Over the last few weeks, I’ve been looking at the iPhone 3G as a business tool. It’s been an interesting time. I’ve gotten quite a large number of comments on the iPhone OS and its advantages and challenges in the Enterprise and in a business environment. Last week’s comments on Calendaring, also in the Enterprise and in a business environment, created quite the off line discussion among the Gear Diary Team. Some of those comments have required me to go back and readdress some issues in this week’s commentary. You can see both articles here:

iPhone 3G as a Business Tool – Part 1: iPhone OS
iPhone 3G as a Business Tool – Part 2: Calendar, iCal and Exchange

If you remember, I said that I was going to tackle the following areas:

• Operating System
• Calendar
• Mail
• Tasks

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As I mentioned last time, I’ve had my iPhone 3G since iPhone 3G day, 11-Jul-08, almost two months. Before then, I put my hands on the iPhone at an AT&T store, but never truly spent any time with it. The iPhone 3G was released with a number of different Enterprise ready intentions, including 3G and Exchange support, among others. Is it ready for power users and road warriors alike?

Last time I talked about what I thought were OS related issues.  Some people commented back and didn’t exactly see things as I did; and that’s cool. Its one of the things that makes Gear Diary a really cool place to write and visit - all of the differing opinions and ideas. Keep those comments coming!

If you remember, I said that I was going to tackle the following areas:

• Operating System
• Calendar
• Mail
• Tasks

Today, I’m going to dive in and tackle some of the issues that I see with calendaring and iCal on the iPhone, as it relates to Exchange and Lotus Notes.  I know, I know… NOTES?!?  Please…

Is it just me, or is this screen a little cramped?

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I’ve had my iPhone 3G since iPhone 3G day, 11-Jul-08, almost two months. Before then, I put my hands on the iPhone at an AT&T store, but never truly spent any time with it. The iPhone 3G was released with a number of different Enterprise ready intentions, including 3G and Exchange support, among others. Is it ready for power users and road warriors alike?

In this multi-part series, I’m going to cover a few different areas of the device and go into details where I see the iPhone needing some growth. Specifically, I’m going to cover points on

• Operating System
• Calendar
• Mail
• Tasks
• 

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Mike Cane has just posted about an issue that I think we all need to pay attention to: one of the drones at the Apple App Store has taken it upon himself to reject a comic book. I’ll let Mike set up the scenario…

Recently I raved about a revolutionary new program called Comic Reader. This program was to be used to premiere a comic book called Murderdrome.

From the title alone, you expect it not to be all bunnies and unicorns and rainbows.

But this is a comic book. A work of drawing and word balloons. It is imaginary. It is fiction.

It was submitted to the Apple App Store and the publishers received notice that it was being rejected for violating terms of the Software Developer Kit which states:

Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.), or other content or materials that in Apple’s reasonable judgement may be found objectionable by iPhone or iPod touch users.

Well now wait a minute here.

Murderdrome is not an “application,” Comic Reader is. Murderdrome is content that can be read via the Comic Reader application.

Murderdrome is a book.

Apple has just banned a book.

Mike’s right. And you know what? I have a huge problem with the banning of any book…

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In recent weeks Apple has taken a good deal of heat over everything from the MobileMe debacle to some apparent iPhone 3G reception issues. Much of the criticism is, in my opinion, well-deserved and the on-going silence from Apple certainly doesn’t help the situation. All that aside, however, I am absolutely loving my iPhone 3G and upgraded iPod Touch. While I had some instability issues at first, after a simple reinstall of the firmware both are now rock solid. Moreover, while there is an abundance of garbage available, the iPhone App Store also offers some fantastic applications that I’m finding indispensable. Best of all, many of the top applications are actually free.

In addition to the privilege of being the most recent member of the Gear Diary Team, I have the good fortune to be one of the individuals who started WhatOniPhone, an iPhone application news and review site, just over seven weeks ago. Because of my involvement with What’sOniPhone, I’ve been spending a good deal of my free time this summer looking at the wide range of available iPhone applications. Here are some of my favorites and links to our reviews.

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I am not having a “Happy Apple Week”.

First I bought an app from the iTunes App Store that I wanted to review over on WhatsOniPhone that just plain didn’t work. My attempts to contact Apple to get a refund have been nothing short of absurd. I’ve documented it in a small rant here.

As if that wasn’t bad enough my email stopped working for a few hours today. Yup, MobileMe was down- shocking isn’t it????

So I (finally) found the information to get on a Support Chat. (Why do they make it so impossible? I know, also shocking.) I don’t know about you, but I had nothing better to do today than wait for 64 minutes- yes 64 minutes- to get a support person. (Actually, come to think of it, “lack-of-support person” is more accurate.)

I’ve included the transcript below for your amusement but took the liberty of removing the Rep’s name and putting the more “significant” pieces in bold. Continue Reading