After being deluged with all the iPhone 3G Launch news yesterday, I am amazed at the amazing level of loyalty that Apple fans have for their products. Between long lines, activation problems (some resulting in the bricking of first-generation phones), battery life and application issues and an overall PR nightmare, people are *still* praising the iPhone and Apple. I haven't seen such pure love since Shakespeare wrote "Romeo and Juliet" ;-)
I wonder if the fact that I have been professionally involved with technology for 20 years has made me a bit more jaded. In the IT and software development worlds, we are taught (if not brainwashed) in to being natural skeptics regarding technology. Of course, when a consumer has a poor experience with a product, the cost is usually aggravation, a product return or some lost cash. In the IT world, it is often your job (and potentially your career) that is at stake. I still think this is why the iPhone and other Apple products will have a rough go of it in the world of the enterprise. Consumer brand loyalty does not equal enterprise brand loyalty. Even when that loyalty does exist in the corporate world, it is typically for entirely different reasons. Reasons that Apple just hasn't gotten (or chosen to acknowledge). I speak from first-hand experience when I say that a number of large companies simply do not care that users are buying iPhones that can connect to their corporate network. No matter how much those users love those devices, they will not be set up and/or allowed to retrieve their e-mail. The reason typically boils down to the fact that the iPhone does not meet their corporate standards for security or IT management. When you factor in that allowing these devices could result in a breach of policy that will cost one or more people their jobs, don't expect the IT department to simply cave in.
Now, if Apple approaches the needs of the enterprise with the same focus as they have with consumers, then watch out Microsoft and RIM...