Yesterday I was having a conversation with someone about the iPhone configuration utility and heard a comment asking why the iPhone allows settings to be emailed to the device. What they meant was that if your device is un-configured it wouldn’t have any email accounts to receive the settings – a chicken and egg kinda thing.
The simple answer is for ongoing maintenance of the config. Sure it’ll be easier to deploy an initial setup using other means – the web for example. But if you already have iPhones out in the field email should be a good delivery method for applying changes.
One thing to consider there though is training your users not to install configuration profiles that are marked as un-trusted, or that they are not expecting. After all, anyone can download the config utilities and email out profiles.