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Smartphone - smart choice or security risk?

Over the past couple of years there has been an increase in the use of smartphones like the Blackberry or iPhone. People tend to use them for receiving email, internet browsing as well as making phone calls. But are they susceptible to security breaches?

Barack Obama - a self confessed Blackberry addict - was forced to switch to a Windows based Sectera Edge Smartphone when he became US president, since apparently there is something lacking in the security of the everyday blackberry. However he will be able to get his hands on the so-called 'BarackBerry' (Blackberry 8830 International) with its enhanced security that meets the National Security Agency standard very soon. So if the US government seem to think that Blackberrys are not secure enough should regular users worry? Possibly not - I guess my latest mail to my friends is not an issue of national security, but client sensitive information is obviously a worry for any business. So should we be thinking twice about what we send over our smart phones?

A recent BBC News article suggested that once a certain amount of the population share smartphones with the same operating system then widespread mobile phone viruses will start to spread. I suppose it is similar to the first computer viruses that only infected Windows based operating systems, rather than the Apple Mac. Once sales get to a level which scammers believe will be of benefit to them then we may see many more viruses affecting unsecured smartphones.

What do you think? Is security such a buzz word these days that everyone is overly sensitive to its use?