Let’s face it, the iPhone may be the coolest piece of consumer technology you can get your hands on today. It looks great, has a user interface unlike anything else we’ve seen from mobile phones and packs a ton of features for a relatively affordable price (an 8Gig 3G model was $99 at the time of this post). The question we get asked a lot, though, is whether iPhone is fit for use as a true business device in a challenging environment like a law firm. Here’s a quick rundown of iPhone’s features across categories that our attorney customers say matter to them.

Security

Let’s start with the big one: Is the iPhone secure enough to store client data, firm financials and case information? We say “yes,” but only when the iPhone is equipped with OS version 3.0. The new iPhone 3GS devices ship with this OS preinstalled, and upgrades are available for earlier models.

The key security limitation of OS 2.0 devices (the original iPhone and the 3G version that followed) was that it had no data encryption on the device – so all information was essentially open text. You can, of course, set up a device password (for when the iPhone wakes up), but these generally offer rather weak security.

The iPhone OS 3.0 overcame this limitation and offers other security enhancements too. First, it encrypts all data on the device (including iTunes backups) using AES 256 encryption, which protects your data if the iPhone gets into the wrong hands. It also lets IT administrators to enforce more complex device passwords (like “0nt@r10” – my first job’s psycho IT director’s way of spelling Ontario). Further, it lets you remotely wipe the device if it’s lost or stolen and even to use the iPhone’s location services to help you find it if it’s misplaced at an airport lounge somewhere.

Email and Calendaring

With PIM and email applications still being the biggest reasons most lawyers switch to smart phones, having a device that does this well is a must-have. We’re pleased to report that iPhone has made great improvements in this from the original version, but we’d say it still lags behind the built-for-purpose Blackberry in this area. Here’s some good news:

• The iPhone has full support for email and calendar synchronization that lets you connect the device to your Microsoft Exchange server or IMAP email accounts. This lets you send and receive email instantaneously, create and view calendar invitations directly from iPhone and dial out from calendar events. Our clients have reported that email doesn’t come in as quickly and as smoothly as it does with the Blackberry, but all the right features are there.
• The cut, copy and paste functionality that was sorely missing from the first generation iPhones has been added with iPhone OS 3.0.
• The iPhone OS 3.0 also added email search capabilities, letting you find content rather than browse for it. This feature can also extend your search queries to the server – letting you find items in subfolders on the server.
• Also new with the OS 3.0 is a landscape keyboard that takes advantage of the screen’s horizontal real estate and makes it easier to type on the device.

The bad news is that if you type out more than 10-20 emails per day, even the landscape keyboard gets old fast. Most users I spoke with still prefer Blackberry’s physical keys to iPhone’s on-screen setup. The iPhone/Active Sync combination also doesn’t offer the Blackberry’s advanced message tracking – so if somebody says they didn’t get your email you can’t tell where it went or what happened like you can with Blackberry.

Performance

Original version iPhones could be sluggish at times, but this has been mostly resolved with the iPhone 3GS version. It has a faster processor and will not keep you waiting when running applications or switching from one program to the other.

The iPhone still doesn’t have background processing (running several apps simultaneously), but this hasn’t been a requirement among law firms we know.

Office Document Viewing/Editing

Like the Blackberry, iPhone will let you open Microsoft Office Documents and PDF files. You can even make changes to Office documents like Word, Excel and Powerpoint. This works rather well for review (especially since you can switch between horizontal and vertical orientation), but just like with the Blackberry, I wouldn’t want to finalize my quarter’s financials on the device. Looking at a contract, making a change or two and forwarding it on to the client should be fine.

Battery Life

If there is an Achilles heel to the iPhone, it is the battery life. That bright, beautiful, multi-touch LCD sucks down the battery fast. So does using fast 3G connectivity. To make things worse, the iPhone/ActiveSync combination you’ll have to use for your corporate email is much more battery-intensive than a comparable Blackberry setup — it has to do with how the iPhone checks for new messages vs. just waiting for a “push” email to come in like Blackberry does.

Some of our users report being able to get a day’s worth of use from their iPhones, but these are generally people who don’t do much email or Internet browsing. If you are a heavy email user, you may have to charge the iPhone up during the day too. There’s nothing worse than having your phone quit on you in the middle of the day, so think carefully about how you would use it and whether you’re usually close to a power point during the day.

Web Browsing

This is iPhone’s strong suit. The phone’s built-in Safari browser is the best in the business – letting you easily view HTML pages in both vertical and landscape layouts. Whether it’s search, reading or maps you’re interested in, you won’t be disappointed. Browsing works especially well when your iPhone connects over home/office WiFi networks (which it can detect automatically).

Legal Applications and Integration

One big reason consumers flock to the iPhone is the 50,000+ applications that are available for it at the App Store. Some of them are free, while others can be purchased for a couple bucks. We have seen a couple apps out there that can help you keep the time that you spend with your clients or do basic research (e.g. “Federal Rules of Evidence”, “Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, “ and “Black’s Law Dictionary”). But we have yet to come across a mobile app that would be neatly integrated into practice management software and provide good tools for docketing, research and other common activities.

Apple just recently released its SDK (software development kit) and support for applications that share data with one another on the device (this happened with OS 3.0), so we will watch out for developments in this area and keep you informed.

Summary

Overall, we found the Apple iPhone 3GS — and the OS 3.0 that it runs — quite suitable for attorney use. It may lack some management and end-to-end security features of the Blackberry, but it will work.

Our main advice for you is to understand what you’ll use the device for. If you just need email and calendaring, than there’s still not a better platform to do this than the Blackberry. Blackberries are easier to type on, a bit faster and a lot more seamless in how they handle email. Their advanced battery management options make them better all-day-and-all night companions. If you are a light email user, you can confidently choose the iPhone and enjoy everything this marvelous device has to offer.