CRM - March 2009 - (Page 34)

CRM AND THE iPHONE it was like when the BlackBerry, the popular handheld from Research in Motion, was at a similar point in its evolution. Businesses, Meeker says, can still make valid arguments against adopting Apple devices. Most trace back to internal technology departments familiar with BlackBerrys and with the Windows Mobile operating system that runs on many of the devices. These veterans are loathe to switch to an entirely new platform. Even more problematic for corporate technology, however, is that the iPhone must be provisioned and operated through iTunes, Apple’s online multimedia portal, to get business applications up and running. Meeker says Apple’s insistence on iTunes as the interface for consumers and businesses alike might be a mistake in the long run: Make iTunes a desktop necessity and the doors are suddenly open for employees to download music, play movies, and so on—basically a corporate firewall’s worst nightmare. For an enterprise looking to supply its one thousand employees with handheld devices, provisioning a thousand iPhones is far more complicated than it would be to simply hand out a boxed BlackBerry to each worker, Meeker says. With a new operating system comes the need for support and training. In the enterprise, though, the largest iPhone challenge involves custom software, Meeker says. Developers seem to be at odds about how to build an application: Should it run natively on the iPhone or over the phone’s built-in Safari Web browser? “There are a lot of issues around building an app using the SDK,” Meeker says, including the basic need to program on a Mac, which remains only a minority player in the computing world. In fact, users of the Apple operating system accounted for just slightly more than 10 percent of the total (business and consumer) marketplace in January, according to Net Applications, an operating-system tracking company. (That figure’s on the rise, though— Many forget that application deployment has to be followed by maintenance. Know what you need to support an iPhone application? A Mac. Meeker notes that, in today’s economy, a technology team may have a hard time asking to buy six or seven Macs for iPhone software development in addition to existing corporate PCs. Apple’s review process, with its strict guidelines for the distribution of accepted applications, is another potential roadblock. WHICH FLAVOR? So why build an application directly for the iPhone rather than an application the phone could reach over the Web? One reason, Meeker suggests, is that, shallow as it might sound, companies want the buzz of saying,“We’ve built an app for the iPhone.” The business and relationship intelligence division of Dow Jones, for example, began work on an iPhone application during the summer of 2008.“It was important for us to enter [the iPhone market]…as soon as possible,”says Frank Filippo, executive director of product management for the division, which provides sales tools loaded with Dow Jones data. Launched on the App Store in December, the Dow Jones Sales Triggers quickly became a top freedownload business application. (See “The iPhone’s Greatest Hits (So Far),” page 35, for the current download leaders.) Filippo admits this isn’t a revenuegenerating project for his company— more a chance to get the Dow Jones brand out on what he calls a “gamechanging platform.” With visibility on “I don’t think Apple has learned how to deal with corporate America.” helped along by the iPhone’s halfpercentage-point share.) Meeker says that a truly good application introduces new interface paradigms, such as the use of the touchscreen, camera, contact list, or accelerometer (which is sort of an internal gyroscope that allows the mere movement of the iPhone—rotation, tilting, etc.—to become a source of input). Assume you succeed in building an iPhone application, though. Then what? How Apple’s iPhone Efforts Bore Fruit Dec 15, 1999 Apple registers iPhone.org and makes it redirect to Apple.com. Dec 2004-Sep 2005 Apple and Motorola develop and release an iTunes-enabled phone, eventually revealed as Motorola’s ROKR. Oct 2002-Oct 2004 Apple registers iPhone trademarks in various geographic regions, such as Singapore, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Nov 30, 2006 Apple is granted a patent for the iPhone. Jan 9, 2007 Apple cofounder, chairman, and chief executive officer Steve Jobs, at Macworld, announces the iPhone. Jan 10, 2007 Cisco Systems sues Apple over use of iPhone trademark in the United States. Jun 29, 2007 It’s here! Apple officially launches the iPhone; exclusive carrier rights are bought by AT&T Wireless. First version retails for $499 or $599. Sep 5, 2007 The iPod touch is released. Price on the iPhone drops $200. Nov 5, 2007 The Open Handset Alliance, consisting of several companies such as Google, HTC, Intel, Motorola, Qualcomm, T-Mobile, Sprint, Nextel and NVIDIA, was formed with the goal to develop open standards for mobile devices. 34 CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | MARCH 2009 www.destinationCRM.com http://www.iPhone.org http://www.Apple.com http://www.destinationCRM.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - March 2009

CRM - March 2009 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point Stay Tuned Stimulating Citizen Experience CRM on Twitter Retailers Face Reality Making Relationships Matter Required Reading We the People Innovation Nation CRM and the iPhone Looking to Score The Virtual Welcome Mat A Tough Transition Made Easier A Training Regimen Gets Rigorous A Battle Fought from Afar Secret of My Success Re:Tooling Connect Pint of View

CRM - March 2009

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.