Hey, just saw the iPhone app, AI. A little herky-jerky, but not bad, overall! Good for checking headlines, but not replies (lots of sideways scrolling needed).
As a business iPhone user, we are very happy with all but one thing. VPN has not worked since the 3.1 upit even sdate. The last time it worked was on the 3.1 beta. There is a discussion on Apple's forums about it and I talked to someone at Apple who said the problem was being looked into, but nothing has come of it for four months now. If they want to keep people interested in using the iPhone for business, this needs to be fixed. BTW, the VPN is on an OS X Server.
Try Equinux's VPN Tracker. It supports much better encryption than Apple's basic L2P2 client. We use the Mac OS X version to do AES-256 for phase one and phase two in our office.
On the Mac you can now use the free IPSecuitas client, but for the iPhone your options are severly limited. It's either apple or Equinux. And the Equinux client kills the apple client in features (it even supports Verisign vpn tokens that change the password everytime you login and RADIUS support for integration with LDAP directories).
I am aware of the Enterprise app that Apple has. BES and Systems Management Server can do application pushes, profile management, security enforcement and software updates over the air using a console application. The Apple aaplication doesn't allow you to do this per an application per say; you have to creat profiles and then have the user accept them. . It allows a profile to be pulled over the air; but requires a CA setup (according to Apple's enterprise deployment guide). It's not an integrated console application or web interface.
You are still tethered to iTunes for device activation and for firmware updates. You aparently still need iTunes to install and manage program updates. You can't push an app from your server to the phone directly. Or update the app automatically. You can see how this will create a problem. YOu have to rely on the user to install the app updates or additional apps.
According to Apple's own documentation, http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/...ment_Guide.pdf, on page 64, users must still use iTunes to pull the application and to install it. This is not "hands off management". It still requires the user to do something, which creates downtime, and requires you to hound every user to get the app installed. It is not pushed from a console or directly from the company's servers. YOu know how often a user would bother to update their own off-site windows machines and apps? Never. You would have to design a push update system because they don't know how or won't do it themselvers; quite frankly it's not their job to ensure their system is up to date. It's the IT admins job.
This problem of updating apps and relying on the user creates a big issue with keeping phones in the right configuration all the time. This is NOT an issue with BES or SMS.
How hard could it possibly be to make that change? Really, come on. You can jailbreak these things like snap. Really don't think a company with enough brains would have a problem finding a solution.
This is actually a big deal for some mobile enterprise apps. Particularly for apps where data is entered in the field, you do need to be able to force app updates to the devices, or bug fixes and new releases can be a real nightmare. (It's not such a big deal when you are just pushing data out to devices since it won't screw your database, just individual user data.) You can (you have to) develop around the problem to some extent, but being able to push updates to devices when you want to makes life so much better.
I'm not at all familiar with Apple's enterprise iPhone tools/programs, but this should probably be at or near the top of the list if it can't be done now. I'd also suggest they have some sort of program for smaller companies, say, 50 users, rather than 500. I think there are a lot of companies with between 50 & 500 users (they might have more employees, that's just the number of mobile users for their own apps) that would use iPhones for mobile computing if these 'enterprise' programs were open to them.
It does some limitations but it?s not as bad a Lakorai?s philippic makes it out to be. Your employees don?t need to have iTunes installed; the devices can be given to them pre-built using the iPhone Configuration Tool, a separate app from iTunes. This includes more than profiles, but also apps. This is the preferred method since there will still be employees with problems calling IT and putting in trouble tickets.
Your IT department can remove most, if not all, aspect of the device they wish. The only caveat is that app and OS updates will not be possible remotely. However, I wouldn?t recommend remote OS updates over the air anyway, if it could be done. Like with Windows support for legacy code and large corps still on XP, companies will want to test version of iPhone OS before upgrading and should release updates in a controlled, systematic way.
