For all of Apple’s huffing and puffing (wow I use that phrase a lot), there still seems to be some resistance to incorporating the iPhone 3G into corporate and enterprise environments. And it looks like iTunes may have something to do with it.
One IT manager, in an interview with the imaginatively named ComputerWorld, expressed concern with the prospect of being able to deploy iPhone 3G on a large scale. The main problem is that the iPhone needs to be activated using a PC or Mac with iTunes installed. Good luck doing that hundreds of times in an efficient manner; wireless, over-the-air activation is much preferred.
Then you’ve got the typical IT Guy mentality, as expressed by another IT gent, of not trusting Apple’s “controlling” nature. Open source, Linux everywhere, these are *my* stations not Apple’s or Microsoft’s, etc. If these guys are in charge of hundreds of PCs and/or Macs at a time, they feel they need to be in charge of what goes in and out from A to Z. With the iPhone 3G and its App Store, they necessarily need to cede some control.
So as attractive as push e-mail and Exchange support is, it may not be enough to convince Mr. IT.
To me, that’s the most interesting long-term development with the iPhone 3G. Consumer will snap it up, sure, but will businesses?