by , 1:15 PM EDT, April 19th, 2007

A Microsoft Asia-Pacific executive said that the iPhone will be irrelevant to business because it's a closed system and doesn't support Microsoft Office, according to ZDNet Australia.

"It's a great music phone, and I'm sure it will be fantastic and have an interesting user interface," Microsoft's Asia-Pacific head of smartphone strategy Chris Sorenson told press during a recent visit to Australia.

Mr. Sorensen believes that the current business user familiarity with the Windows Mobile Interface on about 140 phones that already support it will squeeze Apple out of the lucrative corporate market.

"While the iPhone will focus on integrating phone, Internet browsing and iPod features, WM6 [version 6 of Windows Mobile] adds enterprise-targeted features such as better synchronization of data between mobile devices and office servers," David Braue wrote.

TMO notes that the Apple iPhone was never designed to appeal to the business market. It seems that Microsoft is beating a dead cow for the sake of the beating.