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Apple may not be announcing it tomorrow at their press conference, but the Gartner Group believes that an enterprise version of the iPhone is inevitable, according to ZDNet.

I discussed some of the enterprise issues that affect iPhone users on July 6. For a sole proprietor or a very small business that already uses Macs, iPhones may make sense, especially for new media and web design firms. iPhone doesn’t seem to work reliably with iTunes for Windows, from what I’ve read.

TCO: it all adds up

Another important consideration is total cost of ownership (TCO). TCO is a common benchmark for information systems managers that adds up the entire cost of a product, including associated services, maintenance, replacement costs and training. I discussed some of these issues in my June 27 and June 6 posts.

iPhone users must have their own computer with iTunes and a broadband connection. That’s the only means of activating an iPhone, establishing an account, syncing the iPhone, and updating the device.

Larger companies that deal with compliance issues may want to avoid the iPhone as a corporate device. iPhones are expensive to acquire and replace, have limited storage space, and offer limited support for Microsoft Exchange.

I was walking down Fort Street Mall this morning, when I saw 3 HPD officers, each on Segways and waiting for jaywalkers.

One patrolman was writing up a jaywalker by the McDonald’s on Fort and Hotel Street.

I would have taken a picture of the Segway crosswalk police, but I didn’t want to get a ticket either! Jaywalking tickets are now over US$100 apiece, you know.

Anyway, it is that time of year when Fort Street Mall is bursting with students. Hotel Street is restricted to buses and government vehicles, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy crossing during the day. It’s one of the busiest bus stops on the island. I’ve seen more than a few bus drivers honk and brake for pedestrians who jaywalked in front of their bus. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin has some safety tips in this August 26 article.

It is possible to hack a crosswalk signal with the right sequence of button presses  – almost every piece of hardware has an override.

But the Fort Street and Hotel signals cycle pretty quickly.

Not worth the jaywalking ticket, I’d say.

People are stealing cows in Wisconsin?

Starbucks sells more milk than coffee?

Apparently this is all true. As some regional and national standards of living continue to rise around the world, milk consumption has surged and milk prices have followed suit, according to this article in the New York Times:

What is unusual, and somewhat confusing, about the milk boom compared with other booming commodities is that milk is not like oil: You cannot stick it in barrels and stockpile it. It goes sour. Even in powder form, the most commoditized version, milk has a shelf life. As a result, only about 7 percent of all the milk produced globally is traded across borders. The rest is consumed in domestic markets, which are protected by geography and just as often by tariffs or subsidies.

One of my favorite memories from my move to Honolulu was my first trip to the Safeway. The price of milk was a shocker. It still is… then again, I don’t drink much milk… except when I go to Starbucks.

The headline in this morning’s Honolulu Advertiser is another indication that the real estate market has changed. As I mentioned on August 13, the local mortgage lending market has been affected by the national mortgage crisis.

Perceptions alone can be enough to change a market

It’s more the perception of a mortgage crisis than anything else that is driving the changes in the local housing market. Subprime loans make up between 10 and 19 percent of the local market, compared to 20 percent of the national market. Interest rates on jumbo mortages haven’t changed dramatically either, according to the Advertiser. If sellers drop their prices, there may be enough interested, qualified buyers to support the historical sales volume.

Many small local lenders have shut their doors over the last few weeks, and some buyers are being asked for much larger down payments. In Hawaii, a typical down payment is 10 to 20 percent of the selling price, and that’s a problem:

Cash requirements, while perhaps relatively small in some Mainland markets, are amplified in Hawai’i where O’ahu’s median single-family home price in the second quarter was $665,000 — fourth highest in the nation. O’ahu’s median condo price was $328,000, topping the $223,800 national single-family home median price.

Borrowers with poor credit, and any borrower who wants to make a low down payment, are turning to local banks for mortgages, as more of the national mortgage firms scale back their operations.

Housing costs are a major factor when recruiting qualified IT professionals

Hawaii doesn’t produce enough skilled workers to satisfy the state’s needs. When companies, organizations and local government can’t outsource an IT position or service to the mainland, recruiters have to find prospects who can afford to live here. In the last month, that part of the applicant search become much more difficult. There are plenty of qualified IT professionals who could have moved to Hawaii earlier in 2007, but who cannot afford a mortgage here now. Rental prices and occupancy rates are still high in Hawaii, also.

It’s no wonder that Google is building new data centers in North Carolina and Iowa. The housing costs are reasonable in those states, and there’s plenty of available electricity and bandwidth to support these facilities.

My university office hours for the fall term are noon to 2 pm on Monday and Wednesday. Because yesterday was a university holiday and today is the first day of classes, I will be working in my university office today. Students who need to contact me can email me – check the Facebook badge for the address.

Updated 10 September 2007: My faculty web page has been updated! Please check that page for my office phone number and other contact information.

For some reason, HPU is still serving old information on my faculty web page. I’d love to edit that page and change it myself, but faculty members can’t do that at our university.