iPhone making business users smile

Better than the BlackBerry?

O2 may be concentrating its iPhone efforts on consumers but research suggests it shouldn't neglect business users - who apparently love the touchscreen interface.

The Apple device beats the competition hands down when it comes to user satisfaction rates, according to a survey of enterprise smart phone users.

More than half (59 per cent) of iPhone-owning business customers said they are "very satisfied" with the device, the survey by emerging technology research company ChangeWave Research found.

RIM's BlackBerry - which has the lion's share of the enterprise market - ranked second, with just under half (47 per cent) of those surveyed being "very satisfied" with the device. Nokia came third (with 40 per cent), followed by Samsung (30 per cent), Motorola (25 per cent) and Palm (10 per cent).

Back in January, silicon.com's CIO Jury collectively dubbed the iPhone "overpriced" and too flashy to make it in the enterprise space. However some CIOs were clearly interested by what it had to offer.

Alastair Behenna, CIO at Harvey Nash, said: "It is a very interesting launch product and once it has settled into use the price should become more realistic. If nothing else it will act as a catalyst to other manufacturers and the competitive evolution of the iPhone will definitely be worth keeping a watching brief on."

O2 UK recently told silicon.com it is working with Apple on hammering out a business tariff - which it said it is hopeful will launch some time this year.