Apple's iPhone devices are about "fashion rather than functionality", and BlackBerry devices are better tailored for the enterprise, according to law firm DWF's CTO, Richard Hodkinson.
Hodkinson told Computing that the firm has many agile workers in its 13 UK locations, meaning that it needed a mobile strategy in place to support its staff.
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He said that the firm gives BlackBerrys to agile workers or other staff entitled to a mobile, unless they are a partner in the firm in which case they would get a choice of a BlackBerry or iPhone.
"Through a choice of fashion rather than functionality we've had a lot more of [Apple's devices] on the enterprise than any other, so we'll supply and support both iOS and BlackBerry devices on our bring your own scheme," he said.
DWF will also allow staff to bring in Android phones, but users will have to sign a disclaimer and install mobile device management software from MobileIron onto the device.
"It's a bit of paper for us that says we reserve the right to blow their machine away if it's compromised," he said.
Hodkinson said that while some partners are comfortable using BlackBerrys, the majority prefer the iPhone.
"In the legal space there is a little bit of ‘looking the part', the credibility and stylistic features of the way we conduct business - so the iPhone seems to be a product choice at partner grade," he said.
Hodkinson, however, prefers BlackBerrys because they are cheaper, functionally rich and easier to manage from a security and corporate control perspective.
"I don't think anything has come close to matching [BlackBerry], the deployment of MobileIron on iOS has been a bit of a catch-up, and it satisfies the brief, but the BlackBerry for the vast majority of people who are on the move, and where status is less of an issue, is a fabulous device.
"It keeps staff in touch, it's inexpensive to run whereas the cost of an iOS device is not insignificant, you're getting close to [the price of] desktop devices," he stated.
The law firm currently issues BlackBerry Curve and Bold devices to staff, which have always been priced lower than Apple's iPhone. However, BlackBerry's latest Z10 phone is being sold for £469.95 SIM free at Carphone Warehouse, which offers Apple's latest iPhone (5) for £499.95, showing that the price difference is narrowing.
But Hodkinson said that when the firm's current BlackBerrys come to the end of their contracts, DWF will replace them with the latest BlackBerry device.
Android, on the other hand, is something that Hodkinson believes will not be offered to DWF staff.
"We don't have a policy of supplying Android devices, there seems to be so many flavours of Android that it seems to be nonsense really," he said.
