Microsoft considers that Apple's iPhone is an irrelevant device from a business perspective. Chris Sorenson, Microsoft's Asia-Pacific head of smartphone strategy, commented on the impact
that the iPhone, which is rapidly approaching its mid 2007 release, will deliver to business customers. In this context, Sorenson opined that the iPhone will not find its way in the pockets of business men and women simply because of its lack of appeal to such a customer base.
"It's a great music phone, and I'm sure it will be fantastic and have an interesting user interface. 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 line of business applications, it's just not an option. Even using it as a heavy messaging device will be a challenge".
Apple has shown great dedication to the development of the iPhone, even sacrificing Mac OS X Leopard to it. The Cupertino-based company postponed the release of Leopard from June to October 2007, by diverging precious resources from building the operating system to the iPhone. While Apple clearly considered that it has made the best trade-off possible, Microsoft continues to downplay the iPhone.
The Redmond Company has a large advantage over Apple on the mobile phone market with over 100 device models featuring its Windows Mobile operating system. Additionally, Windows Mobile 6 has been available since early February and is already being increasingly adopted. And Microsoft is not the sole competitor for Apple. The Cupertino Company will also have to go against Nokia's Symbian OS and Research in Motion's BlackBerry OS.
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