by Larry Dignan
March 7th, 2008

Apple has dressed the iPhone up in a business suit, but the real work is just beginning. Apple needs to convince chief information officers that there’s a return on investment in a switch to the iPhone. The day after an Apple event is always the analysis day. You get wowed by Steve Jobs. You go ga-ga for the eye candy. You’re ready to buy every Apple product on earth. And then the buzz wears off a bit.

That’s what corporate America is waking up to following Thursday’s iPhone SDK and enterprise feature extravaganza (Techmeme, notebook, photos, video, all iPhone resources and News.com). The question for any enterprise pondering the iPhone is this: Where are the savings? Given IT budgets are likely to get cut Apple will need a compelling ROI case if it’s going to upend Research in Motion, which was clearly the target of multiple jabs at Apple’s shindig.

The hard numbers will vary by company. Some analysts say like BMO Capital Markets’ Keith Bachman expect that Apple will first make inroads into small and medium-sized businesses. In a research note, Bachman writes: “We believe Apple still faces some roadblocks in the mid- to large-enterprise accounts, but will make better inroads in the small- and medium-business market, similar to its CPUs.” Bachman’s argument goes like this: CIOs are reluctant to allow multiple devices and operating systems into their environment.

Why? It’s total cost of ownership. You need more people to support various devices and operating systems. That’s why the one-vendor-to-choke model is appealing.Bachman also makes another key point: Apple’s enterprise friendly moves–support for Microsoft Exchange, remote wipe, push email and contact synching–just get the company into the business conversation.