AT&T To Push iPhone at Corporate Users

Despite the fact that Apple's iPhone is a strongly consumer oriented device, AT&T (formerly Cingular) apparently intends to market it to business users as well.

Citing "a source familiar with the company's plans," InfoWorld is reporting that AT&T -- who will the the exclusive provider of the iPhone in the U.S. -- is making sure its business channels will be ready for the device.

This is only necessary if the carrier expects large numbers of companies will be buying this device for their employees.

Huh?

It's easy to question why this carrier thinks many business users will want what's essentially a phone and an MP3 player merged together.

For example, there has been no word that the iPhone will come with software to allow users to view Microsoft Office documents that come in as email attachments. And because Apple will not allow other companies to release software for this smartphone, users won't be able to turn to third-party developers to add this function.

An Overview of the Apple iPhone

The iPhone will support the iTunes music service, and it will sport either 4 GB or 8 GB of built-in storage. It will support both music and video, which will be playable on its 3.5-inch, 320-by-480-pixel, 160 ppi display.

In addition, this will be a quad-band GSM/GPRS phone. It will include EDGE, but not UMTS/HSDPA. It will, however, have Wi-Fi b/g and Bluetooth 2.0.

The iPhone will run what Apple says is a version of OS X, the same operating system this company's desktop and laptop computers run. It will be able to run some -- but not all -- specially selected OS X applications, including the Safari web browser.

It will have a touchscreen, but not include a stylus. Instead, users will be expected to control it with their fingertips.

This smartphone is expected to sell for $500 (4 GB) or $600 (8 GB).

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