iPhone gets ActiveSync support for Exchange

As was hinted at some days ago, the Cupertino crew decided that the iPhone was finally ready for prime time in belt clips around the nation. Well, great news friends, Enterprise to Apple means Microsoft Exchange and ActiveSync support. We can expect features like Push mail and Contacts, Global Address List, Cisco IPsec VPN, authentication via certificate, and even remote wipe. Also on the table is Salesforce.com's Sales Force Automation CRM Application (SFA) and they've even thrown in support for maps. When can we get our greedy little hands on this you ask? As soon as the next iPhone firmware update rolls out, that's when.

[Pretty Boy @ Mar 6th 2008 1:12PM]

It's about time.

[Nabil @ Mar 6th 2008 3:43PM]

Ya, It's about time I stopped jerry-rigging my CEO's iPhone to work with exchange.

[OneLove @ Mar 6th 2008 4:29PM]

iphone is fo bitches!

[SPARTEN II @ Mar 6th 2008 1:20PM]

Nice, I can finally connect to my university's WiFi network with my iPhone.

[Steffen Jobbs @ Mar 6th 2008 1:22PM]

The US(S) enterprise will never be the same. The iPhone will boldly go where no smartphone has gone before. ..... I'm just joking.

However, I'm sure that once decent apps are written for it, it will be an invaluable tool for road warriors.

[Wisam @ Mar 6th 2008 2:04PM]

Man, that was hilarious!

[Steffen Jobbs @ Mar 7th 2008 9:41AM]

They low rank people for no good reasons at all.

[dan @ Mar 6th 2008 1:26PM]

Awesome. I use my phone primarily for web browsing (reason i switched from cingular 8525, to iphone), but i also do quite a few ebay auctions and like to quickly answer questions. The iphone sucks for email. I set it to check every 15 minutes (which sucks compared to my old pushmail). However, it doesn't even really do that. It rarely checks my email. It seems to do it only when i'm using the phone. This will be great. I'll just have to tell everyone to go back to my old email address. Thats always fun.

[shadow @ Mar 6th 2008 1:31PM]

when iphone gets 3g service, a fully released SDK (read 3rd party apps)32g (16g is not bad) and a blackberry clinet.... this will be a good device.

[andy @ Mar 6th 2008 2:38PM]

I like keyboards ala ATT Tilt, but I also prefer that they slide out on teh proper side and have the stylus in your right hand, not your left.


If they make an enterprise version iphone with 3g and a keyboard, I'll buy. Whatever the price. It's worth it.

[Nabil @ Mar 6th 2008 3:41PM]

whatever dude...the iPhone is not for Enterprise squares like you...it's for cool people like us Apple fanboys.

Cool people don't use Blackberry and/or Exchange. They use Gmail.

[AdamY @ Mar 6th 2008 3:51PM]

Why will you need Blackberry Connect software?

I mean, BES runs on top of MS Exchange anyways, so if you've got a BES you, most likely, have access to the features of Exchange which are essentially the same as BBs. I suppose you could argue that BB's e-mail client is superior to Exchange's, but we'd be using Apple's client, but with an ActiveSync to Exchange.

[Sam Winter @ Mar 7th 2008 3:36AM]

"when the iphone gets an SDK"
Um.. thats exactly what finally came out today, even if beta.

[Christian @ Mar 6th 2008 1:38PM]

Yet another bad day at RIM, thanks to the iPhone.

[gfar @ Mar 6th 2008 2:16PM]

False, RIM has devices with replaceable batteries. Tell a C level exec they have to be tethered for their phone call because you can't swap a battery. See what they say.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Mar 6th 2008 2:50PM]

Yet another? RIM devices have seen record sales ever since the iPhone was released. Thus far, all the iPhone hype has done nothing to RIM but increase interest in their devices. This announcement might hurt RIM, but that remains to be seen. If the trend continues as it has been though, this is great news for RIM, because it just means more hype for smartphones in general, where they seem to stack up pretty well against every device.

[snitch @ Mar 6th 2008 2:54PM]

@Gfar Dude are you saying blackberry users carry batteries in their pockets all the time?????? yeah right,

[Jeff Daniels @ Mar 28th 2008 8:45AM]

The fact that the iPhone doesn't have a replaceable battery is pointless. The battery in any portable device will far outlast the device itself. I'm sick and tired of people who don't have a clue about the iphone pulling out this argument because it's the only one they can come up with. You spend a day with the iPhone I'd bet you'd be hooked.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Mar 6th 2008 3:13PM]

No snitch, what most heavy phone users do is charge one battery, while they are using the other. That way, when your battery gets low, you just pop out the old one, pop in the new one, and you only ever have a few seconds of downtime, instead of having to sit there waiting for the phone to charge.

[gfar @ Mar 6th 2008 7:51PM]

Go to a conference with your iPhone, enable wifi, bluetooth, and use it all the time to keep in touch with the office. Remember we're talking about business use with an exchange server.

