Apple: Dow Jones Mulls the iPhone

This is a bit of insider baseball, but I think it nicely illuminates a key issue for Apple (AAPL): will corporate America be open to allowing employees to replace Research In Motion (RIMM) Blackberries with 3G iPhones?

I’ve been walking around with a 3G iPhone for about a week now, but so far haven’t seemed to convince anyone at the Dow Jones IT department to let me hook up to Exchange. So for now, there’s an iPhone in my pocket, and a Blackberry on my belt.

Here’s the official policy from the company’s Global Technology Services unit, as of last week:

The new version of the Apple iPhone, which incorporates ActiveSync to provide corporate email services, is presently under evaluation for corporate usage. While the new iPhone does support data protection, password locking, and remote deactivation and administration, we must ensure that these services are correctly configured to protect our intellectual property and confidential information.

 

GTS is diligently working to complete the iPhone certification within the week and will provide detailed usage instructions thereafter.

That actually seems encouraging. Dow Jones tends to be a pretty conservative place when it comes to technology. I’ll provide an update when they decide.

 

Comments

[TanToday]

Oh my....Caesar is going to cross the Rubicon?

Will Erik become a cheerleader with the rest of the Fanboyz? { ... or maybe stop listening to certain unnamed "anal"-ists? }

Yes, Virginia, there really IS a Santa Clause in Cupertino!

[Brewer]

Naw, it's not a positive response, the IT guys just need a week or so to fabricate another semi plausible excuse.

The iPhone/iPod more or less configures itself for exchange. It's not like there is a question of wether to support outlook/exchange (though since outlook/exchange has caused virtually 100% of all viruses (and literally all those that have created headlines such as ILOVEYOU, Melissa, etc..) and other security problems perhaps that SHOULD be the question.)