Why your IT manager won't give you an iPhone

Apple's been touting the enterprise friendly features of its new iPhone 2.0 firmware but a new report's concluded that while its business-oriented features may be fine for small companies and eager prosumers, they may not cut the mustard with large corporations and their IT departments.

After putting iPhone 3G through its paces for three weeks, the analyst firm, Gartner, concluded that: "Enterprises should approach expanded use of the iPhone slowly and with close examination." More details after the cut.

Gartner's main concerns stem from security issues surrounding custom apps that large businesses often use on handheld devices and from and iPhone's lacklustre battery life when using Wi-Fi and push email.

During testing using Exchange ActiveSync a little Internet browsing and no phone calls, Gartner noted that the battery "seldom experienced a full day of use," - hardly a great performance for the travelling exec.

There were concerns too about the lack of control IT managers might have over updates, which are automatically delivered to individuals via Apple's compulsory iTunes. Gartner was also unimpressed by the encryption options Apple has put in place, though it welcomed the ability to remotely wipe the device.

Other issues included the inability to edit email attachments and our old favourite: no copy and paste. "The quickest way to do this on the iPhone today is to write the details down on a piece of paper and re-enter them," the report noted. Now there's a workaround we hadn't considered before.

[ Computer World]