Why I despise the iPhone.

[windows]

Keep the discussion flowing guys, some great posts in here now!

I'd be interested to know what your WM device does every day that the iPhone cannot mate. So far you've mentioned security and "proper satnav" and the lack of a hardware keyboard, what else leaves the iPhone wanting in your book?

Personally I actually find that I can live with the keyboard despite being a serial despiser of touch keyboards. I don't use satnav on a phone (and hardly at all in any case) and never will. The security is an issue but one that I'm expecting Apple to fix, if they add encryption then I'll struggle to make an arguement against it as a corporate device to be honest.

[waveydavey]

Is that not enough?

Bluetooth Stereo, VPN, Remote Desktop.

I know you can connect the iPhone to certain router VPN's, but not any dedicated VPN boxes. I also know there are a few RPC's available too, but I've not yet seen a decent one.

There's also HSDPA access to the web through my netbook, I dunno whether the iPhone does that or not.

I also use Cambridge tools for Ping and Traceroute and Pocketputty for telnet. Not sure if you can do those, I haven't looked, but as I can't get through the VPN it makes no difference.

[waveydavey]

Firstbuddha just reminded me about VoiceCommand, I use that all the time while cycling oh, and my Bluetooth watch connectivity too for reading my emails, moitoring calls etc without getting my phone out my pocket.

[Bassey]

Proper mapping applications. Creating spreadsheets...

[johnston411]

Bluetooth stereo is available in os 3.0 but irrittatingly it doesn't do avrcp. I think VPN has been native since OS 2. Winadmin seems to be the most popular remote desktop app but I've never tried it. Tethering is available through apps once jailbroken or natively In os 3.0.

So far mapping seems pants and no mobile office though.

Not sure about the watch stuff but I'd guess it doesn't work and you'd need to write an app for it if it did
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[waveydavey]

So you get the Audio but no means to control it then? How about Voice Command? Anything like that? The VPN doesn't connect to our Cisco 3000's I know that much.

[johnston411]

I can use the s9's for calls and volume but not for track selection. What is irritating is that when i was using a dongle for BT audio on firmware 2.xx it worked fine. It would be interesting to know if it can control whats playing in firmware 2.xx without the dongle (obviously i'd get no sound) to see if it was the dongle or the blue magic bluetooth stack. When i next upgrade to beta 5 i'll go back to OS 2.xx and try it.

As for voice command i've not had a look but will investigate later.

Yours looks to be unsupported according to the bottom of this page. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/secu...de/iphone.html

So the vast majority of your requirements are proper techy then Dave, i.e. not what the average corporate user would require? I guess that's why I have a problem with your arguement. If we look at the iPhone as a normal consumer phone then it is close to perfect for the average Joe in the street, if we want to compare it as a corporate device then your wish list of features doesn't fit the bill.

I'll try and illustrate by what I'd say if any of my users in the UK and Malaysia came to me requesting the following functionality in their company mobile phone:
-Ping/Traceroute/Telnet/VPN/RPC = There is no requirement for this outside the IT department
-HSDPA access to the web through my laptop (we don't support netbooks) = Fair request
-Ability to create a spreadsheet = Fair request although I'll want to see a justification
-Voice Command = Have your buttons stopped working?
-Bluetooth watch connectivity = Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out
-Bluetooth Stereo = it's a company tool not a toy
-Mapping software = Ordnance Survey sell some great maps, or why not buy yourself a satnav

Just to be absolutely clear, I'd say 90% (at least) of corporate users only want email/calendar, pda type tools and maybe some internet browsing. I can understand that the device doesn't meet your needs Dave but how does that make you despise it? Do you also despise the lower end smartphones or even just standard feature phones that also don't provide all of this functionality? It does just seem to boil down to your Apple hateboy status , believe me I'd die in a ditch before I let Macs onto our network but you have to give credit where it's due and the iPhone is a great peice of kit.

[waveydavey]

You're last post essentially sums up why I despise the iPhone.Go and read the first post again mate. As I've said frequently, it's not literally the device I despise, it's how everyone keeps telling me that it's better than my WM device that gets my goat when it doesn't come close from a functionality perspective. The iPhone is not capable of meeting my needs, period. Not even close. You can argue however much you like about my needs being exceptional but it just does not cut the mustard. In my opinion it's also not up to scratch security wise to use as an Enterprise mailer either. I don't really care if it's a great consumer device or not. I have no gripes with little Sony Ericsson or Nokia music phones, I'm sure they're very good at what they do, but I wouldn't put them on my network. What's the difference there to putting a MAC on your network?