Biglaw, Money, Perks / Fringe Benefits, Shopping, Technology

A Clarification About iPhones at Skadden (and Open Thread on Tech Allowances)

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On Friday, we reported that if you’re at Skadden, you can use your $3,000 technology allowance to buy an iPhone. We now have some clarifications about that good news.
From a Skadden source:

1. While you can use your tech allowance to buy just about anything “tech-y” at Skadden, the tech dept has made it clear that the iPhone is NOT compatible with Skadden tech infrastructure. See below [posting reproduced after the jump].

2. The iPhone isn’t excluded [from the tech allowance], but since you’re basically required to have a Blackberry for business purchases, they would likely frown on purchasing both a Blackberry (the monthly Blackberry service comes out of the tech allowance) and an iPhone (where the entire monthly phone-data package would likely be redundant).

3. What’s the point of having two devices strapped to your hip? Isn’t one enough? As soon as a reliable Blackberry client comes out for the iPhone, I think demand will force the tech folks to support the iPhone. Right now don’t even bother asking to get your Skadden email working on an iPhone.

We thank our tipster for explaining these finer points.
In the comments to our prior post, people expressed an interest in a forum for discussing workplace perks — i.e., “the fringe benefits that vary between Biglaw firms — tech allowances, book allowances, gym memberships, home loans, etc.”
We’re happy to oblige. But let’s do this in an organized way. Over the next week or so, we’ll put up a series of posts on fringe benefits, with each post dedicated to discussion of a specific type of perk.
Let’s get the ball rolling. Please treat this post as the open thread for discussion of technology allowances. Thanks.


SKADDEN ARPS SLATE MEAGHER & FLOM – MEMO RE: iPHONE
Apple iPhone to be released
The Apple “iPhone” is scheduled to be released on Friday, June 29th through AT&T (formerly Cingular) and Apple. This device is a media player (video and audio), web browser and a mobile phone.
We have received many inquiries about using this device both as a phone and to access Skadden e-mail. At this time, Apple has no plans to provide a corporate email client with the device. Therefore, it will not be able to access Skadden e-mail systems. While this may be an interesting replacement for an aging iPod, it is not currently a viable replacement for a BlackBerry.
For additional articles regarding the iPhone, refer to:
Wall Street Journal article
David Pogue New York Times article
posted at 10:30AM 7/05 by [Skadden Tech Department Person Redacted]
Earlier: Skadden Raises To… iPhones!

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