I haven't seen any numbers, but I'd have to say that sales of the Apple iPhone to small businesses have to be fairly low, especially outside of the tech sector.

$499 for a cell phone -- slick or not -- is excessive for most penny-conscious small business owners.




At the same time, more and more small businesses are counting on smartphones not just to take calls but help run their businesses. And if things like mobile email, Web access and more are important to you, then the things that the iPhone is famous for -- usability, reliability and just plain fun -- are important too.

That's what makes today's big iPhone announcement one for small businesses to watch.

The big news was the release of a software development kit, or SDK, for the iPhone. Basically, this will let companies other than Apple develop applications for the iPhone. It also means that the type of software your small business might need (or that you simply might like) is much more likely to be available.

Also important for small business: built-in support for Microsoft Exchange, including support for push email, synchronized contacts and calendars, and more. If those kind of "enterprise"-class capabilities are important to you -- and have maybe led you to purchase a Blackberry or Windows Mobile phone in the past -- then the iPhone updates should be of interest to you.

Those are the highlights, but as is often the case with Apple there's a lot more too -- including games, a $100 million iPhone developer fund and more.

Read more: TechMeme on the Apple iPhone Announcement