iPhone has been a brilliant consumer product. While it’s not a perfect device by any means, Apple has been selling iPhones like hot cakes. Many experts have given Apple credit for that but have pointed out that the device has not made a big splash in the business segment of the market. That could be in the process of changing as if AT&T’s latest claim is to be believed. According to AT&T, 40% of iPhone sales have been to business users in 2010.

Ron Spears from AT&T put it correctly:

When the iPhone came out, what most people heard in the first year from ’07 to ’08 was ‘oh my God, it’s not BlackBerry secure. This is not going to work on the enterprise space.’ At the end of the day, it’s just software. That’s all it is.

Let’s face it. No device is 100% secure. Apple has addresses a few major/minor security issues in the past. One has to take into account the issue of resistance here. IT departments do not adopt new devices without taking their time. Maybe iPhone was not too business friendly at first (as far as security and other enterprise issues). That could partially explain why it has taken the device a while to become more popular in the business segment. Read the rest of this entry »

There has been a lot of talks about Blackberry beating iPhone in the smartphone market, in the first quarter of 2009. It’s true that Blackberry curve has advantages over the iPhone in the promotion and market access area. Nevertheless, a lot of experts still believe that Blackberry curve outselling the iPhone is a significant development. Turns out, all is well as far as iPhone is concerned. A report by Admob Mobile Metrics indicates that Apple owns 49.5% of the smart-phone Internet traffic in the U.S. It’s a huge improvement over where Apple used to stand in August 2008 (only 10% share).

This is proof for Apple’s brilliant strategy to develop a real platform behind the iPhone, instead of just focusing on hardware. Blackberry devices are great, but when it comes to metrics that truly matter in the smart phone business, they fall very short of putting up a challenge against the iPhone. And Apple is just getting started!

Your take: is Blackberry curve outselling the iPhone a big deal?

It has been all over the news. Every-time a smart-phone comes close to beating the iPhone in any area, it’s groundbreaking news. Blackberry Curve outselling iPhone so far this year is not a development that a lot of fan expected. But the news is not as bad as it sounds. Blackberry may be outselling Apple, but that’s partly thanks to aggressive Blackberry promotions on the market. And the news it’s exactly what Apple needs to take the iPhone to the next level. Blackberry has been on more major carriers than iPhone. That’s why Apple is trying to do the same with at&t and Verizon.

Apple needs to be involved with more than one carrier to expand its network dramatically. Even a year ago people were talking about needing Apple to move beyond at&t and let other carriers a chance. A year ago, it seemed a bit far fetched for Apple to get involved with Verizon, but that now is in the works. The iPhone is overall a superior device to Blackberry Curve or Storm. It has a platform behind it that is unmatched by anything on the market. But Apple can’t wait too long to get more carriers involved. One can’t stay stagnant in the mobile industry and expect to stay dominant in the market. Bringing other carriers on board can instantly gain Apple lots of new customers and make iPhone untouchable in the smart-phone market.

Blackberry devices are very respectable. But I still haven’t seen one that is truly better than the iPhone. That doesn’t mean we won’t see one in the future. That’s why Apple can’t be stuck with at&t exclusively. Blackberry may have won a small victory in 2009, but there is no stopping Apple (especially with iPhone 3.0 waiting in the wings).

Believe it or not, we have yet another story about a device that wants to beat iPhone in its own game. BlackBerry storm is the latest device to have the title of iPhone killer. Now, let’s not pretend that iPhone has won the business sector over yet, but it is making inroads. Having said that, I was pretty impressed with BlackBerry storm. Admittedly, I don’t own the device yet (waiting to get it for the Christmas), and I probably won’t have a need for it anyway, but the specs that I have been looked at seem to indicate that Storm is a great little business tool.

The reviews have been rave too. Blackverry’s are notoriously loved by business folks, but the new generation of business gurus are moving on to the iPhone because it has some very unique features and it does make you look smarter. Is Storm better than the iPhone? I am not sure. It’s different, and it has some nice features. But better? I think that’s just pushing it.

So BlackBerry finally has a worthy opponent for the iPhone? I got to say,  I am very impressed with the storm. It’s disappointing that storm doesn’t support Wi-Fi, but the touchscreen feature is a nice surprise. You can read all about it here. I think Storm is a great device and Blackberry lovers will love this one too. But unfortunately, I don’t think it has what it takes to truly challenge the iPhone, especially if it is priced the same as the iPhone.