich]

I think one of the reasons corporate types aren't yet warming up to iPhone is due to the lack of "remote disabling" of an iPhone if it's lost or stolen... please correct me if I'm wrong here...

Also, regarding the 6PM availability... most people were assuming this was an attempt to minimize AAPL stock volatility. I tend to agree with them on this.

[Avor]

None of this is really surprising. Of course they are going to make software updates for the iPhone to make it better and more desirable.

[caribbean_mac]

WOW Mr.Jods

just keep pulling tricks out of his magic hat

watch out Ms

[ajhill]

Just imagine what will happen when they get Blackberry client support!

That's the beauty of offering a computer in your pocket. Compatibility is just an update away. And if it will help Apple sell a few extra million phones, I'm sure they will do it.

Gee, when the iPhone gets Blackberry support and other corporate email support, (Not to mention that there is already VPN support) what will the excuses be then???

I'm getting mine tomorrow. I've already started making my playlists for the iPhone. And Cars is chomping right now. Need a faster Mac though. Do you think they will be selling any Macs tomorrow night?

[Wojciechowski]

The main reason companies will not buy iPhones for their employees is because of the price. The same reason that so many refuse to use Macs instead of PCs.

No matter how much you might tell a company. "Look, if you buy a mac, you will get your product delivered in a much faster manner because I will not have to worry about jumping through hoops and dealing with crashes and other problems associated with PCs".

I work on an Avid system on Microsoft XP and no matter how much I tell them that they would save a fortune and get better results. They just won't spend the extra thousand or so by buying a Mac with Final Cut Pro. Which is retarded for them, because I get paid by the hour. They only care about the bottom line when it comes to spending money on equipment.

But for people that work on salary, the people in charge don't give a sh*t if they have to deal with a crappy interface on a blackberry or some other smart phone if it saves them thousands of dollars.

Even if Apple does get a working email fix for this problem, many companies still are not going to go for this... unless they actually care about creating an enjoyable work environment... and companies like that are few and far between.

[eAi]

Apple could go and create a system like BlackBerry's - disabling features etc, and clearly supporting Exchange... I agree cost is an issue for some companies, but I think many could (and would) afford an iPhone for the important executives...

[Akac]

But the same companies will buy a $500-$700 Windows Mobile phone or BlackBerry (unsubsidized) which they do all the time.

[a_greer]

Originally Posted by amac4me

If true, this would be HUGE news. If successful, this will help bust open the door and help Macs in the enterprise.

Office is WAY too intrenched and 2007 is acctually a great suit when combined with proper managment and tools like share point.

serious integration with backends like MS GreatPlains, Axapta and the like, and the millions of lines of code writen in VB to work with other systems like custom setups of Oracal and SAP systems... not to mention ll of those little 2-10 user Access/VB apps floating arround...

If business changes platform, it will not be to apple as it exists today as muchas we would like to see it...

[BRussell]

If they can get a license for MS Exchange on the iPhone, I hope the terms gets them Exchange on the Mac as well.

[a_greer]

Originally Posted by BRussell

If they can get a license for MS Exchange on the iPhone, I hope the terms gets them Exchange on the Mac as well.

Mail as a FULL outlook replacment would be AWESOME!

[hmurchison]

Somehow I'm thinking that the Leopard Mail Server is going to support Push to the iPhone. Why not? Apple's known the iPhone was coming..they created it.

Office and Exchange are nice but like the web, we need more standards based document formats. I don't know how "open" Office 12's XML format is but I wouldn't bet on it being as open as I'd like.

I think Leopard's Calendar and Mail Server should suffice for many smaller companies. By 10.6 they should be full on Office/Exchange replacements.

The tools are all coming together. We even have ZFS goodness to sweeten.

[AWAL]

they must also be working on an iPhone sans-camera, which is a no-no in some workplaces.

