Apple to take mass device deployment program live with iOS 7.1 as launch date looms

Posted:
in iPhone edited March 2014
With Apple's mass iOS deployment intentions revealed, early testers of the service are reporting a smooth rollout of features that sources say will go live once iOS 7.1 is released later in March.

MDM


According to people familiar with Apple's mobile device management (MDM) overhaul, the most recent iOS 7.1 beta build released in February incorporates all functionality of the company's mass deployment initiative.

As announced through Apple's IT website last week, the company has rolled out a large-scale iOS device deployment and management service for enterprise and educational institutions. AppleInsider was first to report on the changes, which have since gone live, last month.

Once iOS 7.1 is released, MDM vendors and institutional clients will have access to a number of new features outlined on Apple's iPhone in Business and IT in the Classroom webpages. One of the major features is a new Web-based enrollment program that streamlines the verification process for businesses and educational institutions.

New device deployment and management features include "zero-touch configuration" for automating MDM over wireless communications, remote supervision of deployed devices, a streamlined setup assistant and various security measures, among others.

Educational institutions are especially excited for the new MDM program to roll out, the person said. With the new features and services, schools will have greater control over devices handed out to students. Not only does the enhanced implementation allow for ease of deployment, but the granular management tools can prevent situations like the L.A. Unified School District snafu, where students bypassed supervision profiles to access prohibited Web content.

As part of the Deployment Programs initiative, the latest OS X Server 3.1 Preview issued to developers on Monday contained Profile Manager additions that enable MDM features required for DEP functionality, like Activation Lock Bypass Code retrieval.

While speculation, the inclusion of MDM functionality in the recent iOS 7.1 beta, as well as the OS X Server 3.1 Preview, suggest Apple may be nearing a release for its latest iOS update.

Apple has not yet announced a ship date for iOS 7.1, but recent rumblings point to an imminent launch. On Tuesday, the well-connected John Gruber of Daring Fireball said a "little birdie" told him that Apple will update its iTunes Festival app to stream live concerts from the SXSW music festival and conference, which starts on Friday. The app update supposedly requires iOS 7.1, meaning the mobile OS could see release "any day now."

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    gearfitgearfit Posts: 4member

    I'm a very strong apple fan but samsung is just tempting me right now:

     

    image

  • Reply 2 of 10
    /s
  • Reply 3 of 10
    -
  • Reply 4 of 10
    freediverxfreediverx Posts: 1,423member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by GearFit View Post

     

    I'm a very strong apple fan but samsung is just tempting me right now:

     


     

    Wow, classic Astroturfing. User profile created minutes ago. Fake Apple praise followed by Samsung plug for crappy product nobody will ever buy.

  • Reply 5 of 10
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    SXSW stars Friday, but the US iTunes Festival doesn't begin until next week. Correct?
  • Reply 6 of 10
    pmzpmz Posts: 3,433member

    Hopefully today is the day. Previous .1 releases have come out Wednesdays.

  • Reply 7 of 10
    inklinginkling Posts: 768member
    Quote: "With the new features and services, schools will have greater control over devices handed out to students."

    Ah yes, the memories of high school that brings back. We didn't have gadgets like iPads back then. But looking back, I can recall in the first half of the 1960s the early symptoms of what torments us today--schools obsessed with "greater control" of their students.

    Oddly, that wasn't true of my grade school in the happy latter-1950s. Then, I could and did carry anything I wanted to school, including a pocket knife. We weren't punished for having real knives, sharp ones with points. We knew what not to do with them.

    It was nothing like today where a toy soldier with a tiny plastic rifle brings punishment or nibbling a taco into a gun shape, or a little girl merely talking about a 'gun' that blows bubbles. I'm starting to get the impression that utter idiocy is now the first requirement for being a school principal and an obsession with control the second.

    Play was more fun too. Recess really was a recess from adult supervision. We played what we wanted, including really fun games that are banned today. I doubt our teachers even looked out at us playing. Why should they? You don't need to teach kids how to play.

    What we're in now is a terrible downward spiral. Distant events are used to justify ever more draconian rules empty of any good sense. Treated as helpless and stupid, kids never get a chance to learn self-control and responsibility. They never really grow up.

    That's why the Democrats have political ads for "Judith" and "PJ Boy." (Google them if you don't know.) It's why under Obamacare ("Obama is caring for you because you can't care for yourself") someone 26 years old must still be on mommy's insurance and not raising a family of his own. And the end result will bear a remarkable resemblance to the carefully controlled society in Huxley's Brave New World.

