International bank switches from BlackBerry to Apple iPhone

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
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.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 53
    This should be good for Apple. If this catches on that is.
  • Reply 2 of 53
    aizmovaizmov Posts: 989member
    This will be bad for RIM.
  • Reply 3 of 53
    zindakozindako Posts: 468member
    This should be interesting
  • Reply 4 of 53
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    What was it about the iPhone not being enterprise ready?!



    Apple is Doomed!™
  • Reply 5 of 53
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    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.
  • Reply 6 of 53
    anantksundaramanantksundaram Posts: 20,403member
    This is huge.



    Apple is doomed!™



    (Got pipped by NasserAE. Oh well, it's worth hearing twice......)
  • Reply 7 of 53
    joelsaltjoelsalt Posts: 827member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anantksundaram View Post


    This is huge.



    Apple is doomed!?



    The apple is doomed thing is getting a little long in the tooth guys
  • Reply 8 of 53
    saareksaarek Posts: 1,520member
    This great news for Apple and let's hope that this is a sign of things to come, still best to remember that only a small percentage of the company employees are issued smart phones, probably around 1500 or so.
  • Reply 9 of 53
    solipsismsolipsism Posts: 25,726member
    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.





    Quote:
    Originally Posted by joelsalt View Post


    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!?
  • Reply 10 of 53
    prof. peabodyprof. peabody Posts: 2,860member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    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.
  • Reply 11 of 53
    fabsgwufabsgwu Posts: 78member
    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?
  • Reply 12 of 53
    bobrkbobrk Posts: 36member
    My company lets you pick between BBs and iPhones. Most people seem to be getting the iPhones these days, including a lot of people I never thought would.
  • Reply 13 of 53
    dick applebaumdick applebaum Posts: 12,527member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    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®



    .
  • Reply 14 of 53
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    ""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.""



    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.
  • Reply 15 of 53
    tofinotofino Posts: 697member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by joelsalt View Post


    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...
  • Reply 16 of 53
    appdevappdev Posts: 61member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fabsgwu View Post


    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.
  • Reply 17 of 53
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    ""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.
  • Reply 18 of 53
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by fabsgwu View Post


    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?
  • Reply 19 of 53
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by joelsalt View Post


    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.
  • Reply 20 of 53
    justflybobjustflybob Posts: 1,337member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by solipsism View Post


    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.
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