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WSJ: Companies To Battle iPhone?

Posted June 19, 2007 12:00 PM by Hadley Stern
Categories: Business 

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A great piece in the Wall Street Journal today, Companies Hang Up on Apple’s iPhone (paid sub required) on how companies are getting hammered with requests from employees to be able to use the iPhone with their corporate email accounts. Apparently a ton of execs and professionals out there are eager to consolidate their blackberries and iPods into one device which make a lot of sense ifyou ask me. But, as the article states:

The initial plans of many companies to snub the iPhone will likely come as a disappointment to many consumers who are eager to substitute the iPhone for the multiple devices they carry around for music, cellphone and both corporate and personal email services. These users may put pressure on business technology departments to support iPhones even if that means incurring additional expense and changing their policies.

This isn’t an issue for me because my company has IMAP access turned on but I know it will be for millions of folks out there. The best thing for Apple to do would be to make the iPhone as secure as a Blackberry, but I’m not sure if this is possible.

Are you readers out there asking your IT divisions for iPhone support or are you planning to?

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Comments

  1. Good discussion! There’s not much media buzz out here about the iPhone, but it’s still early.

    Posted by billso on June 19, 2007 6:49 PM

  2. My biggest problem with that article is something Ive been saying for years.  That the IT industry has to remember they work for these companies not the other way around.  Their job is to support the technology the people who work for the company use.  Not to dictate what technology should be used based on how lazy they are. They are using security as a reason not to work with the iPhone but its funny how they use this at their convenience.  If security was really an issue for them they would not impose Windows on all their users.  Linux, Unix and OSX are all much more secure and can easily handle any of the business critical software.  IT has been the bully on the playground long enough.  Its time for the owners and CEO’s of corporate america to stand up and let them know that they will not be pushed around anymore.

    Posted by Dick on June 19, 2007 11:13 PM

  3. I don’t think that IT managers are “bullies”, and I’m sorry that you think so.

    The iPhone is more like an entertainment device than a corporate device.

    Apple’s first generation iPhone doesn’t address issues that any large enterprise must pay attention to, like security and compliance.

    IT departments DO work for their copmanies. But IT departments are also key players in safeguarding the company’s data.

    When employees divert their business email to a personal device like an iPhone, they take a risk that.

    iPods already have a bad reputation in coroporate America. it’s too easy to copy files to an iPod from a company workstation or laptop.

    As you said, the *nix OSes tend to be secure. That doesn’t mean that the iPhone’s operating system will be ready out of the box (OOTB) to support every company’s security policy.

    Posted by Bill Sodeman on June 21, 2007 1:51 PM

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