40% of iPhone Sales Belong To Business?

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. iPhone HD is expected to be even more business friendly. While it will have its flaws, the addition of iPhone OS 4 and the all the features Apple has promised us will make the device even more capable for business. Google and RIM will be around to challenge Apple. That should not keep Apple from increasing its market-share among business users.