I personally have seen a huge increase in the number of iPhones in law firms and other companies, and apparently Deutsche Bank research analyst Chris Whitmore has seen the same thing. Philip Elmer-DeWitt of Fortune reports on a research note that Whitmore released to his clients this week in which Whitmore estimates that Apple will have shipped 25 million iPhones by the end of 2009 and that 2 million of those will be to corporate users. He predicts that this will give Apple a 7% share of the enterprise smartphone market in 2009, up from 2% in 2008. Whitmore also estimates that around 6,000 of the almost 100,000 apps in the App Store are enterprise related. Elmer-DeWitt reprints an interesting graph from Whitmore which estimates a large increase in corporate iPhone use next year:
The Deutsche Bank report is consistent with other recent reports. For example, TechNewsWorld recently wrote on reports from Forrester Research and Barclays Capital Research which also predicted a big increase in the use of iPhones in companies. Forrester even predicts that the iPhone share of the enterprise smartphone market will rise to 35% in the next three years.
The increase in corporate iPhone sales is no accident; Apple is actively pursuing the enterprise market. Apple has a web page devoted to iPhone in Business, including this page which profiles numerous companies using iPhones ranging from Kraft to Gannett to even Blue Man Group. (I keep waiting for Apple to add a law firm profile; I hope Apple isn't waiting for one of us to paint all of our attorneys blue. UPDATE: I stand corrected; as pointed out in the comments, there is a profile of the Sonnenschein law firm.) Also, as I have previously noted, many of the changes in iPhone Software 3.0 and the iPhone 3GS were included specifically to address common security requirements of corporate America. Indeed, as Alan Cohen wrote in an article for AmLaw that I referenced last month, many corporate IT directors at law firms who previously had hesitations about the iPhone are now supporting iPhone use.
I look forward to all of the new iPhone users at law firms and our clients. The more the merrier.