Despite its consumer focus, the iPhone is winning fans in the business world, according to Reuters on Thursday. One day, it could rival RIM’s Blackberry line.

Recently, SAP announced support for the iPhone in its new CRM project in preference to an early rollout for Blackberry support. SAP president Mike de la Cruz is very happy with his own iPhone. "It’s fun," de la Cruz said earlier this week. "It’s so popular." In addition, the popularity of the iPhone with SAP’s own employees influenced the decision.

"This isn’t necessarily iPhone deployment by way of the IT department, but it’s by people who really want to use this device and IT is responding in a really positive way," said Michael Gartenberg, with Jupiter Research commenting on the SAP decision.

Even so, the iPhone still lacks some features considered essential for business. Push e-mail and a remote security wipe of a stolen iPhone have been high on the list. Analysts are wondering if Apple will take the next step with the iPhone. "What really made the iPod take off was when they made it compatible with Windows. So if they made the iPhone compatible with Windows e-mail, meaning Outlook, that would really make sales take off," said Shaw Wu, an analyst with American Technology Research.

iPO notes that Apple always has its reasons for holding back. In this case, it may be that Apple is letting the fever in the private community insure a healthy, high profile launch before slowly adding business features. That way, they win in both markets as business customers clamor for enterprise features that Apple can roll out with fanfare. In the meantime, Apple is holding its cards close to the vest.

"We’ve said many times that we’re providing a solution in iPhone that many businesses love," Apple COO Tim Cook said recently. "Clearly, there are some businesses buying them and very much enjoying them."