I'll do the same with my BlackBerry and bring an extra battery for it. I'll be mobile in the afternoon, and you'll be looking for a plug.

[saq @ Mar 6th 2008 1:42PM]

Hmm contacts calendar and email, but no tasks with Exchange Activesync? Something smells fishy here.

These are features that should have been available at launch imo.

[Chris @ Mar 6th 2008 1:53PM]

No tasks? Instantly useless.
Am I the only person around who uses the tasks lists way more often than the calendar?

[Khris @ Mar 6th 2008 1:46PM]

Come on everybody, let's all stand together and wave good bye to Palm!! She's about to sink beneath the water for good.

[Sam Winter @ Mar 7th 2008 3:38AM]

hahahah

[Khris @ Mar 6th 2008 1:46PM]

Come on everybody, let's all stand together and wave good bye to Palm!! She's about to sink beneath the water for good.

[bob e @ Mar 6th 2008 2:01PM]

I take pleasure in the fact Apple will be paying Microsoft royalties on each iPhone sold :>

[Scott @ Mar 6th 2008 4:58PM]

Somehow I think that pales in comparison to the amount music PC users have bought from iTunes.

[Carl Vitullo @ Mar 6th 2008 9:39PM]

iTunes downloads != activesync royalties.
Microsoft doesn't pay Apple for every song bought.

[Carl Vitullo @ Mar 6th 2008 9:39PM]

iTunes downloads != activesync royalties.
Microsoft doesn't pay Apple for every song bought.

[Joel Escutia @ Mar 6th 2008 2:02PM]

So when is it coming out? Can't wait to use it. Hopefully today

[L. M. Lloyd @ Mar 6th 2008 2:13PM]

Funny, I seem to remember all sorts of talk about how the iPhone was going after a completely different market than all the other smartphones. How it was aimed at consumers, and the general phone market, not the nerdy corporate types who walk around all day staring at their Blackberries. How it was going to transcend the niche market of the corporate smartphone ghetto. How you couldn't even begin to compare the iPhone to Windows Mobile, because they were catering to completely different markets, with completely different needs, and how Apple didn't even want the stinky corporate market, because it was too small for the iPhone. Now, almost a year after it came out, what a surprise, it is just another smartphone, that can't hope to make it's projected sales figures without enterprise applications that appeal to the Blackberry crowd. How revolutionary!

[John @ Mar 6th 2008 2:22PM]

Just how does that foot taste, in your mouth?

[L. M. Lloyd @ Mar 6th 2008 2:28PM]

I really don't even begin to know what you mean John. Back when the iPhone first came out, and Engadget claimed that ActiveSync was coming out for the device "any day now," I said that Enterprise support was just about the only way Apple would ever make its sales targets. Everyone explained how wrong I was, and how the iPhone didn't need the stupid corporate market. This is a vindication of what I said, not an instance of my foot being in my mouth.

[mymaclife @ Mar 6th 2008 2:44PM]

John - How foolish of Apple to try and win other customers to iPhone, the way they were acting you would think they were out to make money, smug or bitter? I can't decide... but can't see what your beef is?

[Brendan Sheehan @ Mar 6th 2008 2:49PM]

Or Mr. L. M. Lloyd....

one could say Apple made the first ever Smartphone that the general consumer actually wanted, desperately, and now they are crushing those complaints that it isn't ready for enterprise.

Come June the iPhone will the the "only phone" on the planet that can live "comfortably" in both the consumer and enterprise worlds. I love my iPhone!

[Kelmon @ Mar 6th 2008 2:54PM]

I'm wondering who's talk you are referring to. Yes, Apple said that their phone was better than the competitions (which company doesn't?) but I've never read anything that said they weren't going to compete in the corporate market or that their product was too good for it. Are you making this stuff up?

[L. M. Lloyd @ Mar 6th 2008 3:01PM]

Hmmm... If the iPhone is the "first ever Smartphone that the general consumer actually wanted," then why is it still being outsold by the Blackberry? Hell, for that matter, why is it only selling roughly twice as many units as a single model of HTC's large number of devices, and nowhere near as many units as Nokia's smartphones? No, I think you are confusing it being the only smartphone to ever be relentlessly advertised on every channel at all hours of the day and night for an entire year, with it being the "first ever Smartphone that the general consumer actually wanted."

