iPhone Centre

"That's still very robust, and a lot more than what the average IT person in the mid-market or enterprise needs," said Scott Gode, vice-president of marketing and product management for Azaleos, a provider of outsourced Exchange server management.

The iPhone 3G uses the same ActiveSync technology in Exchange 2007 SP1, but experts place the iPhone in a third tier. "The Windows Mobile implementation of ActiveSync is, from an IT admin point of view, far superior," said Ahmed Datoo, vice-president of product marketing for mobile software maker Zenprise.

Why? Because many ActiveSync features are missing. Those features include the ability to limit users from downloading some or all third-party software, the ability to turn off expensive international data roaming, and the ability to natively encrypt data on the iPhone or its storage card.

The lack of native encryption is the iPhone's "one failing," said Glenn Edens, an independent mobile consultant, who is otherwise bullish on the iPhone 3G. "Remote wipe helps but is not good enough."

Without encryption, the District of Columbia, which is testing the iPhone 3G now, would only deploy the iPhone 3G by keeping key applications and data off the device, said Vivek Kundra, CTO of the governmental body.

At least one ISV, SplashData, has already come up with a third-party encryption app. But as David Gewirtz, an e-mail security expert, put it, "everybody prefers stuff from the manufacturer."

The dearth of built-in management features is in contrast with the iPhone's many built-in consumer features, such as its 2-megapixel camera, its music and video player and fast Web browser. These all create more potential security and compliance problems and ways for the device to be misused.

For instance, employees goofing off by downloading TV programs from iTunes can "interfere with other users trying to run critical applications across the same wireless LAN network," said David Messina, vice-president of marketing for network management software maker, Xangati. "Think about environments like hospitals, where WLANs are critical to patient care."

For sure, Apple won't stand still. But for now, its enterprise manageability is "enough for it to gain a beachhead, but not enough long-term for Apple to get the market share it wants," Gode said.

2) Network and deployment

The iPhone has one advantage over RIM: All messages and updates are routed directly from server to smartphone and vice-versa.

Syncing with a BlackBerry, meanwhile, requires updates to be sent to RIM's Canadian network operations center, outside of a corporate firewall. That NOC has been prone to failure in the past year, frustrating BlackBerry users.

So score one for the iPhone -- and Windows Mobile, for that matter -- versus RIM. However, application and patch deployment is another matter.