Cupertino, California. March 7 : Apple Inc said Thursday its iPhone soon will support corporate e-mail, targeting a new market and challenging the dominance of Research In Motion Ltd's popular Blackberry devices.
Apple also said it will roll out tools for developers to create software for the iPhone, news that was accompanied by a pledge from legendary venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers to set up a $100 million 'iFund' to back iPhone software start-ups.
"This takes the iPhone from being not really in the running in the enterprise to being very much in the running and gives RIM a serious challenge," Van Baker, an analyst with market research firm Gartner.
The move would help Apple hit its goal of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of this year, a target some analysts have questioned if the weakening US economy takes a toll on consumer spending.
"Apple answered the majority of objections that most IT professionals had to the iPhone as an enterprise device," Baker said.
The shares of RIM, whose Blackberry products are widely used in corporations, fell 3.8 per cent to $98.72 on the news on Nasdaq. The shares of Apple, which also makes iPod media players and Macintosh computers, fell 2.9 per cent to $120.93.
Apple said the iPhone would work with Microsoft Corp's Exchange software for managing business e-mails, contacts and calendars and 'pushing' that information to handheld devices.
"We are doing all of these things with the next release of iPhone software," Phil Schiller, vice president of global marketing for Apple, said at the company's headquarters. "I think enterprise customers are going to be pretty excited."
The new programming tools are also seen as a way to build more interest in the iPhone, which has so far only been able to run outside programs through the Web browser. The tool kit will let software makers write applications that can tap more of the iPhone's capabilities, such as its touch-sensitive screen and motion sensors.
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