Apple has released its SDK beta and enterprise initiatives. Now the race is on, and corporations are starting to wrestle with the heightened competition between Apple and RIM, according to Lisa Hoover at CIO Magazine. RIM plans to counter, in part, by making the BlackBerry even more Mac-friendly.

With the war about to commence, Research In Motion is helping its partners develop better tools while corporations are getting ready for the onslaught of demand for the iPhone.

"We understand it’s only a matter of time before we’re being pressured by the top execs to make [the iPhone] work in our environment but if it happens before some of our security, etc., issues are addressed, ’making it work in our environment’ won’t be easy," said Rob Paciorek, senior vice president and CIO of Access Intelligence.

RIM has started to fight back not only by refining its tools and improving Mac compatibility, but also publicly citing the BlackBerry advantages. Andrew Bocking, director of handheld software for RIM said that the number of Mac users who use BlackBerry is large and growing, and he intends to exploit that.

Tim Goggin, VP of Marketing and Sales for IAA who makes PocketMac for the BlackBerry said, "We will be building in extensive media syncing, including iTunes music and iPhoto photo syncing. Additionally, we’ll have full support for Office:Mac 2008. And for upcoming versions, we’ll be working on adding sync support for even more new applications."

IT departments are also having ask themselves some tough new questions. "Make sure you do your research about what it can and can’t do, and ask yourself some important questions," advised Mr. Paciorek. "Like: Do the carrier-specific contracts mean anything to you? Will it work with your e-mail platform and security level? Will the lack of a real keypad be difficult for any of your users? Are there features that are available with other devices that aren’t available with the iPhone (syncing Outlook notes, for example)?" [Mr. Paciorek later incorrectly asserted that the iPhone won’t have remote security wipe.]

The bottom line is that business will, as they’ve always done, take a hard look at how the two top competitors, the iPhone and BlackBerry, meet their needs. With RIM planning to fight back vigorously on multiple fronts, an early victory for Apple may not be easy to come by.