Being a GSM device and with Exchange holding your info on the DB the best method for many will likely be to have the employee visit IT or have IT visit them with an updated device. Then you only need a SIM switch to be up to date. Of course, if you have allowed your employees to store data locally for personal use then that data would be lost by that method.
Give Apple some more time, each revision gets better and better, and while it?s still not as god as the BB for Mail and other things, it looks to be good enough in those areas to consider, especially when you consider the areas it does excel in and the cost savings over RiM?s expensive services and HW. The recession has played out for Apple?s iPhone advancement. RiM will have to alter it?s pricing and/or business model or risk losing a lot of revenue, even while liking selling more BBs each YoY quarter.
Once larger corporations start making customized applications that simplify workflow, the iPhone will be commonplace. Fortunately the iPhone is much more intuitive than the blackberry and much more capable a device.
The learning curve for end users switching from Blackberrys is still significant - both the keyboard and UI are very different which is fine for people like you and I reading this site, but will present an issue for many.
The Mac itself going into enterprise stands a much better shot when Outlook is released (and hopefully Access eventually).
it's hard to meet the demands of business with a phone created for consumers. Use the apple brain power to come up with a killer iphone for business instead of trying a one size fits all approach.
What I find ironic is people who are obviously clueless about enterprise environments accusing Apple of being "one size fits all" and other idiotic statements. Ya gotta love the Internet...
The Apple aaplication doesn't allow you to do this per an application per say; you have to creat profiles and then have the user accept them. . It allows a profile to be pulled over the air; but requires a CA setup (according to Apple's enterprise deployment guide). It's not an integrated console application or web interface.
You are still tethered to iTunes for device activation and for firmware updates. You aparently still need iTunes to install and manage program updates. You can't push an app from your server to the phone directly. Or update the app automatically. You can see how this will create a problem. YOu have to rely on the user to install the app updates or additional apps.
You can bet Apple is working with Microsoft and this will more than likely be addressed in the next version of the iPhone OS and ActiveSync. It took RIM almost a decade to add over the air provisioning. I'd be willing to bet Apple will do it in 4. We should know within six months or so
I still wish my iPhone would sync with iTunes over WiFi too
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As a business iPhone user, we are very happy with all but one thing. VPN has not worked since the 3.1 upit even sdate. The last time it worked was on the 3.1 beta. There is a discussion on Apple's forums about it and I talked to someone at Apple who said the problem was being looked into, but nothing has come of it for four months now. If they want to keep people interested in using the iPhone for business, this needs to be fixed. BTW, the VPN is on an OS X Server.
Try Equinux's VPN Tracker. It supports much better encryption than Apple's basic L2P2 client. We use the Mac OS X version to do AES-256 for phase one and phase two in our office.
On the Mac you can now use the free IPSecuitas client, but for the iPhone your options are severly limited. It's either apple or Equinux. And the Equinux client kills the apple client in features (it even supports Verisign vpn tokens that change the password everytime you login and RADIUS support for integration with LDAP directories).
I am aware of the Enterprise app that Apple has. BES and Systems Management Server can do application pushes, profile management, security enforcement and software updates over the air using a console application. The Apple aaplication doesn't allow you to do this per an application per say; you have to creat profiles and then have the user accept them. . It allows a profile to be pulled over the air; but requires a CA setup (according to Apple's enterprise deployment guide). It's not an integrated console application or web interface.
You are still tethered to iTunes for device activation and for firmware updates. You aparently still need iTunes to install and manage program updates. You can't push an app from your server to the phone directly. Or update the app automatically. You can see how this will create a problem. YOu have to rely on the user to install the app updates or additional apps.
According to Apple's own documentation, http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/...ment_Guide.pdf, on page 64, users must still use iTunes to pull the application and to install it. This is not "hands off management". It still requires the user to do something, which creates downtime, and requires you to hound every user to get the app installed. It is not pushed from a console or directly from the company's servers. YOu know how often a user would bother to update their own off-site windows machines and apps? Never. You would have to design a push update system because they don't know how or won't do it themselvers; quite frankly it's not their job to ensure their system is up to date. It's the IT admins job.
