And though the device's potential as a business tool has been questioned since its introduction—perhaps most notably because Apple doesn't currently offer a secure "push" e-mail application that integrates with Microsoft Exchange or other corporate mail environments—the true value of its unique UI to enterprises has yet to be realized.

That may soon be changing. Frank Mahdavi, chief strategy officer at MIR3, a provider of intelligent notification applications, says he firmly believes the iPhone will find its place in the enterprise, and MIR3 is banking on that assumption with its new iPhone- and iPod touch-based notification and command interface.

The new iPhone-based intelligent notification application, which became available Nov. 5, enables IT administrators and corporate executives to create, manage, send and receive wireless notifications, all from an Apple iPhone or iPod touch device.

A Beginning Step for iPhone Business Apps

MIR3's application represents a beginning step for the iPhone as an enterprise device, because it's one of the first external applications that takes advantage of both the devices' unique hardware and software to enhance a business-specific program. Apple has announced that it plans to release a software developer’s kit (SDK) by February 2008, that will enable external developers to create applications for the iPhone.

Apple's iPhone

For his part, Mahdavi acknowledges that corporate IT has been skeptical of the iPhone’s value as an end-user tool. "Since the iPhone first came out, IT organizations have been wary about the device finding its way into corporate environments without sanction," Mahdavi says.

Even so, given the attention paid to the iPhone launch and features, MIR3 predicted that C-level staffers would actually be the first folks to visit their IT departments with iPhones and requests for network access. So the company decided on the iPhone as the handheld on which it would initially offer its new intelligent notification management application.

"We felt that by putting our application on the iPhone we'd get a lot of exposure at the executive level," which would, in turn, boost corporate acceptance of the device, Mahdavi says. While MIR3 did not wait for Apple to release an iPhone developer’s kit, he says it was a motivating factor in his company’s decision to release its application on the iPhone now.