A Deutsche Bank research analyst has dealt a blow to BlackBerry, declaring an interal pilot trial using Apple's iPhone for corporate e-mail has been "overwhelmingly positive" and insisting there is "no going back".
Deutsche Bank Equity Research's Chris Whitmore says the firm has been running a two month trial of iPhones in conjunction with California-based software maker Good Technology's secure e-mail application.
The e-mail is served using Microsoft exchange through a Good Technologies interface which looks and feels like accessing a Gmail account on the iPhone, says Whitmore in a note.
The result "was a fantastic experience as it was easier/faster to access data (touch UI) than on the Blackberry. It was also great to only have to carry one device for personal and corporate email access."
The note does highlight the iPhone's inability to download e-mails in the background, meaning users have to open the app to check for new messages. Another criticism centres on the lack of a blinking light to indicate the arrival of a new message.
However, the positives "far outweigh these issues" and "after testing corporate email on iPhone for the past few months, there is no going back. We expect a lot of users will feel the same way when iPhones are offered at their workplaces," said Whitmore who predicts his own firm's trials will "translate into large deployments".
The Deutsche Bank experiment is the latest in a long line of iPhone (and Android) trials at major banks, with Bank of America, Citi, JP Morgan Chase, Standard Chartered and UBS all exploring the BlackBerry rivals.