“In less than a year, the iPhone has won the hearts of users, who speak of the combination cellphone, Internet device and music player with reverence,” Ben Worthen reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Indeed, the iPhone, which maker Apple Inc. says has captured 28% of the U.S. smart-phone market, seems to be loved by everyone — everyone, that is, except those who work in corporate information-technology departments,” Worthen reports.
“Designed with the consumer in mind, the iPhone is less secure than business-oriented smart phones such as those from Nokia Corp. or Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry, according to IT professionals. But that isn’t stopping people from using the device for work-related tasks such as checking email, managing sales contacts and getting information about prospective clients. In fact, market researcher Nielsen Co. estimates that one-quarter of iPhone owners over the age of 18 pass their phone bills on to their employer, suggesting significant use of the device for business,” Worthen reports.
“Many IT groups have banned the iPhone from their workplaces, complaining that there is no way to force employees to protect their iPhones with passwords and that they can’t erase sensitive corporate data from remote locations if the device is stolen or lost. Additionally, they say the iPhone doesn’t support the software many businesses use and that it only works on one cellular carrier’s network,” Worthen reports. “But keeping the iPhone out of the office may be a losing battle. As a result, some technology experts say the iPhone could usher in a change in the way businesses adopt new technologies.”
Worthen reports, “As Beth Cannon, the San Francisco-based chief security officer for Thomas Weisel Partners Group, says: Even after she explains to people why her IT department can’t allow them to use the device, they ‘still want to use their iPhone.'”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Mike in Helsinki” for the heads up.]
MacDailyNews Note: Apple’s iPhone 2.0 software, scheduled for release this June, will include new enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide secure, over-the-air push email, contacts and calendars as well as remote wipe, and the addition of Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to private corporate networks.