[rjwill246]

As usual, SJ has had an answer all along to the so called "corporate" issue. This comes as NO surprise since he and Apple invariably do the right thing and it should have been obvious that Apple was not going to release a crippled device- even if imperfect in the first few months. This phone is simply going to blow past all expectations and in iteration 3, the jaw-dropping will actually look silly. The question will be, as it is now, "why are you so surprised?"

While it takes a bit of self control not to scream "I told you so"-- ah screw it-- I told you so!!!

[JavaCowboy]

Apple's strategy is to support open standards in order to help topple standards based on closed products:

1) iTunes DRM-free music instead of Microsoft WMA
2) iCal and open CalDav standard instead of Exchange calendering
3) Safari and open HTML, JavaScript and CSS standards
4) RTF (and in Leopard, ODF) documents in TextEdit
5) Jabber and Bonjour in iChat

The iPhone should support IMAP and POP email and nothing more. If companies want the iPhone to integrate with their Exchange mail servers, then they should configure those servers to suport IMAP, which Exchange allows them to do.

Apple should not help keep a closed Microsoft standard (Exchange) alive. They should be doing their best to topple it. Exchange is an exorbitantly priced albatross with a terrible and dead slow database (Access?).

I don't know what Jobs is planning, but it would go squarely against Apple's MO for him to directly support Exchange in any of his products.

[Haggar]

Originally Posted by JavaCowboy

Apple should not help keep a closed Microsoft standard (Exchange) alive. They should be doing their best to topple it. Exchange is an exorbitantly priced albatross with a terrible and dead slow database (Access?).

I don't know what Jobs is planning, but it would go squarely against Apple's MO for him to directly support Exchange in any of his products.

Are we referring to the same Apple which released Boot Camp that lets people boot Macs into Windows, completely bypassing the Mac OS?

[murphyweb]

Apple should not help keep a closed Microsoft standard (Exchange) alive. They should be doing their best to topple it. Exchange is an exorbitantly priced albatross with a terrible and dead slow database (Access?).

I am sorry, but i have only just stopped laughing, are you a crazy mad person??

Have you seen Exchange 2007, Live Communication Server or the new Office Communication Server?

By allowing the iPhone to support exchange you really think that Apple will be keeping Exchange alive?? How many iPhones will be sold this year? Steve Jobs said the aim is that during 2008 iPhone would have 1% of the market share of phones worldwide, 1% !! and that is by the end of next year. How in god name would that help keep an albatross alive??

Please get real before posting, Exchange is the platform that the vast majority of business globally use to tie their entire communications infratstructure together, as for it being closed that is completely not true, many people develop applications and clients that make us of exchange. Blackberry would not even exist if it could not interface with exchange.
Apple do not have anything remotley like exchange to offer to corporate clients, although i look forward to the day when they do, at the moment they do not.

Your post was indicative of some of the complete and utter nonsense that gets spouted by anti microsoft idiots on these forums time and time again, please get your facts right before posting, and no i am not an anti-mac person, i use Apple products at home and love them but that does not mean i hate everything microsoft do either.

[Project2501]

Originally Posted by murphyweb

I am sorry, but i have only just stopped laughing, are you a crazy mad person??

Have you seen Exchange 2007, Live Communication Server or the new Office Communication Server?

By allowing the iPhone to support exchange you really think that Apple will be keeping Exchange alive?? How many iPhones will be sold this year? Steve Jobs said the aim is that during 2008 iPhone would have 1% of the market share of phones worldwide, 1% !! and that is by the end of next year. How in god name would that help keep an albatross alive??

Please get real before posting, Exchange is the platform that the vast majority of business globally use to tie their entire communications infratstructure together, as for it being closed that is completely not true, many people develop applications and clients that make us of exchange. Blackberry would not even exist if it could not interface with exchange.
Apple do not have anything remotley like exchange to offer to corporate clients, although i look forward to the day when they do, at the moment they do not.

Your post was indicative of some of the complete and utter nonsense that gets spouted by anti microsoft idiots on these forums time and time again, please get your facts right before posting, and no i am not an anti-mac person, i use Apple products at home and love them but that does not mean i hate everything microsoft do either.

