Michi Knows

AT&T is hoping to target corporate clients with the upcoming iPhone. The most surprising bit is that they should know better. The iPhone is clearly designed as an entertainment device, a huge stumbling block in convincing employers to buy it for their employees.

More importantly, the iPhone has a camera. This is a feature that is often specifically requested to be removed from corporate phones (see Blackberries) due to security or trade secret concerns.

The same marketing spin that makes the iPhone so desired will be what will kill it in the enterprise. With such a strong emphasis on video and music, why would any corporate client want to buy such distraction machines? Perhaps the most damning feature, or lack there of, is the inherit disadvantage in linking up to Outlook.

This is why AT&T needs to let Apple do its job. Clearly Jobs designed the phone with regular Joe in mind — especially since regular Joe’s market is huge when compared to the far more competitive business phone market. How many teenagers do you see with smart phones? How many non-executives do you see walking around with Blackberries?

There’s a reason the iPhone will be big: it isn’t trying to become the next Blackberry. Jobs may be the only CEO in the world that uses an iPhone over other established smart phones, but he really doesn’t care. Apple is trying to redefine the smart phone market as something for the regular consumer. There’s no way you can effectively target both the consumer and corporate market at the same time. Not to mention Apple would prefer to completely dominate the consumer market and lose the corporate market than share both with meager shares.