When you read through the press releases and blogs regarding the release of the Apple 3G iPhone Enterprise Addition, you are left wondering what the masses "really" think about the device, and if the device is a business tool or a new toy for bored professionals. Especially, when you read the "Comments Section" from a number of the key subscribers.

 I tend to look at the benefits the device plays in making my life easier, from a business perspective, with the most important factors, "to me" being; can the phone complete a call? And do I hear the person on the other end? Before you go into a tirade about carriers and connectivity, let's talk about form factor, carrier services, and also ergonomics. - My point being, the form factor may or may not be conducive to practical use in a business environment.

Let me pause here -

Driving down any road, while using a phone is neither practicable, nor is it a business environment and without doing much research, I would suspect that most companies with more than 50 employees, have a corporate policy that stipulate that if you are in an accident while using a mobile phone, traveling on company time, the company is not liable, and you will most likely get canned.

The reason being is that corporations do not want to the liability of a phone related. So... if you are using a phone in a business environment, sound quality, connection with a carrier that has services in your area, as well as the ability to hear the other person are at the top of my list.

OK, let's resume...

Second, what functionality does the phone provide me? Can I read email? Can I actually reply in complete sentences versus instant messaging?  - granted I do both, but in a business environment, I would still want the business reader on the other end to feel confident that I can create complete sentences.

Also, can I use the device for reading documents, viewing a PDF, editing document, looking at power point presentations before I meet with a client - open a spreadsheet, and save it to my device or desktop?

All this brings us to the next generation of the iPhone and will it truly be an enterprise device, or a slick toy that executive get tired of as soon as the next gadget comes out in 2009...

To answer this question, you really have to look at how well suited Mac is in the business world today - if you are performing routine graphic illustrations, then you will most likely argue with my assessment, but if you are in the business world where Microsoft is still the most prevalent player in this space, you may still argue with my rational, but understand where I am taking this post.

Admittedly, I have not used an iPhone, but I have seen how others use the phone, and I see the same excitement in users of the Wii, PSP, or other gaming device - OK that may not be fare. So what's your point?

Most touch screen enabled phones such as the Verizon XV6700 or SMT5800, at&t Pantech Duo, The MOTO Q, Samsungs' BlackJack,  as well as a host of other Microsoft's WinMobile PC devices, even a BlackBerry Smartphones from Research in Motion (RIM), albeit not a touch screen device, can do some very slick applications, all of which are resident on an iPhone, including gaming.

Hackers have known for years about downloading some simple hacks; to rotate your screen, add 3^rd party games, use "Free GPS", assuming you have an all you can eat data rate, using the Google Maps mobile client, and allows you to build in a whole new suite of services using the Google Android client.

Playing music by storing content on external xD cards, stream media, and using advanced services, such as a Mobile TV Tuner, which is a type of radio receiver. There are both analog and digital tuners, and it's the same technology that's in a stationary TV set, that operate on your mobile phone.   You can even connect to your home cable box and watch videos through your mobile.

But the iPhone's sex appeal may not make up for its shortcoming against the BlackBerry, and the increasingly capable enterprise devices running Mobile PC platform. Both RIM and Mobile PC offer centralized device troubleshooting, administration and management through server-based software.

The ability to "brick" a lost or stolen Enterprise Mobile PC or BlackBerry device in a matter of seconds through Enterprise management environment, is a tremendous benefit to address security concerns. A couple of mouse-clicks and a lost or stolen device is rendered useless; all data is wiped and you are limited to 911 calls only. No e-mail, no internet, no data files remaining, no security holes back into the corporate network.

Apple on the other hand issued a warning that future firmware updates to the iPhone could disable the device. On September 27 2007, owners of "unlocked" (Unlocking is where the SIM Card on the mobile device is cracked by software or hardware, so the device can be used on other carrier networks.)  iPhones who took advantage of the version 1.1.1 update through iTunes reported that the update rendered the device virtually inoperable.

In a recent article, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said 35 percent of the Fortune 500 has been in the iPhone 2.0 beta.

