With the iPhone rapidly becoming an accepted business\u00a0phone for many companies, I\u2019ve been interested to read about the changes that the forthcoming iPhone 4 and iOS 4 will bring.<\/p>\n
To be honest there isn\u2019t a huge amount of info out there, but the info that is available is quite positive.\u00a0 There\u2019s a page on apple.com<\/a> with some basic details.\u00a0 The main areas that Apple seem to be addressing are security and management, both of which have been question marks in the past.\u00a0 Specifically the talk about:<\/p>\n Data Protection This is good news, but I still think Apple need to be clearer about exactly what sort of encryption is used etc.\u00a0 The 3GS\u2019s are meant to be encrypted, but there\u2019s pretty strong indications that this isn\u2019t quite as strong as you would hope [1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>].\u00a0 If Apple can get this right it\u2019ll open a lot of doors from them in business, as they’re still some way behind RIM’s Blackberry and Microsoft’s Windows Phone platforms.\u00a0\u00a0 Both of these offer significantly more control over encryption, and in combination with device management tools can both be configured to accredited security levels (up to ‘RESTRICTED’ I believe).<\/p>\n Mobile Device Management To their credit Apple have supported a level of device management for a while through their implementation of Microsoft’s ActiveSync.\u00a0 This at least allows basic policy enforcement on devices connecting in through Exchange.\u00a0 By providing more complete API\u2019s into a management interface however hopefully iPhones will begin to support a much wider range of management features.\u00a0 The obvious gaps currently are around password\/pin polices, encryption and granular control of features and functionality.\u00a0 There are a number of products in the market to manage mobile devices [1<\/a>, 2<\/a>, 3<\/a>], so hopefully we\u2019ll see these begin to support the iPhone as well.<\/p>\n Wireless App Distribution This has the potential to unlock the iPhone\/iPad to a new group of developers.\u00a0 Previously it\u2019s been quite tricky to develop in house Line of Business applications, \u00a0and critically, to distribute them out to a fleet of devices.\u00a0 The ability to deploy in-house apps over the air will make this much more attractive to organisations.\u00a0<\/p>\n SSL VPN Support VPN support is obviously a nice thing to have, but I\u2019d be interested to hear how often this is used.\u00a0 In a world where you\u2019re developing and using internal applications it\u2019ll be a very useful tool if those aren’t published to the internet, but for basic email etc generally the existing ActiveSync connection probably offers enough transport security.\u00a0 I guess web access policies could also influence the use of VPN\u2019s if you wanted to force your users through a company proxy server of some sort.<\/p>\n Improved Mail Again, I think the mail changes are more \u2018nice to haves\u2019 rather than significant improvements to the business features.\u00a0 Though the unified inbox is very well implemented when you see it in use.\u00a0 With the support for multiple ActiveSync accounts, it will be interesting to see how they have implemented the policy management.\u00a0 If you have two ActiveSync connections, each with difference policy enforcement settings, which one wins?\u00a0 Is it whichever is more secure?\u00a0 If so who decided what the more secure value is?\u00a0 I also wonder if this could potentially allow information to leak from one system to another.\u00a0 If mail is synced from one company onto the iPhone, could it then potentially be synced back down to a separate mailbox with the iPhone acting as a hub?\u00a0 I can see how that might be useful for personal contacts, but for potentially sensitive emails etc, it could be a problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With the iPhone rapidly becoming an accepted business tool for many companies, I\u2019ve been interested to read about the changes that the forthcoming iPhone 4 and iOS 4 will 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Security enhancements in iPhone OS 4 protect email messages and attachments stored on iPhone 3GS by using the device passcode as an encryption key. New data protection APIs can be used for custom and commercial apps so that business-critical information is protected even if a device is compromised.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
Deploying and managing large iPhone fleets will be even easier with iPhone OS 4. New Mobile Device Management APIs can be integrated with third-party solutions to wirelessly configure and update settings, monitor compliance with corporate policies, and even wipe or lock managed iPhone devices.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
iPhone OS 4 enables enterprises to securely host and wirelessly distribute in-house apps to employees over Wi-Fi and 3G. Apps can be updated without requiring users to connect to their computers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
SSL VPN support in iPhone OS 4 gives users another way to securely access enterprise resources. These new protocols can even be leveraged to connect seamlessly to a corporate network via VPN on Demand. Forthcoming apps from Juniper and Cisco will support SSL VPN on iPhone.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
iPhone OS 4 allows users to set up multiple Exchange ActiveSync accounts and now works with Exchange Server 2010. With the new unified inbox feature, users can see messages from all their email accounts conveniently displayed in a single inbox, or they can quickly switch between inboxes to see messages from any single account. If users receive an attachment that they want to save or edit, Mail now lets you open attachments with compatible apps from the App Store.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n