Does The iPhone Mean Business?

Tweet

Apple would like you to think so; especially you the small to midsize business executive! Just check out this new advertisement from Apple specifically targeting small businesses.

Apple had a great week this week. Yesterday it hit its big one billionth download from its iPhone App store. Despite the economy and despite that it sells premium-priced tech bling; it had an earnings report this week that most companies would die for.

It's easy to get sucked into the iDazzle of iPhone.

Keep in mind, iPhones still make up less than 2% of mobile handset sales worldwide. Nick Jones offers some thoughtful points about that little fact on his Gartner blog, specifically about businesses rushing out to develop applications for the iPhone.

"When I see people like banks developing iPhone specific apps I'm very cynical for a couple of reasons. One is that the proportion of customers of the average bank who have an iPhone is pretty small. And the second one is that I don't see the connection to bottom line revenue. I might switch banks for a higher rate of interest on my deposit, I'm not going to switch banks so I can do my mobile banking on a different phone."

- Nick Jones, Gartner

Despite all those apps, I'm not really seeing what the iPhone can do that a Nokia or Samsung smartphone can't already do and, for that matter, a Blackberry as well.

It will be interesting to see what the new iPhone 3.0 handset that comes out this summer will offer to woo us business folks further.

It will need to be more than a Youtube ad.

Renee Oricchio

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987.