RIM answers iPhone frenzy with BlackBerry Bold

Marc Perrella, vice-president of the technology group at research firm IDC Canada, said enterprise end-users have more influence and input into the features and functionality of mobile devices than in the past. Executives and general users see the benefits of mobility from both personal and work perspectives.

The Bold is aimed at a “prosumer” market, Perrella said. “There’s a lot of business usage as well as a lot of personal usage,” he said. “It serves a dual purpose.” Users want a device that is useful for the various roles they play during the day.

“It’s that blurring of personal and professional life as the day goes on,” he said.

But despite the end-user’s increasing influence, the enterprise still has a say in the architecture of the mobile solution, Perrella said. “Of the mobile system, you’re getting a lot of requirements from the IT department,” Perrella said, with the necessity of being able to shut down and wipe mobile devices if they’re lost or stolen, for example.

Consumer devices come with some security baggage. “It’s still one of the largest inhibitors of deploying a mobile solution,” Perrella said, but that’s largely due to a lack of understanding among IT and business management.

“You can take steps to protect your environment,” he said. Firewalling and using mobile encryption are two examples of simple ways to insulate the network.

The biggest security threat is people, and their lack of common sense practices, he said.