iPhone - Can you connect to my email? June 19, 2007
Posted by chetan in : US Wireless Market , trackbackRoad warriors live and die by emails, they are also the ones with deep pockets or corporate stash fund to buy devices like iPhone but would they carry two? most wont. i had raised this point when the device first surfaced in Jan. i will still be surprised if Apple doesn’t offer a RIM and/or Exchange solution for email. Perhaps not at launch but has to do something within 1-2 months to resolve this issue or else the one million interested will drop by half.
WSJ does the story on this today.
but, this would mean licensing software from Microsoft 
Another point on iPhone, the 1M interested customer number has been thrown around quite a bit. It is likely based on the emails AT&T has recieved (from their online form). I had also sent one though i don’t intend to buy one. I bet 20-30% of the people are just curious onlookers, journalists, competitors who want to be notified about anything to do with iPhone.
But, maybe AT&T has done other surveys to figure out the numbers or maybe not?
Comments»
Too much banter on what could be the “non-event” of the phone industry’s summer; a few points to consider:
- Samsung, Motorola and Nokia have comparably-featured phones for ~1/2 of the price of the iPhone,
- Gartner research states “This Wi-Fi iPhone has no firewall, no Exchange/Lotus Notes support, no PBX integration and no ability to protect company data - It’s a security hazard and a liability.”
- AT&T is not offering a subsidy to this phone which will cost more than most desktops, and is requiring a 2 year contract/data agreement;
- For non-AT&T customers who have existing phones/contracts, an unbelievable expensive choice; plus it has no support for 3G/CDMA, and suffers the limitations of a sealed battery.
- Also, the sleeper factor in all of this, what Im calling “Journalist backlash” (A bunch of non-expert writers who will be soon trying to show thier immunity to ‘reality distortion’ or so-called media hype)