    No, I don't think Apple understands this. An interest in deep social currents doesn't usually share the same mind with an obsession with the newest gadget. But it could at least try to understand what's going on and not be quite as eager to dish out "greater control" to school officials when there's already too much top-down control already and too little self-discipline.

    Am I a bit much? Hardly. Try to recall an Apple ad that didn't center on child-like young adults playing. Yes, there are some, but not many. It's almost always a world where adults jump around impulsively like little kids in a preschool.
  • Reply 8 of 10
    inkling wrote: »
    Quote: "With the new features and services, schools will have greater control over devices handed out to students."

    Ah yes, the memories of high school that brings back. We didn't have gadgets like iPads back then. But looking back, I can recall in the first half of the 1960s the early symptoms of what torments us today--schools obsessed with "greater control" of their students.

    Oddly, that wasn't true of my grade school in the happy latter-1950s. Then, I could and did carry anything I wanted to school, including a pocket knife. We weren't punished for having real knives, sharp ones with points. We knew what not to do with them.

    It was nothing like today where a toy soldier with a tiny plastic rifle brings punishment or nibbling a taco into a gun shape, or a little girl merely talking about a 'gun' that blows bubbles. I'm starting to get the impression that utter idiocy is now the first requirement for being a school principal and an obsession with control the second.

    Play was more fun too. Recess really was a recess from adult supervision. We played what we wanted, including really fun games that are banned today. I doubt our teachers even looked out at us playing. Why should they? You don't need to teach kids how to play.

    What we're in now is a terrible downward spiral. Distant events are used to justify ever more draconian rules empty of any good sense. Treated as helpless and stupid, kids never get a chance to learn self-control and responsibility. They never really grow up.

    That's why the Democrats have political ads for "Judith" and "PJ Boy." (Google them if you don't know.) It's why under Obamacare ("Obama is caring for you because you can't care for yourself") someone 26 years old must still be on mommy's insurance and not raising a family of his own. And the end result will bear a remarkable resemblance to the carefully controlled society in Huxley's Brave New World.

    No, I don't think Apple understands this. An interest in deep social currents doesn't usually share the same mind with an obsession with the newest gadget. But it could at least try to understand what's going on and not be quite as eager to dish out "greater control" to school officials when there's already too much top-down control already and too little self-discipline.

    Am I a bit much? Hardly. Try to recall an Apple ad that didn't center on child-like young adults playing. Yes, there are some, but not many. It's almost always a world where adults jump around impulsively like little kids in a preschool.

    Nice observation. Adults are becoming more child-like. The world is becoming too easy.
  • Reply 9 of 10
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post

    We knew what not to do with them.

     

    How far we’ve all fallen. :no::(

     
    Am I a bit much? Hardly.



    Brings a tear to my eye.

     

    It's almost always a world where adults jump around impulsively like little kids in a preschool.


     

    I’m not sure I buy all that about their ads, though. Thank heavens, at least, we have Microsoft to show actual idiots jumping around.

  • Reply 10 of 10
    mrboba1mrboba1 Posts: 276member

    LOL - you have to be kidding.

     

    Quote:


    Originally Posted by Inkling View Post



    Play was more fun too. Recess really was a recess from adult supervision. We played what we wanted, including really fun games that are banned today.


    Yeah, fun for a few of you who berate and alienate the others who seem "weaker" or "different" than you. That was a blast.

     

    Quote:


     It's why under Obamacare ("Obama is caring for you because you can't care for yourself") someone 26 years old must still be on mommy's insurance and not raising a family of his own. And the end result will bear a remarkable resemblance to the carefully controlled society in Huxley's Brave New World.


     

    Of course you went there. Because all the world's ills are because of healthcare for all. Forget that it's still run by the for-profit folks looking to nickel and dime anywhere they can. No one must still be on "mommy's insurance" when they're 26. But God forbid, someone go to grad school to get one of these "better jobs" instead of working as a teller in a bank and barely scrape by, only dreaming of being able to get those 6-figure jobs and stay on their family's insurance, to save some money to keep going to school. And what is the alternative, I notice you don't ask? Well, since the avg grad student makes about 20k if they are an RA, they could probably file for Medicaid. Which do you like better, hmm?

     

    Never will I understand why some seem to think that allowing people access to healthcare means that the world is addicted to some "government teet"

     

Sign In or Register to comment.