In a press release recently, analyst house Gartner recommended that iPhone is now ready for business use. Initially the analyst house expressed concerns over some security issues but after the announcement of iPhone firmware 2.0 release, the Gartner Analysts are now happy to change their recommendation as the latest iPhone firmware meets their requirements.

“In its initial release, the iPhone was, with few exceptions, an Internet tablet with browser-based applications as its main offering, however, the release of firmware 2.0 changes that, enabling enterprises to develop local code and create applications that do not depend on network capabilities,” said Ken Dulaney, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. “The iPhone will thus match up initially in several segments against its main smartphone competitors — BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Symbian Series 60.”

“Appliance-level” status permits the iPhone to be used for PIM, e-mail, telephony and browsing applications. It also permits the device to be used for other dedicated functions where the software is supplied by a third party, functionality is kept to a restricted set, the software supplier offers support for a backup platform and IT development resources are not needed to program custom code locally residing on the device.

“Management of the iPhone outside the Exchange e-mail/PIM application will require familiarity with new products such as Apple’s iPhone Configuration Utility. And enterprises should thoroughly review the platform’s management and security options to understand how they can control any consumer elements of the platform that may pose a risk,” Mr. Dulaney said.

Additional information is available in the Gartner report “Gartner Changes Its Enterprise iPhone Recommendations.” The report is available on Gartner’s Web site at http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?ref=g_search&id=625908&subref=simplesearch

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