Apple Inc.'s iPhone has always had something of an image problem in the workplace, which isn't surprising given that Apple has always marketed its smartphone more to consumers than to the business world.
In fact, when the iPhone debuted in 2007, there was no way to put third-party apps on one without jailbreaking the device, it didn't support 3G data networks, it didn't integrate with Microsoft's Exchange, and you had to use iTunes to activate it initially and back up or sync data later on. Plus, there were security concerns, since there was no way to require a passcode, encrypt business data or remotely wipe an iPhone if it was lost or stolen.
A lot has changed for the iPhone, its operating system and the smartphone industry as a whole in three years. For people who want to use the iPhone at work and the IT departments that support them, the changes have been good. In fact, some of the major updates in each new iteration of the iPhone operating system (now called iOS) were the ones that made it easier to manage and secure Apple's mobile platform.
With each passing summer, Apple has polished the business and enterprise features of iOS. It has added Exchange support, support for remote wipe, security and configuration policies (either through Exchange or with configuration profiles that can be loaded onto each device), VPN options and encryption -- both whole-device encryption on the iPhone 3GS and targeted app data encryption in iOS 4.
While each of the changes was an improvement, it wasn't until this year's arrival of iOS 4 -- and the iPhone 4 itself -- in June that Apple included a new mobile device management (MDM) service that companies could use. As a result, businesses finally got something sorely needed for enterprise iPhone adoption to make sense: the ability to more easily deploy, manage and monitor iPhones used by employees -- a capability that has long made Research In Motion's BlackBerry one of the most trusted mobile platforms.
Note: Although iOS 4 has been rolled out for the iPhone, the iPad won't get the operating system upgrade until this fall.
Third-party vendors are part of the equation