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A correction to a previous post.

Dear readers,

Last Friday, I posted a commentary about the shortcomings of the iPhone with respect to business computing environments. Unfortunately, in my hasty exploration of the iPhone's software, I overlooked an important feature of the device and erroneously stated that the iPhone does not include support for virtual private networking. In fact, it does include VPN support. I also misstated that the iPhone does not open Word and Excel documents. What I had intended to say was that it cannot edit them. I deeply regret these errors, and I offer my sincere apologies to all of the readers of Networking Know-How and PCWorld.com.

The original text of the post follows.

Sincerely,
Robert

iPhone for Business: Forget It

For months now, you've scarcely been able to pop open a web browser without spotting a few iPhone stories raving about the abilities of Apple's new shining star. That could spell trouble for IT managers working in the service of gadget-obsessed, impulse-driven executives. Here's why.

For business users, an ideal phone should be able to do four things well: voice calls, messaging (including e-mail), file attachments, and web browsing. Like almost any other phone, the iPhone is as good at calling as you should expect. And for web browsing, it's great. But for e-mail and file attachments, it's simply a dog in wolf's clothing.

Most consumers won't find much fault with their iPhone's e-mail support. It handles IMAP and POP3, as well as a variety of webmail services such as GMail and Yahoo Mail. But if, like the preponderance of large enterprises, you run Microsoft Exchange, forget it. Sure, you could work around this problem to get e-mail to your users' phones by configuring their accounts for POP3 access as well, but that just gives them the latitude to delete messages willy nilly, which is bound to mean more support calls for you. The iPhone also cuts users off from useful Exchange features such as group scheduling.

At the same time, the iPhone lacks support for Microsoft Office file attachments, which means that, unlike the Blackberrys, Moto Qs, and Blackjacks you may have now, it can't open a Word document or Excel spreadsheet at all.

In addition to these major shortcomings, the iPhone currently offers no VPN support, so you can forget about giving your users secure access to internal network resources from the road.

But the worst problem with the iPhone is likely to be its reliance on Apple's iTunes, which it uses for updating everything from its calendar to its system software. At this point, I've yet to meet a single IT manager who would be willing to add iTunes to his or her list of supported apps. And while the iCal calendar format may be gaining ground in the consumer space, it still lacks compatibility with many business scheduling systems, which means many business users won't be able to get their calendars onto their handsets.

So the next time your CEO comes bounding into your office demanding an iPhone to complement his slick self-image, take heed. Fashionable and advanced though it may be for consumers, the iPhone simply isn't ready to do business.