3 Editors Breakdown the iPhone OS 3.0 Event
by Yves Neidlinger on 19/03/09 at 3:16 am
Yves Neidlinger is a technologist and a social media and marketing consultant. He is the National Channel Manager for Navara and the founder and Editor in Chief of iPhoneCTO.
The news is out, iPhone 3.0 is a huge update including features that should have been there from the beginning and others that will push the platform forward and further differentiate it from its competitors. Few people left Cupertino disappointed.
We followed the live blogging, read more tweets than we care to admit and even watched the event for good measure. Rather than giving you yet another feature by feature breakdown, we decided to ask our editors to share their impressions of what Apple announced and what it means to iPhone’s viability as a business device.
1. Prior to the unveiling of 3.0, what business/enterprise features were you hoping to see?
Greg Crisp – I didn’t expect to see any significant new enterprise features as part of this release, but I was hoping for better exchange support in the form of support for notes and task syncing via ActiveSync.
Andrew Lunde – I definitely wanted Copy, Cut & Paste, but I don’t think of it as an enterprise feature. There really needs to be some way for an app to be given the ability to run as a background process. You could even only allow it to run once minute and restrict it to only certain API’s like just the ability to read and write to the storage, but not do anything with the screen. Another feature that should have been included from the start was full sync of tasks and notes. This had been meat and potatoes stuff for exchange forever and that fact that it’s missing on iPhone is crazy. I would like the ability to control the type of network connection without leaving the current app. I hate it when the coffee shop has an unprotected WiFi hotspot available, but you have to log in and give your credit card for access. I just want to flip to 3G and ignore it, but the only way to do that is to dig through the settings. I want Tethering!! BlackBerry lets you do this as part of their “all you can eat” data plan, why can’t we? My brother was fortunate enough to get the old “Tethering App” before it was pulled.
Yves Neidlinger – I didn’t expect that Apple would include a bevy of enterprise features, but I did expect to see improved security features, Copy, Cut & Paste, tethering, A premium App Store that would provide enterprise developers improved visibility and above all, a landscape keyboard in all applications.
2. Of the features that were announced today, which are the most geared for the enterprise?
Greg Crisp – I’m not sure there was that much that is enterprise-oriented. Being able to create meeting invitations, rather than just respond to them, will prove useful to me personally. Though not enterprise-specific, the addition of cut/copy/paste is huge. It finally brings a basic function to the iPhone that has not only been in every computer I’ve owned since 1991, but also every mobile/PDA device including the early Palm Pilots and the Apple Newton I used to carry in the mid-90’s. From an IT/Network administrator’s perspective, the enhanced networking capabilities will give the iPhone even broader appeal. Encrypted profiles should add some additional defenses against loss of proprietary data should a device be stolen or otherwise compromised.
Andrew Lunde – Bonjour networking might be nice for corporate environments. I can image an app that would only work when it sees the corporate network. It looks like background processing was a non starter, but at least we got push notifications. While it doesn’t completely replace the need for background tasks it is going to be a godsend for developers and users. Voice memos are an important feature for business people who can’t always type something at a moments notice. A big one for business users is the new Calendar integration. I’m not sure if they will have the ability to invite multiple people at once or not though. LDAP is key for corps to control and distribute their internal address books. No brainer there. EAP-SIM seems to be a way to authenticate into a site based on the SIM ID of the iPhone that way only approved devices might be granted access without any user input.
Yves Neidlinger – I admit, I was pleasantly surprised to see all the features Apple added to 3.0. I’m relieved I can quit writing about the need for the landscape keyboard. I agree with Andrew that Copy, Cut & Paste is huge, but it’s not exclusively a business feature. I’m happy to hear about LDAP, EAP-SIM, encrypted profiles etc… All will be useful to IT departments deploying iPhones.
3. Are any of the features announced today a direct response to BlackBerry, Android or even the upcoming Palm Pre?
Greg Crisp – Seriously, the continued lack of cut/copy/paste was probably the most obvious point of ridicule by non iPhone owners. In my humble opinion, it’s the ONLY thing that was significantly superior about the competing platforms. It was the primary thing that prevented me making the switch from BlackBerry for as long as I did. Having this feature will significantly increase my value in the iPhone as a desktop replacement for many tasks.
Andrew Lunde – Tethering is definitely a reaction. Copy, Cut & Paste just needed to be there and should have from the beginning.
