Smart Policies for Personal-Liable Smartphones

With sleek designs and a variety of user-friendly features, smartphones have implanted themselves on the public's consciousness-so much so that one leading industry research firm reports that a record 54.5 million such mobile devices were shipped in the fourth quarter last year. With sales rising nearly 40 percent over the same quarter in 2008, the message is clear: Smartphones are hot, and not just for mobile workers. Indeed, consumers have latched on to the smartphone concept. In the third quarter of 2009, for example, about half of BlackBerry smartphones shipped to consumers. Take a look next time you're going about your weekend activities. Chances are your neighbor, bridge partner or child's soccer coach has swapped out his or her plain old cell phone for a snazzy, sophisticated new smartphone.