I have it on 1^st hand knowledge, that every major account lead on a Fortune 1000 account at at&t was directed to ask their customer CIO group to test the iPhone. Most preferred to wait until the next generation was released on July 11. A surprising number indicated that they were going to continue using existing Mobile Enterprise services, and not change to iPhone for the foreseeable future.

As Steve Jobs said in a recent speech, that at&t's 3G networks already have WiFi like speeds. There are built in checks. As Jobs pointed out, files above 10 MB will be downloaded over WiFi that is fed by broadband connections.

at&t did admit that are of course bandwidth hogs, such as streaming video, but it is still not clear how many people will view video on an iPhone. At&t expects to know more, when they see the data.

Ralph de la Vega, President & CEO of at&t Mobility, the wireless division of San Antonio-based at&t, commented on the impact on location based services, enterprise mobility and of course the wireless web revolution it will unleash, only a few hours after the release of the new phone.

In de la Vega's opinion, the iPhone is a true game changer. Why? "The immediacy of the data at your fingertips is huge. Imagine, looking up anything, anywhere. It (3G iPhone) allows you to leave your computer at home. It totally and completely mobilizes your data. Before this device you weren't really un-tethered, but with this you are. I think people have tried to build a $100 laptop, and here is a $200 phone that can do all that over 3G. It will have a big impact, and will be ubiquitous."

Through the 2G-iPhone usage data collected through usage reports, at&t felt extremely comfortable being able to deal with the future demand. The 3G network has a maximum throughput of 3.6 mbps and soon it will be 20 Mbps. The core of the network is expected to run faster as well.

Is the iPhone the next best thing?

It is if you believe all of the hype from at&t and Apple.

Let's look at the Pro's and Con's, and see if the device is worth, an added $10.00 a month over the highest non-iPhone data rate to recover the higher revenue sharing Apple is now getting, plus an additional $40.00, "New" users will pay over the 2 year service plan compared to the current iPhone and AT&T rate plane. Coincidentally, the SMS messages are not bundled anymore, and you pay for what you want. Translation you are paying more for less...

The iPhone supports Word, Excel and PowerPoint, albeit not native, and requires translation, also the iPhone has full Exchange support, secure VPN and hooks to Microsoft and Cisco.

Apple has removed the enterprise support knock. Exchange support is great, if it can be enabled without enabling IMAP4, due to security concerns in an Enterprise environment

One of the big features on the iPhone is built-in GPS. Apple has made location based services a bit part of the next-generation iPhone. With a little development, you may be able to keep better track of your roving sales folks, through the use of new business applications such as Salesboom.com and Netsuite CRM.

Companies can distribute Enterprises authorized applications, by creating applications and then distribute those applications on an intranet so that those applications only work on company iPhones. Oddly enough, the applications will require that you sync them through iTunes. (Is it me, or is this a breach in the security, where you have access to 3^rd party music downloads into a corporate environment?)

But are these functions of benefit to a the Enterprise users, No, so where is the Niche that Apple sees the iPhone playing - So what are the Con's?

Apple has introduced a Mac replacement called MobileMe, which is a cloud-based service that synchs various devices. Apple called it "Exchange for the rest of us."

The issue as I see it, is that most of my Enterprise clients has invested heavily in Exchange.

MobileMe may be handy for individuals, but may not be a huge selling point for SME's. The linchpin of MobileMe is synching in a Web 2.0 AJAX interface. You can connect Outlook, Web and Mac applications natively, but the problem is that corporations are just figuring out how manage Enterprise 2.0.

For every application that would make an Enterprise User say ‘that could be useful' there was a demo of a time-wasting game. Granted, games can be disabled through the Enterprise Management Software, but simply put, it has no place in an Enterprise Environment.

Apple's weakness IMHO is that they really don't know how to serve Enterprise customers. Microsoft and RIM understand very well corporate mentality, but Apple is understands the consumers. Apple still hasn't figured out how to get CIOs to embrace their product offering in a business environment. . Until they do, the iPhone will remain, like the iMac, a niche product in the enterprise.