This problem of updating apps and relying on the user creates a big issue with keeping phones in the right configuration all the time. This is NOT an issue with BES or SMS.
How hard could it possibly be to make that change? Really, come on. You can jailbreak these things like snap. Really don't think a company with enough brains would have a problem finding a solution.
This is actually a big deal for some mobile enterprise apps. Particularly for apps where data is entered in the field, you do need to be able to force app updates to the devices, or bug fixes and new releases can be a real nightmare. (It's not such a big deal when you are just pushing data out to devices since it won't screw your database, just individual user data.) You can (you have to) develop around the problem to some extent, but being able to push updates to devices when you want to makes life so much better.
I'm not at all familiar with Apple's enterprise iPhone tools/programs, but this should probably be at or near the top of the list if it can't be done now. I'd also suggest they have some sort of program for smaller companies, say, 50 users, rather than 500. I think there are a lot of companies with between 50 & 500 users (they might have more employees, that's just the number of mobile users for their own apps) that would use iPhones for mobile computing if these 'enterprise' programs were open to them.
It does some limitations but it?s not as bad a Lakorai?s philippic makes it out to be. Your employees don?t need to have iTunes installed; the devices can be given to them pre-built using the iPhone Configuration Tool, a separate app from iTunes. This includes more than profiles, but also apps. This is the preferred method since there will still be employees with problems calling IT and putting in trouble tickets.
Your IT department can remove most, if not all, aspect of the device they wish. The only caveat is that app and OS updates will not be possible remotely. However, I wouldn?t recommend remote OS updates over the air anyway, if it could be done. Like with Windows support for legacy code and large corps still on XP, companies will want to test version of iPhone OS before upgrading and should release updates in a controlled, systematic way.
Being a GSM device and with Exchange holding your info on the DB the best method for many will likely be to have the employee visit IT or have IT visit them with an updated device. Then you only need a SIM switch to be up to date. Of course, if you have allowed your employees to store data locally for personal use then that data would be lost by that method.
Give Apple some more time, each revision gets better and better, and while it?s still not as god as the BB for Mail and other things, it looks to be good enough in those areas to consider, especially when you consider the areas it does excel in and the cost savings over RiM?s expensive services and HW. The recession has played out for Apple?s iPhone advancement. RiM will have to alter it?s pricing and/or business model or risk losing a lot of revenue, even while liking selling more BBs each YoY quarter.
The learning curve for end users switching from Blackberrys is still significant - both the keyboard and UI are very different which is fine for people like you and I reading this site, but will present an issue for many.
The Mac itself going into enterprise stands a much better shot when Outlook is released (and hopefully Access eventually).
it's hard to meet the demands of business with a phone created for consumers. Use the apple brain power to come up with a killer iphone for business instead of trying a one size fits all approach.
Yup, your absolutely right, Apple is totally clueless when it comes to the Enterprise.
What I find ironic is people who are obviously clueless about enterprise environments accusing Apple of being "one size fits all" and other idiotic statements. Ya gotta love the Internet...
The Apple aaplication doesn't allow you to do this per an application per say; you have to creat profiles and then have the user accept them. . It allows a profile to be pulled over the air; but requires a CA setup (according to Apple's enterprise deployment guide). It's not an integrated console application or web interface.
You are still tethered to iTunes for device activation and for firmware updates. You aparently still need iTunes to install and manage program updates. You can't push an app from your server to the phone directly. Or update the app automatically. You can see how this will create a problem. YOu have to rely on the user to install the app updates or additional apps.
You can bet Apple is working with Microsoft and this will more than likely be addressed in the next version of the iPhone OS and ActiveSync. It took RIM almost a decade to add over the air provisioning. I'd be willing to bet Apple will do it in 4. We should know within six months or so
I still wish my iPhone would sync with iTunes over WiFi too