Yves Neidlinger – At SXSW, Kevin Rose, the founder of Digg, predicted that copy, cut & paste would be included. He made another prediction that the new features would bring iPhone up to par with the Palm Pre. I believe Apple took notice of the Pre and bolstered the feature-set. I have no doubt Apple made a conscious decision to not concede anything to the Pre whom they probably see as a more natural competitor than BlackBerry. Thank God for competition!
4. Apple also showed off the new 3.0 SDK. What interested you the most about this announcement?
Greg Crisp – As an application developer, there are so many things about the new SDKs that I find interesting though not necessarily enterprise related. There are several services that I’ve been designing based on the eventual release of the Push Notification function. Knowing this is coming, I can begin to implement those services. The micro-payment support is compelling and will be incorporated in at least one service concept I’ve been working on. Having a Google Maps widget that I can embed in an app brings to mind a couple of new ideas. I’m very enthusiastic about the new features the SDK enhancements will make possible.
Andrew Lunde - It was actually the business model features. The ability to purchase items from within an app or to extend a subscription really opens up another dimension to how apps are monetized. Many corporate apps have ongoing costs to run the back-end of the service. With a “pay once at the beginning” revenue model, it’s hard to make your income more closely match your operating expenses.
Yves Neidlinger - As the only non developer of the iPhoneCTO editors, the SDK won’t directly benefit me. However, I was happy to hear about the 1000 new API’s being made available to developers. To me, that means I’m going to have a lot of fascinating and fun new apps to play with in the upcoming months. I’m also looking forward to see what business application developers do with these new API’s and how they use them to make some truly outstanding applications.
5. Of the iPhone 3.0 features or API’s that were announced, which was your favorite?
Greg Crisp - To further wax poetically on the new SDK features: the iPhone is a platform that enables a whole new class of applications. Stuff we’ve been talking about in the mobile space for years, like location awareness, orientation awareness [knowing when the device is moving], integration with geo-spatial data, access to the Internet, and the ability to push notifications in real-time. There’s a whole set of social media, overlaid on real-space, that will soon be practical to build. Both mass-market and enterprise customers will benefit from all this.
Andrew Lunde – Keyboard input. Corporate users need to be able to compose lengthy messages or likewise respond. The touchscreen keyboard is a limitation. To date, I haven’t seen any key entry scenario that would make the iPhone a great way to get serious email done. That needs to change in order to wider adoption in the corporate environment. So in this respect, I believe the addition of the landscape keyboard is a fair compromise because I don’t see Apple adding a physical keyboard to iPhone.
Yves Neidlinger – There were so many. Opening up Core Location to developers is huge. I agree with Andrew about the keyboard and the landscape keyboard option will help mitigate some, not all of the advantage BlackBerry has over iPhone. Copy, Cut & Paste, oh and Shake to Shuffle. Just kidding on that one!
6. What does today’s announcement mean to companies sitting on the fence as to whether to deploy iPhones for business use?
Greg Crisp – The iPhone became a viable enterprise platform when 2.0 was released. The new features will only help.
Andrew Lunde – They are probably thinking something along the lines of iPhone is closer to what we need, but maybe not there yet. The iPhone is still largely seen as a consumer device and the BlackBerry as a corporate device. Both are trying to move into each other’s territory, but this announcement primarily added things that should have already been in there from the beginning.
Yves Neidlinger – iPhone became just that more attractive to IT departments. With the addition of encrypted profiles, LDAP, landscape keyboard more companies are going to be considering iPhone.
7. If you were an executive with RIM, what would you be thinking about todays announcement?
Greg Crisp – I would be concerned, but not surprised. iPhone has been closing the gap with Blackberry for some time and this release closes it further. The Blackberry has been the lead in the corporate and government markets for some time, but the mobile market is much more volatile and open to innovation. There will always be a market for their devices, but they shouldn’t expect to dominate the category forever.
Andrew Lunde – I’d be saying, I’m glad they didn’t announce a new version with a keyboard. That’s the last remaining key differentiator.
Yves Neidlinger – I don’t think I have anything to add that Greg and Andrew haven’t already said. BlackBerry is fully aware of Apple’s development prowess and that they are going to close the gap. BlackBerry has the keyboard, iPhone doesn’t. It will come down to that and how much importance people place on the user experience.