When the iPhone starts selling more than any other smartphone has ever sold, then you can start making claims like that, but right now there are 14 million active Blackberry subscribers. The iPhone taking a year and a half to reach 10 million units sold is hardly some off the charts feat, assuming they can make their target, now that they have enterprise apps. At this rate, assuming every iPhone counted as sold equates to an iPhone user, then they still have about a year and a half before they catchup to the number of Blackberry users, assuming the number of Blackberry users doesn't increase, which it surely will.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Mar 6th 2008 3:08PM]

Kelmon, Steve Jobs said it wasn't a smartphone, it was just the best phone ever made before it was launched. Several people on this site and others have said repeatedly that you can't compare the iPhone to Windows Mobile, because they were aimed at completely different markets, and every single time enterprise support has come up on this site since the thing was launched, several people have authoritatively stated that Apple has no interest whatsoever in the corporate market, because this phone was going to be the iPod of the smartphone world, taking it out of the corporate ghetto, and putting it in the hands of "the rest of us." I know it is hard for Apple fans to remember what they said before the RDF was re-tuned with a new message, but try reading the site, and looking at old comments.

[Dan @ Mar 6th 2008 3:12PM]

@LM Lloyd-

How do you know the iPhone sales targets weren't formulated with Apple knowing their product roadmap and knowing that this support would be coming down the line? Looking at the presentation made today it seems to me that Apple has been planning on this for quite some time.

Now, someone hop on that SDK and work up a BB Connect solution for me please.

It seems to me that Apple handled all of this in a very smart manner. You want a phone that appeals to everyone, so launch it to Joe Blow customer first so that it doesn't get a stodgy corporate image attached to it from the start. Also let Joe Blow customer work out all of the kinks in the system since screwing up on Joe Blow = loss of $ for Apple but screwing up on Mega Corp = loss of $$$$$$$ for Apple.

[L. M. Lloyd @ Mar 6th 2008 3:19PM]

Dan, I never said they didn't. The rumors that they had licensed ActiveSync started floating the week the thing came out. At the time I said that their best hope of meeting their target was to go after the same market as all the other smartphones. My comment was not directed at Apple, it was directed at all the Macheads, who have this compulsive need to say that anything an Apple product can't do, isn't worth doing in the first place.

[mymaclife @ Mar 6th 2008 3:40PM]

Guys you're casting pearl amongst swine trying to debate with L.M. Lloyd, he has issues with S.P. Jobs and the i.P One you're trying to reason with a bitter fuckwit!

[Jay @ Mar 6th 2008 4:45PM]

@L.M. Lloyde : The fact that BB outsells all other smartphone is obvious, corporations. Most BBs I've seen in real life was mere corporate leash to its pawns. Most everyone has a personal cellphone besides that. So for you to say that iphone is "sucking" as a "consumer" phone is just idiotic.

I am an Apple fanboy, but I've always been the style over slightly less function. However, I do not own an iphone due to the fact that I enjoy my 3g phone too much to give it up. As a student in a "consumer" category, I would buy some other phone that's capable of 3g rather than buy BB. It's just bit much for the regular consumers. iphone on the other hand, is not.

[Dave @ Mar 6th 2008 6:36PM]

last time i checked Blackberries still had keyboards with them and iPhones dont, so good luck trying to sell this to any law firm, since all lawyers do all day outside of the office is correspond and write memos on their BlackBerries, not to mention after viewing Apple commercials on television that anyone middle management or above wouldnt be caught dead with an iPhone for fear of looking extremely unprofessional/like a total tool trying to be "trendy".

[Sam Winter @ Mar 7th 2008 3:40AM]

Exactly who are you ranting at? The 3 people who told you what you claim? Who said it wasn't going to be aimed at enterprise use? With the power of OSX in your pocket and a native SDK, there wasn't a chance in hell that corporate users weren't going to jump in...

[Ryan Waddell @ Mar 6th 2008 2:30PM]

Is Enterprise-ville located somewhere in Canada? Because that's the only iPhone news that interests me. :)

[Steffen Jobbs @ Mar 6th 2008 10:08PM]

A keyboard! Are you nuts or what. It's not a CrackBerry, ya know. Apple might even do away with keyboards on their desktop machines. It's a virtual world.

[David @ Mar 6th 2008 2:41PM]

Close..along with 3G they are getting there. Gotta hand it to Apple though, an Event for stuff that should have been available on day 1.

Still No tasks
No Keyboard-will the screen keyboard really be enough for biz users
Can it edit Office Docs?-someone tell me
spotty reception
crap camera
can this thing record video yet?
MMS yet?

Looks like I'm keeping my Tilt...till the EXPERIA is released anyway

[Ed @ Mar 6th 2008 3:11PM]

Apparently Sun are working on a version of Office for the iPhone, or something like that...

[markcih @ Mar 6th 2008 4:06PM]

The only thing that would scare me about the Experia - which I do admire on paper - is consider the late, lamented Sony Clie UX50.

Fast processor, backlit keyboard, Bluetooth, WiFi, records video and audio, takes (admittedly crap) photos. When everything is on and you are browsing hte Web via WiFi while BT is active while listening to music - the battery lasts...

about 45 minutes. And that is without a phone!!

[Scott @ Mar 6th 2008 5:10PM]

Commonly heard by Tilt owners: "Is that a brick in your pocket or do you have an AT&T Tilt?"