All Articles Tagged business

Apple.com/business has published a case study of micro-blogging darling, Twitter. Not surprisingly, Apple.com gives Twitter a lot of love for loving Apple products, especially the iPhone:

When it comes to availability, iPhones accommodate peoples’ needs to work remotely and stay connected with the Twitter team. Stone notes that Twitter remains loyal to iPhones even though other handset manufacturers offer them free equipment.

Not surprising. The price of a thing is seldom equal to its cost. If a free product takes you more time or resources or requires greater infrastructure to support, the cost of using it can rapidly grow higher than the dollar price of even a premium product or service.

For businesses that thrive on the technology the iPhone best supports, web, media, and a certain strategic perception and mind set, paying for iPhones is probably a much greater value than any “free” phone.

Last year, during the iPhone 2.0 SDK Event, Apple unleashed a slew of enterprise-aimed initiatives. Phil Schiller took the stage to showcase Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync licensing, as well as 802.1x, Cisco VPN, certificates, remote wipe, configuration tools, and more.

Schiller didn’t show up at the iPhone 3.0 Sneak Peek event (not until the apres-Q&A at least), and Apple didn’t announce something as spectacular as Exchange support this year. But was there anything compelling for businesses this time around?

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All play and no work makes TiPb… pretty happy really. But with the GRAND PRIX done and the great prizes won, it’s time for us to get back to business, and that means a new contest with even more App Store apps, more TiPb reviews, and more ways for you — our readers — to win… AT WORK!

Once a week for the next few weeks we’re going to review 2 business/productivity Apps head-to-head and app-vs-app. But here’s the twist: there are so many Apps, we can’t decide which ones to review. So the TiPb iPhone Forum will decide for us!

Every Thursday we’ll be posting a poll up in the iPhone Exchange and Enterprise Forum containing the candidates for review. You vote on your favorites and we’ll review the top two. Voting closes on Saturday, and we review on Wednesday. Based on our review scores, we’re going to pick the winner of the head-to-head… and TWO of you, are going to win that app! (Technically: an iTunes App Store gift certificate in the amount of the winning productivity app).

TWO of you? Yup, each week, one TiPb iPhone Forum member who votes (or posts on the thread) and one blog reader who leaves a comment on the review will EACH win a copy of the winning App!

We’ll randomly pick a voter and commenter and announce the winner the next week on the following AT WORK review. (First winner announced on second review, second winner on third review, etc.) So make sure you hit them all!

One more thing: TiPb reserves the right to throw a final twist in at the end.

The first Forum Poll is up now, so head on over and vote for the Instant Messenger you most want to see reviewed App vs. App! (And most want to win, of course!)

Contest details after the jump…

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A strange thing happens around the corporate office when I whip out my iPhone and check email, place a call, or browse Safari. There is first silence, then Also Sprach Zarathustra (theme from 2001: A Space Odyssey) slowly builds to a crescendo and my office colleagues gather like early man around the mysterious black monolith.

You see, like most offices across the land, we use mostly Blackberries. Now, I’m not sayin’ that these BB toters are Neanderthal, pre-man or apes; I mean, they have to have opposable thumbs to work the keyboard, right? I’m merely pointing out that my iPhone is the ONLY iPhone on the premises and somehow I get my work done and keep track of my schedule, contacts and email, just like everyone else. Read on to see if your iPhone can survive in a hostile work environment!

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[Ed: We're bringing back the Wait-a-Thon and making it regular again. Sorry we dropped it off there for awhile, folks. With all those 3G and iPhone 2.0 rumors flying about these past couple of weeks, it almost felt like the release was already here. In the meantime, comment on any post tagged "Wait-a-Thon" for your chance to win a $100 iTunes Gift Card!]

This is not a response to Crackberry.com’s excellent article, Top 10 Reasons Why the iPhone Is NO BlackBerry. Quite frankly, the iPhone doesn’t need a response; it’s the rest of industry that’s so desperately trying to find one to the iPhone.

I don’t know about you, but it’s getting more than a little tiring hearing everyone compare themselves to — and constantly try to rip-off — the iPhone. I can’t surf a website or cruise the main without some claw-handed Crackberry addict, neck-bearded Palm artifact, or frazzle-haired WinMob frustrati glaring and frothing with barely-contained envy at the perfectly balanced, seamlessly integrated, lustfully convergent iPhone held ever-so casually in my grip.

They know the iPhone is beyond cool. Sure, they cling to their once innovative, formerly revolutionary (at least in the case of Palm and RIM) devices, the ones overwhelming nostalgia or massive business infrastructure investment won’t let them slam to the ground and stomp into the call-dropping, web-mangling, constantly crashing oblivion they so richly deserve.

So the comparisons to the iPhone just won’t stop, despite the fact that the iPhone is pretty much incomparable. Don’t believe me? I’ve got ten reasons to back me up. And these aren’t minor feature gripes or personal peccadilloes. In proper Apple fashion, these are just 10 simple little words…

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