An investment analyst at Deutsche Bank Equity Research who tracks hardware maker Apple has revealed that his employer is dropping the BlackBerry in favour of the iPhone for mobile email.
Chris Whitmore wrote in a research note for clients that the firm has been trialling a secure mobile email application on the Apple smartphone for the last few months. The trial, which used a Microsoft-based, secure email system from US vendor Good Technology, has provided “a fantastic experience”, Whitmore wrote.
“It was easier/faster to access data (touch UI) than on the Blackberry,” he explained. “It was also great to only have to carry one device for personal and corporate email access."
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He added that it was useful to be able to access applications such as the Bloomberg financial data app from the same device as corporate email.
There were drawbacks to the iPhone, however, such as the absence of a light that flashes when new emails arrive. Some users preferred the BlackBerry’s keyboard interface.
Neverthelss, Whitmore said that “after testing corporate email on iPhone for the past few months, there is no going back” to the BlackBerry.
Whitmore is a frequent and enthusiastic advocate of Apple’s stock, and last year set the company’s highest ever target share price of $375. He used his firm’s experience as an indication of Apple’s future success in the business market. "We expect a lot of users will feel the same way [as us] when iPhones are offered at their workplaces," he wrote.
A recent investigation by Forbes magazine found that amateur bloggers are consistently more accurate than professional analysts when it comes to predicting Apple’s financial performance.
