Information Age: News, analysis & insight for IT & business leaders

Device maker Nokia has the greatest share of the smartphone market although it is falling, according to IT analyst company Gartner. Trewhella says that the Symbian operating system that Nokia’s smartphones have used to do date was originally designed for devices with keypads, and is therefore not ideal for applications. In June 2010, however, the company announced that it would move to a new operating system, Linux Meego, for its N-series high-end devices.

BlackBerry is, of course, already a popular mobile platform in business. “BlackBerry is a strong contender,” Trewhella notes, although he adds that beyond email, “applications haven’t really taken off on BlackBerry, because it wasn’t built for independent applications.” Again, the company claims it will improve this situation in the next version of its operating system.

In safe hands

Beyond its installed base, BlackBerry’s security provisions are another strong selling point – so strong, in fact, that it in some cases it limits the device’s commercial viability. In July 2010, authorities in Saudi Arabia threatened to ban the BlackBerry, as the encryption used on the device’s instant messaging function prevents them from intercepting messages.

“Generally, if you’re using a BlackBerry environment and you set it up properly then you’re well protected,” says Gold. This is not yet true of the other mainstream platforms, he adds.

In 2009, developer and forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski lambasted the hardware encryption of Apple’s iPhone 3GS devices: “I don’t think any of us have ever seen encryption implemented so poorly before.” This may explain why, as revealed in parliament in June 2010, iPhones have not been given security clearance by UK government ministers.

However, the security of all devices is improving, Gold explains. “iPhones are much better for security than they were three years ago,” he says. “Android hasn’t addressed many of the security issues yet, but they will.”

Many of the remaining risks can be mitigated through device management, he adds. “Often companies allow iPhones as long as certain functions are limited.”

The applications that employees run on their smartphones may be more problematic, however. “Security is not solely the operating system’s responsibility,” says Benedict. “It also depends on how well the developers build their applications.”

He advises that IT organisations conduct their own checks to see whether the third-party applications employees are using meet corporate security guidelines – yet another security tip that calls for centralised device management.

Connecting up

Affordable 3G mobile Internet access is now quite widely available; indeed, smartphones have only really taken off since this was the case. But there are still a number of considerations when it comes to selecting a mobile telecommunications carrier.

“The mobile Internet market is still in a situation of flux and will be for some time,” explains Gold. “It is clearly not yet the commodity that wired broadband services have become.”

That means that mobile web connectivity can still be expensive, he says. “One reason that many companies haven’t gone to a mobile smartphone platform is that they don’t want to pay for any additional data cost on top of their voice bills.”
Another issue, says Gold, is coverage. This can inform carrier selection on a local level – some suppliers offer a better service in different parts of the same country – or on a global level. For multinational organisations, finding a mobile telecommunications provider that covers as many regions as possible can provide economies of scale.

These kinds of issues are not new to enterprise organisations as a whole; they have been buying and managing mobile phones for decades now. But to date, it has typically been in a decentralised and haphazard fashion.

That is beginning the change, however. Many organisations are now seeking to rationalise their mobile infrastructure, says Ovum analyst Evan Kirchheimer, and they are looking to IT to lead the initiative. “We’ve seen real a shift to the IT department taking over mobility,” he says.

“Once the IT director gets his hands on mobility, he’s going to check out the bills, he’s going to rationalise the plans, and if he can, he’s going to try to incorporate mobility into the existing IT governance and security framework,” Kirchheimer explains. “Mobile is now seen as part of IT; it’s not treated separately as it was three or four years ago.”

According to Kirchheimer and his colleague Pauline Trotter, this centralisation of mobile management must continue if smartphones are to become a viable platform for enterprise applications. “Organisations have got to start organising themselves better and start procuring centrally, because if they want to do mobile enterprise applications, they’ll need to be able to control them centrally,” says Trotter.