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When eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) decided it was going to build an iPhone application that would
let users monitor their
bids and items for sale, it didn't expect the application to be downloaded more than 1 million times. The application, updated a few weeks ago to version 1.2, has proven to be very popular among Power Sellers and individual consumers alike, Rick Hoiberg, staff software engineer at eBay, told MacNewsWorld.
Hoiberg credited Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) sophisticated software development kit for much of the app's popularity, as it enabled eBay to quickly build a business application. "Because of it, we were able to put out 1.0 in a very short period of time without a huge team of people."
Among other things, it makes integration very easy, allowing developers to build user-friendly applications that might not work on other smartphones, he said.
Then there is the Mac platform itself. Apple has replicated it byte for byte for the iPhone, according to Hoiberg. Having previously worked for Apple, Hoiberg confesses to some bias on the subject. Still, he is not alone in saying that the iPhone's development platform is extremely business-friendly -- perhaps more than many people would expect. Corporate Chops When the iPhone first came out a couple of years ago, consumers were more than happy to wait in line for hours to get their hands on the device. Businesses, though, continued to cling to their BlackBerries, at least for corporate use.
Over the past year, a shift began to take place, thanks to the release of the SDK, the iPhone 3G and the App Store. Another boost for business was the iPhone's incorporation of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Exchange compatibility.
Makers of business software took note and began building applications for the iPhone. CRM vendors, to cite one industry, began developing or tweaking existing applications. Indeed, just about every industry -- from healthcare to real estate -- can find an application in the App Store now.
There are several iPhone business apps that Angie Henderson Moncada, managing director of strategy at (Add)ventures, swears she can't live without:
- iPod -- "I've uploaded several of our video projects and demos and shared them with potential clients at networking events and lunch meetings," Moncada told MacNewsWorld. "It's unobtrusive and adds a certain cool factor."
- The transit option on Google maps -- "We encourage our team to go green whenever possible. ... I use Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) transit to get to meetings and commute using public transportation. It is easy to know when and where to get on which bus, train or people mover, and I can get work done on the go."
- Basecamp -- "We are big users of this app; it lets me keep up with deadlines, files, tasks, etc., from my phone."
- Voxie -- "I've pulled out this easy audio recorder in the middle of casual meetings and brainstorming sessions when taking notes would be obtrusive. It's a great way to document the ideas without interrupting the flow."
- Fring -- "Keeping in touch [with] contacts across the country or even internationally is easy with Fring. By connecting to any wireless connection, I can use Skype to call, text, or message them from my phone at a fraction of the cost."
- Keynote Remote -- "I really look cool when my phone turns into a remote control for presentations!"
Some users are becoming developers as well. "I and my whole department use iPhones as our main business devices, and [in addition], we have designed our own time-tracking app for our own application," Saul Colt, head of magic at FreshBooks.com, told MacNewsWorld.
The most useful business applications designed for the iPhone are also the most obvious, Robb Hecht, an adjunct professor of integrated marketing communications with the City University of New York (CUNY), told MacNewsWorld.
They include
- LinkedIn;
- iProRecorder for recording conferences and meetings;
- Evernote for amalgamating notes and diagrams from team meetings;
- Twitter;
- OmniFocus for goal planning; and
- FlightTracker for business travel flight tracking.
These basic apps have allowed the iPhone to challenge BlackBerry as the smartphone of choice among business users, but "it is not there yet," Hecht said. The iPhone is still regarded as largely consumer focused, "while the BlackBerry has cornered the market on mobile email business communications due to its length of time in the market hooked up to users' Outlook accounts."
Overtaking BlackBerry
It is an open question whether the iPhone will ever become the top business smartphone. Data that started to emerge last year suggest that it might. Sales of Apple's iPhone 3G propelled it to the top spot among the four best-selling smartphones based on unit sales to customers from June through August, the NPD Group reported in October 2008. Research In Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM) BlackBerry Curve and Pearl handsets came in second and third, respectively, with the Palm Centro ranked at No. 4.
Initial sales of the BlackBerry Storm -- RIM's answer to the iPhone -- suggest that it is not making the inroads that RIM no doubt hoped it would. That, of course, may change when the next earnings report comes out.
Pushing the Envelope
It's possible, though, that business application developers could push the iPhone over the top. As more firms such as eBay and Google build on the iPhone SDK, more businesses will come.
One application that has long been anticipated is Citrix's (Nasdaq: CTXS) Receive for iPhone. Sometime in the first half of 2009, the company plans to introduce an iPhone version of its XenDesktop and XenApp client and server software for remote access to Windows.
The Citrix product line allows users to run any application on a client directly from a XenApp server. The new product, Citrix Receiver for iPhone, "will enable any business application that runs on a
Windows PC or server to be delivered from a XenApp server out to an iPhone and be just as usable as if it were on their desktop," Chris Fleck, VP of solutions development at Citrix, told MacNewsWorld.
Demand has been huge for this functionality, he added, with customers
pleading for it on the company's blog.
