Topic: Information Management

Reference: Ante, Spencer E. “Taking A Bite Out Of Apple’s APP Store.” BusinessWeek, August 3, 2009. P.24.

For those executives using Smartphones information management has been simplified and taken to a new level of efficiency. Apple’s iPhone is widely popular and has assumed an exulted state within the user community. The iPhone’s popularity has been partially driven by its design and partially by the paradigm breaking application platform that is connected with the iPhone. There are applications written for every life situation and circumstance. No matter what your interest is there is an iPhone application that you can use to increase your level of enjoyment. All of these applications are delivered at a very affordable price point and are easily implemented. RIM’s BlackBerry has an even larger number of handsets in circulation than the iPhone and has been benefiting from new applications developed for its platform. BlackBerry is currently working to expand its application platform. iPhone’s competitive advantage from the application platform is so substantial that other carriers have been playing catch up to avoid losing substantial market share to the iPhone. While iPhone still suffers from a lack of enterprise installations, individual users have developed a significant number of workarounds even where their companies do not support the iPhone from an enterprise perspective. Predictably this kind of momentum has caused other carriers to aggressively respond. In the referenced article the commentator indicates that Verizon is planning a major foray into application platform development in support of its handsets.  To jumpstart the strength of the opportunity Verizon is partnering with huge players like Vodafone, Japan’s Softbank, and China Mobile. “Developers will be able to write applications for the standard, which the carriers are calling the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL). When the store launches in the fall, it could reach as many as 1 billion customers, the combined total for the four operators.” The scale of Verizon’s offering promises to be substantial and could become an immediate competitor to the iPhone. A lot will depend on Verizon’s deployment and design. For companies it means that more competition is on the way and that innovation and price competition will continue to drive the market toward application utilization. It also means that companies do not have to accept iPhone on an enterprise basis to take advantage of new application offerings. However, it will be difficult not to given the head start that iPhone has and the momentum that it has in the marketplace. “Apple says 100,000 developers have created more than 65,000 iPhone applications so far, and customers have downloaded those applications more than1.5 billion times.” To me it sounds like some great things are in the works, but that future support of the iPhone on an enterprise basis is inevitable. Let me know your thoughts on how you plan to manage your future use of mobile solutions.

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