August 2nd, 2007
NASA: iPhone not Enterprise-Ready
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Last time I said anything like this, it seems like almost everyone disagreed with me. Don’t get me wrong, the iPhone is a great device. I just don’t think it’s great for corporations, businesses or enterprise use. Apparently, NASA doesn’t either.
NASA astronauts and other employees won’t be using Apple iPhones to surf the Internet or send text messages anytime soon — at least not while they’re on the job.
On the other hand, they could soon have access to spiffy new BlackBerrys. Source: Information Week
We Say: Unfortunately the report does not detail exactly why NASA feels the iPhone is not enterprise-ready. Bad performance in weightless conditions, perhaps? 
At any rate, I’m not surprised the ubiquitous Blackberry is their choice, and that has a lot more to do with the Blackberry than the iPhone.
Jim Frost says:
The only two real reasons it’s not “enterprise ready” are battery life and AT&T contract limitations. Gartner’s report sounds more like it was written by a Microsoft marketing droid than someone with real requirements; “only one hardware vendor”? Get real, how many Blackberry and Treo vendors are there? And software availability? If it has e-mail, it’s got what it needs for most businesses — and of course with first-class web and VPN support the iphone is superbly positioned for internet applications that are way easier to write, deploy and manage than little phone applets.
I’m split on “security suites.” How many of those do you see on Treos or Blackberries? Like, none. They’re only on Windows stuff, and there’s a good reason for that. On the other hand, the iphone OS is arguably the most capable ever on a phone, and they appear to have removed the UNIX security system according to early reports. I’d say that at this point it’s an unknown, but not a huge worry as yet.
So while I wouldn’t buy it for my business either, it’s not /that/ bad, and there are some advantages.
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Bill King says:
On the other hand, qtopia’s being used in emergency services gear in europe. “Enterprise” doesn’t even come near the level of reliability needed there.
August 6th, 2007 at 9:21 pm