In a recent eWeek.com article, Stan Gibson suggests that although the corporate world is generally keeping the iPhone at arm’s length, “with a few tweaks—some major—the iPhone could be a very serious contender for corporate personal device of choice.” This article provides a handy follow-up to our post yesterday concerning the growing pressure placed on corporate and university IT departments by the unslaught of converged mobile devices. As in yesterday’s post, many of Gibson’s observations of and predictions for the corporate world concerning the widespread implementation of the iPhone are just as applicable in Higher Education.

Citing Forrester Research analyst Ben Gray, Gibson suggests that corporations are keeping the iPhone at bay for a number of reasons. Among them:

• The iPhone doesn’t natively support push e-mail or over-the-air calendar synchronization.
• There is a dearth of third-party applications for the iPhone.
• The iPhone does not support file or disk encryption.
• IT administrators cannot set password policies.
• Should it be lost or stolen, the iPhone cannot be remotely locked or wiped.
• The iPhone’s battery is not removable. A dead battery calls for a new—and expensive—iPhone.
• The touch-screen user interface means slower typing than with a tactile keypad.

Of course, these concerns are just as relevant to those of us interested in employing the device to enhance social and academic exchange in the academy. As discussed in yesterday’s post, the development of corporate applications for the iPhone will be a critical factor in determining the device’s success or failure in the enterprise. Fortunately, Apple is preparing for an SDK (software development kit) release in February.

Gibson goes on to highlight other iPhone developments that could change the corporate equation. “AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has said publicly that an iPhone with features that can be exploited by third-generation wireless networks will roll out this year. 3G capabilities include higher speeds, advanced multimedia support and global roaming.”And despite extensively cataloguing its deficiencies, Forrester’s Gray asserts, “It’s only a matter of time before the iPhone filters down the corporate pyramid, and IT should have a strategy to handle these requests.” Certainly the same is true for Higher Ed.