You are right, that Exchange is now a de facto standard, but he dreams about good things. People shouldn't dance for microsoft, but instead run towards open and standard protocols. Building support for exchange is sort of must thing to iPhone for now, but at the server and os level they should channel people to more open solutions. Why doesn't iPhone let people use iTunes bought music as ringtones is beyond me, or why not let people do direct downloads from iTunes with iPhone.
One of the hardest things for me not to understand is why most companies haven't vouched for ODF, it doesn't cost them anything to choose Open standard(support for it should be in Office), but it gives them better negotiation changes to Office pricing.

So now, lets all listen Imagine by John Lennon, and make this world a better place with open standards

[Louzer]

Originally Posted by ajhill

Just imagine what will happen when they get Blackberry client support!

That's the beauty of offering a computer in your pocket. Compatibility is just an update away. And if it will help Apple sell a few extra million phones, I'm sure they will do it.

Gee, when the iPhone gets Blackberry support and other corporate email support, (Not to mention that there is already VPN support) what will the excuses be then???

I can't imagine RIM licensing their software for Apple to use. Aren't they direct competitors? Would Apple license their software for Blackberry? No, Apple doesn't like to license out.

And what do I know of VPN support, but aren't all VPNs different, to the point you need the VPN software to match the server side? I only ask this since, over on Macintouch, people are always complaining about this or that VPN software not working correctly.

[Louzer]

Originally Posted by rjwill246

As usual, SJ has had an answer all along to the so called "corporate" issue. This comes as NO surprise since he and Apple invariably do the right thing and it should have been obvious that Apple was not going to release a crippled device- even if imperfect in the first few months. This phone is simply going to blow past all expectations and in iteration 3, the jaw-dropping will actually look silly. The question will be, as it is now, "why are you so surprised?"

While it takes a bit of self control not to scream "I told you so"-- ah screw it-- I told you so!!!

Why are we surprised? I don't know. But if Apple wants to work with the corporate world, one of the things they need to do is start being open with their products and roadmaps. Its nice to have an answer 'all along' (although did he, or is he just covering up now for the obvious omission that everyone complained about), but if you don't tell the enterprise where you're going, they aren't going to pay attention to where you are. People may not care about some new feature, but companies do. This is also why Macs don't sell well there. When you have no clue as to when a product is going to be discontinued until it is, you're then buying and supporting varying machines over various terms. (See, this is why Dell does well in the market. When we were buying some PCs for the office, we knew exactly how long these models had been around, how long they were going to be around, and, as well, that they would contain the same hardware within.

[andersonoscar5]

I will not spam, I'm not a bot
My posting priviledges have been shot
This message is macro'd, you could say it's canned
replacing the nonsense that just got me banned.

Spam hurts all of us. Just say no.

[GQB]

Some sort of mail integration is obviously in the future. That's trivial.
The key is ending the 'individual account only' policy from AT&T.

Most people who are required to carry a phone for work purposes have the contract carried by the company. The company uses pooled minutes to manage costs.

As long as AT&T insists on individual accounts, real business use is a non-starter.

I don't care how much I want an iPhone... If I have to carry two phones, one personal and one company, it totally defeats the purpose of the device.

The day they allow me to just switch my existing Cingular number to the phone, I'm there. Not until.

[murphyweb]

You are right, that Exchange is now a de facto standard, but he dreams about good things. People shouldn't dance for microsoft, but instead run towards open and standard protocols. Building support for exchange is sort of must thing to iPhone for now, but at the server and os level they should channel people to more open solutions. Why doesn't iPhone let people use iTunes bought music as ringtones is beyond me, or why not let people do direct downloads from iTunes with iPhone.
One of the hardest things for me not to understand is why most companies haven't vouched for ODF, it doesn't cost them anything to choose Open standard(support for it should be in Office), but it gives them better negotiation changes to Office pricing.

