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In the past couple of weeks, I’ve looked at enterprise opportunities for Apple vs. Microsoft.  I’ve looked at how Apple may be trying to leverage the iPhone machine into more enterprise sales and we’ve looked at the costs to do so.  This week, it is all about Mobile.

Today
RIM outsells everyone, 41% of smartphones purchased in the US were Blackberries (Q4 ‘07 data ).  Apple surprised many by getting 28% of the market to agree to an iPhone.  Windows Mobile came in at 21%.  What does this mean for enterprise?

Blackberry isn’t going away.  Their phones are super handy and are entrenched in big business.  Personally I find the UI dated and feel under-dressed whenever I pick one up.  RIM has seen some service issues as of late causing many to think about alternatives.

Windows Mobile is perceived as stodgy, cumbersome and largely responsible for making the gaping whole Apple was able to walk into and supply something Windows Mobile users would love to have: ease of use.  Windows Mobile phones are cheap, available on every network and do the job.  This is the second time I am writing this today, “it is hard to beat free”.

Apple’s SDK announcement included Windows Exchange support.  Coupling Active Sync Exchange support with an SDK for 3rd party business apps (Salesforce.com etc) will put iPhone on the table.  The question is, at what point does an iPhone app become better than an app on another phone?  Anyone have that answer?

But will IT support it?  As if they have a choice.  When the guy who signs your paycheck says,“I am getting an iPhone and you are going to support it”, your choices are rather limited.  This will be a top down drive into enterprise as no one is going to pick a $400 phone to spread to the staff.  Think small to medium companies.

What?  $400 you say?  This is business, we expect discounts and I am sure Jobs has something behind his confident, “we will hit our sales target” which he repeats now like a talking Woody whose string is constantly pulled (bask in my nifty Pixar reference, which Jobs in on the board of).  I suspect an iPhone business discount will come into play here.  Here is the iPhone Enterprise tariff only from AT&T, another sticking point:

For the higher ups who actually get to decide, enterprise will bite.  For us worker drones, I guess we can hope for Win Mo 7?  Or we can prey Android will have some business functionality?

What is your take?