Totally agree. But to the dismay of many, when/if Verizon gets the iphone, all the other players in the smartphone game - RIM, Palm and Windows - are going to take a big hit.
I don't know how much longer RIM can dominate as far as the enterprise is concerned. Companies that run Blackberry Enterprise Server have to shell out big $$ to run BES...usally runs on it's own server which is expensive, the BES software itself is expensive and each client access license is about $100. Not to mention the fact that using BES adds two additional points of failure between the mail server and the handset - the BES server itself and the RIM infrastructure which has gone belly up a few times resulting in massive outages for BES users.
Devices that use active sync only have 2 points of failure - the mail server and the handset (and the network connection for both the server and phone if you wnat to get picky). And there are no added costs...it works right out of the box with exchange without licensing costs etc.
BES has the advantage in terms of managing the connected handsets remotely, but Exchange is slowly catching up in that dept.
One of the reasons why I've been so quiet here for the past two weeks is because I'm managing my employers Exchange Server Migration (from IBM Domino Servers). Yes I see the irony in using the staff attorney to handle the migration, but seriously, who would you want handling your migration? That's right - this guy (with two thumbs pointed squarely at self).
Anyhow, so with the advances in ActiveSync, there is no longer a huge advantage with RIM, and if anything, the Enterprise Server has been more of a pain in the ass than anything else. For most users (iPhone, WinMo, Palm) once you're on the Exchange Server you can set up your mobile device and everything can work seamlessly (including data push). And as Chaz said, with the new requirements, I can remotely wipe phones and require users to use a PIN to access email. This really has taken the advatage away from RIM and if anything, makes the extra step of adding the user to the BlackBerry Enterpise Server an additional burden after migration. As Chaz pointed out, just another step where something can go wrong.
And that's without factoring in the added costs. The license for the BES is $100 and some carriers (who will remain nameless) require an additional "Enterpirse Service Contract" which is an extra $30 a month. Now that the rest of the technology has caught up, I can't, in good conscience, recommend a Blackberry to anyone with those extra costs.
And because this is an iPhone thread...2 years was a while to wait, but Apple did a great job with Exchange Server provisioning on the iPhone that other companies, ahem <cough>Palm</cough>, should take note of.
