International bank switches from BlackBerry to Apple iPhone
Standard Chartered, a British bank with nearly 75,000 employees in more than 70 countries, has switched its standard corporate communications device from RIM's BlackBerry to Apple's iPhone.
According to Reuters, the London-based bank is replacing the BlackBerry with the iPhone as its phone of choice. Workers who already use a BlackBerry have been given the option of switching to the iPhone. The company will pay monthly billing for business-related telephone and data services on Apple's handset.
The Asia-focused bank has nearly 75,000 employees, though it is not known how many of them currently have a BlackBerry issued by the company. The switch is unique for the financial industry, where other institutions like HSBC Holdings and Morgan Stanley remain BlackBerry-only.
"If more companies switch to the iPhone, this is of course bad news for RIM," Lu Chialin, an IT industry analyst at Macquarie Securities in Taipei, told Reuters. "However, it will take a long time for companies to do their own internal testing before deciding to change, so it will be a while before it has any effect on RIM."
Apple has made inroads in the enterprise market, but still faces a number of obstacles in a number of industries that are tied to devices like the BlackBerry. Apple hopes to make further progress in the enterprise market with the release of iPhone OS 4 this summer, which will bring data protection, wireless app distribution, SSL VPN support and more to the handset.
Last year, it was projected that Apple had a 7 percent share of the enterprise smartphone market. That was well up from the 2 percent share seen by the company in 2008.
Starting last June, Apple became more aggressive in courting potential enterprise customers. It was last summer that the Cupertino, Calif., company released a guide designed to help system administrators deploy iPhones throughout large businesses.
In the first quarter of 2010, Apple sold 8.75 million iPhones, good for a 16.1 percent worldwide market share, taken somewhat at the expense of the BlackBerry. RIM's smartphone lost market share when compared to the first quarter of 2009 -- the only company among the top five brands to do so.
According to Reuters, the London-based bank is replacing the BlackBerry with the iPhone as its phone of choice. Workers who already use a BlackBerry have been given the option of switching to the iPhone. The company will pay monthly billing for business-related telephone and data services on Apple's handset.
The Asia-focused bank has nearly 75,000 employees, though it is not known how many of them currently have a BlackBerry issued by the company. The switch is unique for the financial industry, where other institutions like HSBC Holdings and Morgan Stanley remain BlackBerry-only.
"If more companies switch to the iPhone, this is of course bad news for RIM," Lu Chialin, an IT industry analyst at Macquarie Securities in Taipei, told Reuters. "However, it will take a long time for companies to do their own internal testing before deciding to change, so it will be a while before it has any effect on RIM."
Apple has made inroads in the enterprise market, but still faces a number of obstacles in a number of industries that are tied to devices like the BlackBerry. Apple hopes to make further progress in the enterprise market with the release of iPhone OS 4 this summer, which will bring data protection, wireless app distribution, SSL VPN support and more to the handset.
Last year, it was projected that Apple had a 7 percent share of the enterprise smartphone market. That was well up from the 2 percent share seen by the company in 2008.
Starting last June, Apple became more aggressive in courting potential enterprise customers. It was last summer that the Cupertino, Calif., company released a guide designed to help system administrators deploy iPhones throughout large businesses.
In the first quarter of 2010, Apple sold 8.75 million iPhones, good for a 16.1 percent worldwide market share, taken somewhat at the expense of the BlackBerry. RIM's smartphone lost market share when compared to the first quarter of 2009 -- the only company among the top five brands to do so.
Comments
Apple is Doomed!™
Standard Chartered, a British bank with nearly 75,000 employees in more than 70 countries, has switched its standard corporate communications device from RIM's BlackBerry to Apple's iPhone.
I am not surprised - having supported BES installations in the past and having dealt with the extremely complex handhelds I can only imagine the move to the iPhone delivering much needed stability and ease of use to these organisations.
I recently had cause to support a Blackberry (I can't remember the model but it was relatively new) - I tell you after 3 years with an iPhone it was like stepping back in time - those things are clunky dinosaurs and unless RIM radically improves the offering I see many more organisations following suit.
Apple is doomed!™
(Got pipped by NasserAE. Oh well, it's worth hearing twice......)
This is huge.
Apple is doomed!?
The apple is doomed thing is getting a little long in the tooth guys
The apple is doomed thing is getting a little long in the tooth guys
So what you're saying is "Apple is doomed!?" is doomed!?
I read that the iPhone OS 4.0 will be the only device to offer multiple Exchange account support. Is this true? If so, this should be a big coup to certain business users and companies. ...
I think the new metal and glass "pro" model of the iPhone with the new 4.0 OS will be a total magnet to businesses and the Fortune 500 folks.
Remember when everyone was arguing over whether they could possibly sell 10 million iPhones in the first year? It's going to be more like 40 million this year.
I read that the iPhone OS 4.0 will be the only device to offer multiple Exchange account support. Is this true? If so, this should be a big coup to certain business users and companies.
So what you're saying is "Apple is doomed!?" is doomed!?
That, certainly is snappier®
.
And the analysts, true to form, launch into their anti-AAPL FUD.
For years, we heard that big businesses like banks would never use the iPhone because it could not replace the Blackberry for that type of customers.
Now, when a very large bank makes the change, we're told that it's not important until lots of them make the change.
Let me guess - when LOTS of banks make the change, Macquarie will claim that it's not important until ALL the banks have switched.
The apple is doomed thing is getting a little long in the tooth guys
maybe. but for those of us who remember the '90s, when you could almost never read the phrase 'computer maker apple' with the inevitable 'beleaguered' stuck to it , it's nice to see it used this way...
I wonder what they will do to address Apple's (current) lack of a mobile messenger/communicator like BBM. Will they develop an in-house IM app?
If they can't find an app for it, someone will build one.
I use WhatsApp for my business and we love it.
""If more companies switch to the iPhone, this is of course bad news for RIM," Lu Chialin, an IT industry analyst at Macquarie Securities in Taipei, told Reuters. "However, it will take a long time for companies to do their own internal testing before deciding to change, so it will be a while before it has any effect on RIM.""
As has often been pointed out, a lot of corporate iPhone adoption is driven from the top, not by IT. This basically means that the entrenched preferences of the IT staff aren't as important as they would be if left to their own, and the evaluation isn't based on, "let's see if this iPhone thing will fit our current operations, when we feel like it," it's, "we've been told to work iPhone support into our operations," which makes a big difference and tends to eliminate the foot-dragging.
I wonder what they will do to address Apple's (current) lack of a mobile messenger/communicator like BBM. Will they develop an in-house IM app?
Why develop their own app when there are several 3rd-party alternatives to choose from, including Skype?
The apple is doomed thing is getting a little long in the tooth guys
Not at all. It's hauled out by the resident trolls on a regular basis. They don't use those exact words anymore but the implication is very clear. The latest incarnation is the "history is repeating itself" FUD, meaning any day now Apple will lose all of its market share and return to being "just" an overprice niche company. And then there are all of the iPhone and iPad "killer" products that are coming out "any day now" meaning, of course, that Apple is Doomed and it's only a matter of time.
I read that the iPhone OS 4.0 will be the only device to offer multiple Exchange account support. Is this true? If so, this should be a big coup to certain business users and companies.
So what you're saying is "Apple is doomed!?" is doomed!?
Not really. You're just doomed!? for saying/writing it.