By Alex Scroxton

18 July 2008

Apple has reported sales of more than one million iPhone 3Gs globally just days after the phone was launched – a milestone that took more than two months to reach with the first generation iPhone.

The hype around the iPhone 3G’s debut reached epic proportions as the availability of business applications from providers such as Salesforce.com and Oracle were touted as an indication of future uptake.

Keith Humphreys, managing consultant at channel analyst euroLAN, said that although the Blackberry’s leading position in the smartphone market looked unassailable, Apple had underestimated how popular the iPhone could be with businesses.

“It will get taken up by businesses, but I don’t know what the killer app will be yet,” he said.

Dave Macfarlane, CTO at communications provider Azzurri, said 3G iPhones would find their way into the business world, but not necessarily because firms chose Apple themselves.

Instead, growing consumerisation – a process where people with access to sophisticated solutions at home begin to demand them at work –
will force companies to take notice. This has happened before with instant messaging, for example.

“The next generation of workers will come pre-tooled. If they bring an iPhone with them, it will be up to the enterprise to manage it,” said Macfarlane.
 
The channel could seize the opportunity to manage this complex mobility picture on behalf of end-users.

Dave Millett, director at VoIP provider Inclarity, said that for the first year or so, business take-up would be limited to small offices and companies in trend-setting verticals, such as PR or media, which would drive business interest.

But there were still some lurking problems that could upset the apple cart. Macfarlane said the iPhone could not truly be a contender until it worked seamlessly with Microsoft Exchange – a proposition unlikely to win backers at Apple.

Millett agreed that integration was an issue. “The big brands have so many associated firms delivering associated applications. Apple could face difficulties breaking into that area,” he said.

Others pointed to the fact that the iPhone is still only available on O2 as one factor that would hold back wider adoption.