For 6 years ago IS has CC’d my work Email to a personal mailbox I use for work. Using CC when replying from the device to my desktop, Email can be put in sent mail. Better PDA phones have robust programs to edit and store attachments. Contacts can be mailed to and from a mobile device using outlook. With encryption programs personal & company data like credit card numbers can be kept securely in the same place. My company phone forwards to my personal phone I turn off after work

Many executives at my company put shoe heel to Iphone saying “this device is useless, give me back my Blackberry, Palm, or Q. Docs to Go just introduced for the Iphone is a crude product compared to a 3 year old Palm version. It is forever tethered to Itunes when many users would rather use a different player or service. The same is true for the Itouch I bought. Assuming it was like my old nano and would sync with something else was a big mistake.

You have it backward – business hardware is the one lagging behind consumer stuff, just like most non-executive company cars are drab compared to the ones people buy with their own money. This is simply because:
1) Apart from pampered executives, most corporate peons have to do with the cheapest equipment the company can get away with.
2) The people making the purchasing decisions are not the ones who will be using them, so user-centric features are prioritized last, far behind concerns like adhering to bureaucratic procedures or maximizing IT job security (i.e. using Windows)

Ten years ago when I wanted an ultra-thin laptop and few were available outside Japan, I got a Toshiba Portege that Toshiba would normally sell only to large businesses (not even small & medium ones, let alone consumers).

Today, I told my Fortune 1000 company they can keep their mangy HP laptops and Blackberry phones and I’d use my far superior MacBook Air and iPhone. Consumer-oriented Web 2.0 services are miles ahead in terms of usability or scalability than the outdated and usually horrendously unusable “enterprise” products. The Mac Pro I use at home is miles ahead of the substandard hardware we use at work.

A big part of Apple’s success is due to the fact they deliberately turned their backs on the enterprise and the usual compromises it entails. Similarly, Linux and Open Source systems are far more secure, robust and efficient than corporate ones.

What is going to happen is that at some point enterprises will realize how their vendors and IT departments are conspiring to keep them behind the times. IT apps will be outsourced to the cloud wholesale, and employees be given laptop stipends to spend as they please.

Most people have a Bold or Curve.

@Kumar – I am told that Cisco is pretty firm about which phones employees can use, I think that some users of certain wifi voip services are limited to Nokia E71 and some other device.

As much as I hate prattling on about the iPhone, it certainly did help tear down the wall between enterprise and personal, or at least poke some big, corner office size holes in that wall.