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iPhone's new OS: Will Apple wise up to the iPhone’s ‘fatal flaw’?

by Staff Writer | posted on 22 January 2010

London, Manchester, 22 January 2010: When Apple launched the iPhone in 2007 it revolutionized the mobile handset market paving the way for a plethora of ‘smart’ devices which enable users to do everything - from catching up on their email to surfing the web, downloading music or taking photographs with an in-built digital camera.

Busy executives have also enjoyed using the iPhone for business purposes. However it has so far failed to overtake Research in Motion’s BlackBerry as the favourite mobile device for business users.

The iPhone’s place in the pocket of business users could come under even more threat if rumours turn out to be true - rumours that Google intends to launch a follow up to its Nexus One smart device (named Nexus Two) – a device which will cater specifically for the business market.

Andy Rubin, a Vice President of Engineering at Google and a key figure in the development of its operating system for mobiles, titled Android, reportedly told the Wall Street Journal that the next edition of their self-dubbed ‘superphone’ will be designed with enterprise users in mind and could sport a physical, slide-out keyboard.

Mark Seemann, Product Strategy & Development Director at Outsourcery believes that the iPhone’s position in the business market is currently hampered by a ‘fatal flaw’.

“Non-Apple applications cannot run simultaneously with Apple applications. Many of the new generation mobile business applications require ‘push’ or real-time notifications such as Unified Communications and business social networking, so it’s paramount that background applications can run seamlessly," he observes.

"Without this functionality, the application has to be manually switched on, in order for the user to receive messages or be accessible in chat sessions. Furthermore, the application has to then be closed before a user can make a phone call or check e-mail”.

Apple has thus far restricted applications from running in the background because it wants to protect the user-experience and brand integrity of the iPhone. However, this may change and rumours already abound that the iPhone OS version 4.0 may allow applications to run in the background on phone devices, when it is launched at the end of this month.

The iPhone’s new OS 4.0 should run on the current iPhone 3GS and may also run on 3GS but users of older models will need to purchase a new handset.

Read more in Mark Seemann’s blog at www.markseemann.com