iPhone and BlackBerry vie for US corporate pie

Apple's new iPhone, already a hit with consumers, appears to be making an entry into the United States corporate market, which is dominated by Research in Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry.

While most companies are still focused on BlackBerry, analysts say the change is taking place among employees, especially in small- and mid-sized companies that have bought their own iPhone and are convincing their employers to support it.

"I see very few companies turning off BlackBerries," said Jack Gold, founder of research company J.Gold Associates. "I see more companies turning on support for the iPhone."

Gold estimates that 15 to 20 per cent people who buy the iPhone are going to use it for business reasons. "Those are people who have gone out and bought these things and have taken them to a company and said 'make it work', or have made it work somehow," he said.

Apple sold 6.9 million units of its new 3G iPhone in the September quarter, versus 6.1 million BlackBerries. Although iPhone sales are widely expected to be hurt by the economic downturn, the gadget's fast start had the industry buzzing.

Apple targeted the enterprise market last March when it announced that the 3G iPhone would feature Microsoft's Exchange for corporate e-mail and other new security standards.

BlackBerry continues to own the enterprise space as Apple will have a tough time cracking industries such as finance and government, which have higher e-mail security requirements, analysts say.