Before 2008, I had been an avid cell phone user but had never ventured into the world of business communications. To me a cell phone was all I needed to chat with my clients and I was convinced that a cell phone only needed to do what it was intended to do, make phone calls! However, the Sony Ericsson was beginning to change my mind with it’s slick camera and MP3 action. And then I joined Toggle.
Now, at Toggle Networks, they have been using BlackBerrys for a good amount of time. This was brand new to me. Email? Phone? CRM (light)? Keyboard? On the same device? This was all new to me but it did not take long before I realized the amazing results one could have with a true corporate device.
My BlackBerry had soon earned its “CrackBerry” nickname as it went with me everywhere and my wife had to soon limit my obsessive devotion to the thing. Despite its addictive nature, I couldn’t help but respect the fact that the BlackBerry is an excellent business device and it is almost a necessity around the office here. I found my way into a new BlackBerry Curve after my original BB’s scroll wheel broke on me and it fixed my only complaint (no camera).
Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago. Apple finally released a legitimate version of their iPhone to the masses here in Canada (through Rogers) and at a reasonable price. Seeing as I have recently converted my Vista machine over to a MacBook Pro, Apple was looking pretty good to me. I have also started to model a programming business model around developing iPhone applications (I’ll save that for a later blog) so I figured it was about time to get me an iPhone. After a bit of searching (it wasn’t too difficult), I had one in my hands and I was ready to attempt to make use of it as my corporate communication device.
No one will deny that the iPhone is a sexy beast. It looks amazing in it’s plastic based “slim black dress”. It’s operating system is filled with beautiful graphics, a bright screen and intense touch screen goodness. And heck, it’s even an iPod touch (on the cheap)! That’s all fine and dandy, but can it handle my insane business lifestyle.
The short answer is a resounding “yes”. Let me explain. My two main needs for my cell phone in a business environment are, is it a good phone and can I make good use of email? The answer to both of those questions is a definite yes. First off, as a phone the iPhone works rather well. It features pretty much everything I require in a phone. It sounds good, I can mute it or put it on silent at the touch of a button. The sound quality is fantastic (with easy to use volume controls on the side) and it works very well with my Bluetooth headset (a necessity for one on the phone as much as I am). Holding the phone to my head is a little more uncomfortable than my BB due to the metal frame of the thing doing some slight digging to the side of my head but since I am on Bluetooth the majority of the time it does not bother me.
From an email perspective, I don’t think I would call the iPhone better, just different. While the BB has the advantage of being super easy to use once configured, the iPhone has the advantage of being slightly more flexible and intuitive when configuring multiple email addresses. Each email address can be setup in the system and you can setup as many as you would like. POP and IMAP are prevalent but you can also connect it directly to Exchange (score!) and Gmail (amongst others). You can then use WiFi (I’ll talk more about that in a bit) if available or a data plan if not.
About the WiFi I just talked about. How sweet is that? A super simple to connect mechanism is in place to connect to any WiFi hotspot that is available making it not necessary to dig into your data plan. For the iPhone (which consumes more bandwidth than a standard BB or Cell Phone), this works incredibly well. While in the office or at home or even the local Starbucks, making use of the Internet is a snap. A fantastic browser interface comes along for the ride. For those of you unfamiliar with Safari, I will say that it is hands down the second best browser out there (some would say the best but I have an affinity to FireFox). The iPhone iteration works extremely well (with touch screen controls for zooming) and even syncs up with your iTunes. Nice!
Regarding the syncing I just mentioned, that is an amazing feature if I have ever seen one. The second I plug my iPhone into my computer, it automatically syncs up my mail accounts, music, pictures, contacts, calendar events and applications. My business is constantly backed up to my computer and vice versa and I have no need of a BB Exchange Network to keep my CRM synced and up to date. It works strikingly well and is highly recommended.
I could no doubt talk for hours on the multi-purposeness of the iPhone. I haven’t even mentioned that it takes fantastic pictures, has a sweet calendar / contact system, supports turn by turn GPS and functions as a full purpose iPod. I have no need to chat about these things because they are really just icing on the cake. What I will mention, however, is that if there is something the iPhone does not do right out of the box that you need it to, hey, that’s why there are iPhone applications! Not only has the iPhone prepped for business, it has also allowed you to develop your own (or get us to do it). We at Toggle are going full force into iPhone application development and will be working hard to roll out some very serious business solutions for your corporate iPhone.
So, there you have it. While the iPhone will very likely not replace the BlackBerry right away, it certainly has the momentum to offer a very competitive package. Now if only Rogers would get their act together and allow me to put this baby on a corporate account. Come on Rogers, why would you launch a device, hype it as a business solution and then fail to have the infrastructure in place to support it? Oh well, I am grateful to them for at least bringing it Canada side.
Stay tuned as I begin our very first iPhone application and have a full on live blog throughout the process!
