Apple Launches Trojan Horse Into The Enterprise

Reading over the WWDC announcements it seems to me that Apple might just have launched a Trojan Horse into the enterprise, effectively striking both BlackBerry and Microsoft with a single shot.

Larry Dignan argues:

Apple touted its iMessage, a system that allows anyone with an iPad, iPhone or iPod touch send unlimited free text messages to another iOS device. Apple’s iMessage is a direct assault on BBM, which is arguably RIM’s most marketable item.

I don’t disagree. There are only three reasons I am hanging onto BlackBerry and even then by a slim thread:

1. Battery life – way better than other smartphones in my experience
2. Speed – BlackBerry is fast
3. Consolidated messaging via BBM – one screen, all messages.

Everything else about Blackberries pretty much sucks, especially the apps. If it wasn’t for those three factors above, I’d be on iPhone (or possibly Android) in a heartbeat.

On the Microsoft front, Apple’s ability to synch any i-related device and for free must be an ominous sign for Exchange. Perhaps that’s putting it a little too strongly but I am increasingly seeing small businesses switch to iPhone and quietly retiring BlackBerry. Auto synching to any device has surely got to be attractive, as has the ability to share any message with colleagues/friends/relatives. Goodbye CC/BCC?

It’s not so long ago that Apple’s premium pricing on laptops in particular was thought to exclude the prospect of a wholesale change away from Windows-based machines. However the fact I see iPad as the executive device of choice implies that money can be found where a device offers perceived superior value. And as we see more applications move to the cloud, where does Microsoft continue to find relevance in the business?