Between 2,500 and 3,000 EU Commission workers are to be equipped with iPhone and HTC devices in a new move that will see Eurocrats move away from BlackBerry devices.
According to reports, the European Commission chose the iPhone and HTC device families because unlike Research in Motion, which controls its own networks, they don’t have a proprietary, encrypted server through which email is transmitted and thereby providing the EU with greater control over mobile data traffic.
Governments such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and India have threatened to shut down BlackBerry services in their countries on national security grounds because it encrypts its data traffic.
Until recently, the European Commission’s staff used PDAs made by Qtek, which is now owned by HTC.
The move fits in with the increasing consumerisation of IT, whereby staff more than ever are tailoring their own IT equipment requirements at work to their own preferences and private use of IT.
