Why Your IT Guy Hates Your iPhone

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Wall Street Journal   |  Ben Worthen   |   March 31, 2008 02:58 PM

Read More: Blackberry, IP Professionals, Iphone, IPhone Security, IT Buys, Nielsen, Nokia, Phone Bills, Research In Motion, Breaking Business News
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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.

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.

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.

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- okAcomputer See Profile I'm a Fan of okAcomputer

i love my iphone. My IT guy? not so much. while my IT can connect my to the internet, he CANNOT play music. And he can make phone calls for me, but he refuses to. iPhone 3, IT Guy 1. Hope that helps.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:51 PM on 04/01/2008
- qdemn7 See Profile I'm a Fan of qdemn7

Sounds like typical corporate BS. Make people fit the policies, instead of policies fitting what makes people more productive.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:50 AM on 04/01/2008
- DRaymond See Profile I'm a Fan of DRaymond

Also IT people hate lock-ins. The iPhone locks them into one carrier for the service and one distribution method for any company developed applicaitons, which means giving the code to Apple. The interface, while nice, will not run on any a phone by any other manufacturer, and apple tends to make it impossible to do any in-house servicing. A typical example is batteries. Most phones the IT department can replace an old battery themselves. With the iPhone it has to go back to the factory (as with the equally service-unfriendly Macbook Air). Apple is into locking starry-eyed consumers into Steve Job's vision of their 'lifestyle appliance'. IT guys are a lot more cynical than that and want multivendor options.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 10:20 PM on 03/31/2008
- Sundialsvc4 See Profile I'm a Fan of Sundialsvc4

I simply do not believe that this article is fair. There are many reasons why I say this, and they are, in no particular order...

A cellular voice conversation over a public network will not be secure under any conditions. Lots of 'business' conversation does take place in-the-clear over public airwaves.

Ditto ordinary text-messages.

The iPhone, being fundamentally an OS/X machine at heart, does in fact support industry standard secure-connection protocols and libraries. Communication secured in this way will be secure indeed.

Many existing communications-mechanisms that provide a link between a portable phone and a business have one or more 'hops' where the data can be transferred in-the-clear or stored in an intermediate point under unprovable security conditions. iPhone can do this point-to-point; other smart-phones no doubt will follow.

Everyone should remember: "don't take data-security for granted." Know what information you are storing and what you are transferring. Know how the information that is transferred will be handled at ALL stages. If the information is truly worth securing, it's truly worth knowing all of these answers.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:16 PM on 03/31/2008
- mingusman See Profile I'm a Fan of mingusman

So then why exactly does my IT guy hate the iPhone, as your headline screams?

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 05:02 PM on 03/31/2008
- NC4Obama See Profile I'm a Fan of NC4Obama

IT guys hate when people use insecure technology for work. Since when data gets stolen its our job to fix it.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 07:57 PM on 03/31/2008
- aigeanta See Profile I'm a Fan of aigeanta

Sounds like Apple will be providing updates this summer to address some of the security problems. Honestly, I think more IT people are afraid of Apple technology because they don't understand it, not because it's inherently less secure.

    Favorite    Flag as abusive Posted 08:50 PM on 03/31/2008
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