Gartner analyst Ken Dulaney wrote a report entitled “iPhone 2.0 Is Ready for the Enterprise, but Caveats Apply” and essentially stated:
Enterprises should approach expanded use of the iPhone slowly and with close examination
That’s right, IT shops: don’t go jumping into the iPhone pool like a bunch of drunk frat boys in Cabo. “Close examination,” like periodic prostate exams, is important to your general well being but don’t let Ken Dulaney spoil your fun. You can “approach” the iPhone “slowly” and rock out in due time.
On the whole, Dulaney is right: it’s hard to recommend the iPhone as a business platform. His reasonings, including musings on battery life and encryption systems and the use of iTunes which could “inject unwanted content into the enterprise.”
However, no one has any expectation that Apple is ready for a massive enterprise install base. I also wonder how much of the “custom software” corporations actually install. For email and voice, two of the most obvious applications, most enterprises can support just about any handset. Adding on support for the iPhone in that scenario is trivial. I guess Gartner makes their money by stating the obvious to the oblivious.