Requested Enterprise Features Heading the iPhone's Way

If you were hoping to hear that today's event at the Town Hall of Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., was going to see the release of the iPhone SDK (or at least the beta), think again. However, Apple did make a rather suprising and exciting announcement at the event, and yes, it concerns the iPhone, and yes, there's a beta involved too. Looks like you'll be getting even more than just free apps.

How would you like to outline a few things and tell Apple to get them done?

World of Apple reveals that the Cupertino folks took advantage of the Town Hall event to announce that they would include support for a bunch of requested enterprise iPhone features as part of a software update due out this summer, June to be precise.

You're probably as excited as a 9-year-old looking under the Christmas tree by now. Ok, no reason to keep you waiting. Here are the new features soon to be available for iPhone users worldwide as part of the iPhone/iPod touch 2.0 firmware update due out in June (iPod touch users are subject to a nominal fee, as usual):
Note that these are not "included" features but the whole lot

- Push email
- Push calendar
- Push contacts
- Global address list
- Cisco IPsec VPN
- Certificates and Identities
- WPA2 / 802.1x
- Enforced security policies
- Device configuration
- Remote wipe
- Active Sync and Microsoft Exchange support

Apple promises to make these features available to iPhone and iPod touch users in June, when the company plans to roll out firmware 2.0 for both its touchscreen portables. As mentioned above, the update will be free to iPhone users, while a nominal fee will be charged to iPod touch users.

BUT! You can apply for the iPhone Enterprise Beta right now and tell the Cupertino folks what your priorities are (as a business man), and also be one of the first to use ActiveSync on the iPhone.

"Announcing the iPhone Enterprise Beta Program: a unique opportunity for IT departments to try iPhone 2.0 software before general release. If your company is selected to participate, you’ll test new iPhone enterprise features within your corporate environment, then provide Apple with valuable feedback," says Apple.

The electronics giant is only allowing US-based companies to apply, for the time being. Now, if your company is selected for the beta program, you'll need a team of no more than five people to test the new software, one team member with administrative access to your IT infrastructure, a designated technical lead to act as a primary contact for Apple, a Mac (of course) running Leopard (v10.5.2 or later) and at least five iPhones dedicated to testing the new software.

iPhones are to be assigned to individual team members, while the team members themselves are required to read and accept the terms of the Apple Customer Seed and Confidentiality Agreement.

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