A senior executive from Microsoft this week said that the iPhone was a “closed device” that wasn’t an option for organisations using business applications.
The iPhone, with a pared down version of Mac OS X, was introduced as a “breakthrough internet communications device” by Steve Jobs at the Macworld 2007 keynote speech.
“It’s a great music phone, and I’m sure it will be fantastic and have an interesting user interface,” Chris Sorenson, Microsoft’s Asia-Pacific head of smart-phone strategy, said to press while on a recent visit to Australia.
“However, it’s a closed device that you cannot install applications on and there’s no support for Office documents. If you’re an enterprise and want to roll out a line of business applications, it’s just not an option, he said.
Previews of the iPhone have noted that it doesn’t open Office files, it has no corporate email and has only 8GB of memory.
“Even using it as a heavy messaging device will be a challenge,” said Sorenson.
However, Steve Jobs, in his keynote speech at Macworld, pointed out iPhone’s emailing capabilities.
“It connects to any POP3 or IMAP email: Yahoo Mail, MS Exchange, Mac Mail, Gmail, AOL mail, and most ISPs. This isn’t just IMAP, this is push-email, same as a BlackBerry,” he said.
Windows Mobile, which was released in May 2005, runs on smart phones, pocket PCs and portable media centres. Business programmes such as Microsoft Money can be added.
By Marie Boran
