April 16th, 2009
Hello People, BlackBerry is the killer enterprise device today
Sigh. I guess it was to be expected, but the Apple opinionsphere has been overstating the case for iPhone. Based on the careful research that we did, we do think that iPhone is ready for the enterprise to consider. But that doesn’t mean other mobile devices aren’t more enterprise-worthy.
And if you you think iPhone case studies are falling out of the trees like acorns in autumn, trust me — they’re not. It was hard to find three companies willing to talk opening about their iPhone experiences. In fact, it took me almost six months to find those brave souls.
So, let’s be clear:
BlackBerry is the dominant mobile device for the enterprise in the US and will be for the foreseeable future. In fact, I wrote about BlackBerry’s mobile collaboration platformlast fall. BlackBerry is a great platform for mobile collaboration because of its security, network, manageability, form factor choice, global carrier support, ISV experience, and superior messaging capabilities.
We hear from many Forrester clients that they would have to pry BlackBerrys out of the “cold dead fingers” of their employees. That says something about how important that device is to productivity.
So while iPhone’s the disrupter with a superior browser and a first-to-market application store, no firm should replace BlackBerry or Nokia or Palm or Windows Mobile with iPhones. Instead, they should listen to their constituencies (a.k.a, their workforce) and support the mobile devices that employees demand.
Full stop.
Disagree. Feel free to share an experience-based (not just an opinion-based) story.
Ted Schadler serves Information & Knowledge Management professionals. His primary research objective is to help clients select and implement real-time collaboration tools and understand the impact of emerging technologies on information workers. His work includes research on real-time collaboration tools, the economics of cloud-based collaboration, the effect of mobile devices on enterprise collaboration, and the future of virtual worlds in the enterprise.
Forrester Research, Inc. is an
independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global
leaders in business and technology. Forrester works with professionals in 19 key roles at
major companies providing proprietary research, consumer insight, consulting, events, and
peer-to-peer executive programs. For more than 25 years, Forrester has been making IT,
marketing, and technology industry leaders successful every day. For more information, visit
www.forrester.com.
