We saw iPhone in the consumer market; now, we will see it in corporate. After Blackberry and Windows, it’s time for iPhone to show its business-level capabilities. In this article, we will discuss the importance of iPhone and iPad in business. We will also take a brief look at some of the leading iPhone apps development for business.Despite its reputation as a consumer device, iPhone and iPad integrate well as enterprise devices. Enterprise mobile vendor Good technology recently published a study revealing iPhone’s and iPad’s market share in the corporate world. About 96 percent of tablets acquired by corporate is iPad. Right after the news of RIM’s failure, iPhone offers seamless integration with business applications on the go. The presence of Apple devices and iPhone apps in the business cannot be ignored.
Apple’s ability to connect with Microsoft exchange was its first and successful step towards creating its business presence. Now, Apple devices are capable of receiving emails, contacts and calendar updates automatically. Although iPhone is in no hurry to set up a complete enterprise ecosystem like Blackberry (BES), it reports to have tightened the security and offer complete internal control of the phone. It also offers advanced business tools to help deploy passcode policies, configuration and so on wirelessly or through USB.
The new version of iPhone provides high scalability, easy mobile device management and wireless app distribution. The device allows accessing the business network in a secured fashion. It supports SSL VPN and advanced protocol for access through VPN and Wi-Fi. Apple devices cater to user’s demand offering secured access at every stage. Apple devices offer four types of security: Device, Data, Network and App security.
In 2011, 46 percent of North America and Europe said they issue MAC devices to their employees. This move clearly depicts the change in trend from Windows to MAC and a change in the iPhone focus from products to business. Sources say that there has been a disruption in the windows security management. Also, with the rise in iPhone apps development trend, there is a growth in third-party businesses that provide integration services to iPhone and iPad devices.
Today, we work in a geographically distributed environment. Therefore, VPN servers are viable for collaboration from diverse locations. Apple offers built-in VPN client, which supports leading VPN connection providers including Cisco IPSec, L2TP/IPSec and PPTP. On demand VPN and certificate-based authentication are some of the key features offered by iPhone.
Due to its high corporate adoption, business-based iPhone application development is fervent. Some of the useful business-related iPhone apps are as follows:
FedEx Mobile: This application makes it easy to monitor, track or gain information about shipments. This application is free and helps users to locate nearest FedEx print office, ship center and so on. It also helps to gain payment details.
Quickoffice Mobile Suite: It does most of the editing stuff that users perform with Microsoft Word and Excel documents. Inclusive of features such as indentation, bullet marker and auto-correct, this application offers a complete sense of using a computer. Its auto-save features make the whole task convenient.
LogMeIn: It is a free iPhone and iPad application that allows to remotely access user’s computer. LogMeIn is also available for Android phones
Apple’s Next, iPhone 5 specifications are soon to launch. Follow us as we follow the story!
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