It's still early in MacRae's big experiment, but he can already see problem areas. For instance, MacRae worries that he might one day need a document or e-mail from the archives that aren't on his BlackBerry but on his computer back home. Or he might be unable to modify an important attachment.

Compatibility Is Where You Run Afoul

Dulaney says that MacRae's worries are the tip of the iceberg. Gartner recommends companies don't go this route, in part because users may run afoul of IT policies and face compatibility and performance issues.

As to IT policy, Gartner tells companies to require users to view all company e-mails and attachments on a PC or laptop. That's because smartphones might not convert attachments properly. Even Documents to Go doesn't run all the macros, Dulaney says, and thus you might not be able to see the document fully.

With performance, just try giving presentations on a BlackBerry. "Performance is going to be slow," Dulaney says, "and you won't be able to run all the software." Hiccups in a sales presentation, of course, can be deal killers.

The biggest problem, though, concerns compatibility. Consider iPhone OS, which runs a shrunken version of OS X. There are some layers of OS X that simply don't run on the iPhone. "Compatibility is always a problem because of the nature of running different operating systems with different utilities on different platforms," Dulaney says.

Data in slideshows, Excel spreadsheets and Word documents might be viewable on a smartphone, but the additional extensions and functionality may not be there. Even the viewing of Windows Office content can be tricky because Windows Office wasn't built to be scaled down and viewed on a small smartphone screen.

"Sure you could hook up a keyboard, power supply and larger screen to an iPhone and run Office—in theory, at least—but have you gained anything?" Dulaney asks. "You'd probably be better off with a laptop or netbook."

But Dulaney does say that the smartphone-desktop combo can work in some cases, particularly for European business folks who do a lot of day trips and have access to Internet kiosks. Here in the U.S., though, business folks tend to do more overnight trips.

"The more you stay away from your desk," Dulaney says, "the more difficulty you're going to have."

Got a different take? Send me an email at tkaneshige@cio.com. Or follow me on Twitter @kaneshige. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline.