iPhone 2.0 ready for enterprise?
Gartner has released a report titled “iPhone 2.0 Is Ready for the Enterprise, but Caveats Apply”, investigating whether Apple has delivered on its promise to bring business relevant features to the iPhone.
According to Gartner, the release of the iPhone Firmware 2.0 update, iPhone software meets its criteria for appliance-level support. However, iTunes and iPhone configuration utilities create security issues for higher levels of enterprise support.
Key findings by Gartner about the new iPhone include:
- The iPhone meets our minimum requirements and can be moved to the appliance support level, which means support is limited to a narrow set of applications, such as voice, email, personal information manager (PIM) and browsing;
- The iPhone can be wiped clean via the issuance of a standard instruction from Exchange, and can force the use of a complex password if the alphanumeric setting is checked on the Exchange 2003 SP2 or 2007 administrative console; and
- Tests of the complex password and wipe feature enforcement indicate that the iPhone reacts the same as a Windows Mobile device, forcing the use of a complex password and clearing the device contents when the password policy is violated.
Gartner recommends that people who plan to adopt iPhone for the enterprise should assess trade-offs in hardware design and onboard functionality relative to other options in use.
“Assess your organisation’s security and management needs before moving users to the iPhone. Ensure that the appliance level is appropriate for your organisation. Approach iPhone migration slowly and with close examination of functionalities and ramifications,” Gartner said.
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