Ahead of the annual Apple Expo trade show, held in September in Paris, I thought now would be a good time to reflect on the Mac platform’s potential in the corporate world in general, and financial services in particular, as the buzz around the iPhone keeps increasing.

Perceived primarily as a consumer product, the Mac’s traditional presence as a professional tool has generally been limited to small businesses, the education sector and creative professions (publishing, music & video editing). However, a recent survey by the Yankee Group indicates that Mac presence in US enterprises was growing steadily, with a market share of 8% to 10%.

But, just like the success of Apple’s iPod music player may have driven consumers to look at the firm’s PC and laptop offering, could a similar “halo effect” apply to the iPhone and push the adoption of Apple’s operating system in the enterprise?

Indeed, while Apple’s marketing strategy has not focused on the corporate segment in recent years, the launch of the second-generation iPhone and its application platform featured testimonies from the likes of biotech group Genentech and emphasised Exchange support and other features aimed at the enterprise segment.

The iPhone’s new application ecosystem could also help drive demand from corporate users. According to Apple, 35% of Fortune 500 companies - including some banks - have participated in the company’s beta program to develop applications for the device. Besides, software houses have wasted no time building applications for the iPhone, including financial ones.

In early August, consulting firm Lab49 announced it has started developing iPhone applications for buy-side and sell-side financial institutions. The company has already launched “Lab49 Capital”, which it says provides real-time portfolio management on the iPhone.

Meanwhile, ZDNet Australia recently reported that HSBC was considering switching its official corporate mobile device from the Blackberry to the iPhone.

Of course, iPhone adoption may not automatically translate into a higher penetration of Apple’s OS X operating system in the corporate world. But as companies weigh alternatives to Windows (especially given the lack of enthusiasm around Vista), the presence of iPhones in the enterprise could potentially drive the Unix-based OS X to be taken into consideration alongside Linux. Ironically, the ability of recent Intel-based Macs to run both Windows and OS X could constitute a strong incentive for Mac adoption.

But even if the Mac’s corporate penetration is likely to remain limited in the near-future, especially in the conservative banking sector, the development of mobile computing driven by the iPhone and its application platform offer a strong potential for innovative financial applications both for finance professionals and retail banking users, which no institution should ignore.

Filed under: Technology