By Alex Scroxton

11 July 2008

As Apple fans lined up along Regent Street for Friday's much-anticipated launch of the 3G iPhone, the channel is anticipating an iPhone halo effect around some parts of the unified communications and mobility picture, and there has even been speculation that Apple's latest device could prove to be an effective Blackberry-killer among corporate end-users.

However, others believed the distribution agreements Apple had made with its suppliers would hold it back. One reseller said: "I can get a Nokia N95 on any network for my customer, but if he wants iPhones for his staff it has to be O2."

In spite of this drawback, the revamped iPhone could still provide a more compelling business proposition with a plethora of new applications and features making it more suited to a corporate environment.

Software vendors have been rushing new applications to the market to take advantage of high levels of demand.

Truphone, which claims to have been the first ISV to have demonstrated wi-fi VoIP over the iPhone last year, has released its software package on Apple's online application store, allowing cheap international VoIP calls using mobile internet.

Oracle, meanwhile, has released the first in a series of free business applications. Based on its Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition Plus, Oracle Business Indicators is designed to deliver a broad range of BI metrics to staff across the enterprise.

At one point on Friday 11 July, suppliers were already reporting stocking issues. It is rumoured that only 10,000 units have been shipped to Carphone Warehouse stores.