IT contractors may be asked to help companies incorporate iPhones into their business networks.

According to reports from Bloomberg, JP Morgan may soon be allowing employees to use the iPhone for corporate emailing, making it the first alternative to the BlackBerry in terms of smartphone business use.

The firm is supposedly testing viability and security on a batch of a few hundred handsets.

Reacting to the news, the editor at Mobile Business Heather McLean said that this was an indication that the iPhone is beginning to seriously challenge the BlackBerry in the corporate world.

"More companies are switching over to iPhone from more traditionally business functional handsets, like Blackberry and Nokia's E-series phones," she said.

Ms McLean went on to say that such a move tends to be popular with employees, as they prefer the "cooler" Apple device, but it is unusual to see a major banking group switching over to the handset.