Less than a third of businesses support iPhones

Less than a third (29 per cent) of IT decision makers say their departments are fully geared up to support the use of iPhones in their businesses.

So claims research by Vanson Bourne, which shows 65 per cent of those surveyed are concerned about unauthorised users accessing data if an iPhone is lost or stolen.

That said, worryingly 64 per cent have not put into place security steps to protect against threats targeted at the iPhone. Most cited the fact that they aren't widely used in business as the reason.

A little more than half (52 per cent) are concerned about the threat of downloading apps to the iPhone, while 40 per cent of respondents said they are worried about the threat of users downloading company data without the IT department knowing.

One in 10 IT decision makers believe that the iPhone is not as good an email tool as the BlackBerry, and they only want to manage one form of device. Some 14 per cent have banned the use of smartphones altogether for work purposes.

"We know that the consumerisation of corporate IT is an increasing problem for IT departments," said Sacha Charvin, managing director of survey sponsor DeviceLock, in a statement.

"The amount of removable and mobile memory-enabled devices that employees have on their person at any one time is quite considerable be it a USB stick or an iPhone," he added.