In short, I don’t think Apple cares much about the enterprise sector- at least as far as the iPhone goes. My guess is that Apple doesn’t lose (much) by not owning the enterprise market and therefore doesn’t care (much). Here’s why..

Integrated devices (ID) are what mobile operators call those devices that incorporate functionality other than voice and text messaging – what most of us refer to as smartphones. In a recent Q1 2010 earnings call, Rick Lindner, AT&T CFO called ID users “high quality customers”. Why? Overall, ARPU (Average Revenue Per User) was up nearly 4% in the quarter for AT&T, driven mostly by an increase in data plan usage. That is significant. More important however is ID users generate an average ARPU of $90 – an amazing 1.7 times that of standard customers. Understand that only 50% of AT&T’s post-paid customers currently have data plans and you begin to see why operators want iPhones and other smartphones on their networks. This particular group of users can impact mobile operator bottom lines in a significant way, especially when coupled with a two year service commitment.

Since ID users in general are so attractive for operators, the question of iPhone or Blackberry from an operator point of view is neutral at best. In fact I would say from a raw profit perspective, the iPhone is a strong favorite because there is no longer any revenue sharing agreement with Apple. Operators would suffer by not offering Blackberry since the enterprise segment is very important.

Apple doesn’t comment publicly on this, though it is suspected that contrary to the Mac side of the business, they make more money on iPhone app sales than on hardware sales. In other words, profit margin on iPhone hardware is less than profit generated through purchases from iTunes and the App Store over the life of the iPhone. Now couple that with the introduction of iAd and the profit generated through in-app ad sales. Apple would make little if anything on Apps or ads in the enterprise space since most companies restrict their employee’s ability to make unauthorized purchases on their phones. So, no premium SMS voting for your favorite American Idol (or for our international audience, Superstar). No apps. And no App and ad revenue.

Now if Apple were to roll out strong enterprise support coupled with premium services (a la RIM) that companies could justify paying for, this might change. For now, I just don’t see Apple’s motivation to push the iPhone into the enterprise sector.

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Apple took a risk going with a credit card-only model, but they had absolutely nothing to loose and everything to gain. Nokia, Sony-Ericsson and others have life-sustaining relationships with operators in that the operator distribution model is critical to their success.

In running their own branded content portals, the manufactures have two primary billing choices:

1. Use the same old billing mechanisms (SMS, WAP) that many subscribers either don’t understand or have grown to hate, or
2. Use alternative billing like credit card and risk operator relationships.

The answer – Nokia uses both. Granted it’s a much smoother process than we are used to, but compare the following process to the one-click Apple model.

From Nokia:

1. Select the item you want to purchase.
2. Select Buy .
3. Enter your Nokia account user name and password. If you do not have an account, select Create a Nokia account , and enter the required information.
4. Select to pay using your credit card or through your phone bill. If you already have your credit card information stored in your Nokia account, and you want to use another credit card, select Edit payment settings , and enter the required information. To save your credit card information to your Nokia account, select the Save this card to my Nokia account check box.
5. Select the e-mail address to which you want to receive a receipt of your purchase.
6. Select Purchase

Behind the scenes, Nokia claims this iteration of Ovi is a bit of a band-aid to stop the flow of blood Apple has created with it’s game-changing App Store. I’m certain they have something better on the way and look forward to seeing what it is.

In contrast to the Build and Run it approach of Nokia’s Ovi and Apple’s App Store, the newly announced Sony Ericsson store will be powered by GetJar. This partnership demonstrates another approach – mandate someone to do it for you. Speaking from experience – we have done content aggregation for mobile operators – it’s an expensive and time consuming process to do well. In this case, GetJar has the experience to do it well and one assumes they can do it more cheaply through economies of scale.

One key take away from this, the best content will sit on the virtual shelves unless the buying process is clean and simple and the App stores provide excellent discovery tools. Customers must be able to find and purchase content with minimal effort. This will leave them with a good feeling and assure return visits, and more importantly, purchases.