I agree with you 100%, life would be wonderful if the people who made decisions were as clued up as us mere consumers! But unfortunately the people who make decisions are more worried about their own job security to even have a second thought about the future mess they are creating for everyone else, c'est la vie.

Apple's strategy is to support open standards in order to help topple standards based on closed products:

1) iTunes DRM-free music instead of Microsoft WMA

Its funny aint it? Apple has been selling DRM'd music on iTunes since day dot but the minute they start trialling DRM free music from a single record company all of a sudden they are leading the world on DRM free music downloads! It makes me laugh it really does. Get a clue people please.

Why are we surprised? I don't know. But if Apple wants to work with the corporate world, one of the things they need to do is start being open with their products and roadmaps. Its nice to have an answer 'all along' (although did he, or is he just covering up now for the obvious omission that everyone complained about), but if you don't tell the enterprise where you're going, they aren't going to pay attention to where you are. People may not care about some new feature, but companies do. This is also why Macs don't sell well there. When you have no clue as to when a product is going to be discontinued until it is, you're then buying and supporting varying machines over various terms. (See, this is why Dell does well in the market. When we were buying some PCs for the office, we knew exactly how long these models had been around, how long they were going to be around, and, as well, that they would contain the same hardware within.

Good post and well said, at the moment there is just no chance of Apple making a dent in the enterprise market, not based on their current model anyway. And of course it remains to be seen whether Apple actually want to enter this market (or should i say re-enter this market?) anyway. There are people who post in this forum who disagree with me, their biggest argument seems to be that Apple are a hardware company and the enterprise hardware market is to competitive and Apple are not able to live with the low margins in the enterprise. I however think that the enterprise has to be the next logical step in the rebirth of Apple and could actually be the turning point, Microsoft never got to be as big as they are by focusing on the consumer market, they dominated the office before they made a push for the home PC.

The points you raised are vaild though one would assume they are easy to address, Apple would need to form a business division and hire people from outside with the knowledge and experience to help shape the strategy for such a move. I for one would love to see Apple enter that market, i sell into that market at the moment and knowing what i know even as a mere consumer of their products would love an opportunity to sell Apple products into business, every salesperson dreams of being able to sell a product that is obviously head and shoulders above the competition. But first Apple needs the solutions, and the iPhone certainly aint it, but OSX is and could be the base of great things to come. Maybe.

[Marvin]

Originally Posted by BRussell

If they can get a license for MS Exchange on the iPhone, I hope the terms gets them Exchange on the Mac as well.

That was likely part of their strategy, which is a good move for making inroads into businesses.

Originally Posted by ajhill

That's the beauty of offering a computer in your pocket. Compatibility is just an update away.

I think that'll be the case with things like Flash. If it's the full version of OS X then surely it will somehow be able to run a version of it. It might be a different processor from x86 though, which means it would require a release from Adobe.

[ajmas]

Exchange and Active Directory can be surprisingly compatible, with support for LDAP, IMAP, POP3 and SMTP. The thing is many network admins don't bother activating these services for one reason or another.

If you ever get to try Microsoft Office 2007 you will also notice that they have made a move to support more standards based stuff, such as vCalendar (same Calendar format as support by iCal). Not a big Microsoft fan, but I recognise when they get things right - it happens

Whether the iPhone is a success or not is one thing, but the disturbance it will create, and is already creating, is something that should be noted. There is also a lot that may still happen, since the iPhone is still a new product, and as I write this unreleased, and there is room for improvement.

[JeffDM]

Originally Posted by andersonoscar5

The iPhone, as Jobs proudly dubbed the device to thunderous applause, will be three devices in one: a cell phone, a wide screen iPod with touch controls, and an Internet communications device

(URL removed)

No thanks on the link spam.

[Cpt K]

Oh my god this is a life saver!!! just spent hours trying to figure out why the "f" I could receive corp exchange email but not send! so this is solution.

"smtp.mac.com:587"

I love it.

Thank you whoever figured out.