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Computerworld - When Apple Inc. unveiled its iPhone OS 4 on Thursday, it outlined several improvements to how the mobile OS handles application distribution, security and data protection that are sure to please enterprise users.

The planned changes are drawing kudos from some analysts who were previously critics of the iPhone for business uses, although some analysts still expressed reservations about widely deploying the popular smartphone for government use or at regulated firms such as banks.

"Apple [is] on a more positive track for enterprise support than with any of the previous releases," said Ken Dulaney, an analyst at Gartner and an outspoken critic of iPhone in the enterprise before now. "They clearly have had a lot of input from enterprises and have responded."

Apple has set up a special Web page to outline the updates aimed at business

Forrester Research's Ted Schadler, in a blog, chimed in to praise the improvements, but noted that IT shops still won't be able to automatically push policy and software updates to iPhone users.

That means users still have to click an update button to get those updates and IT shops will have to trust users to do so. While Schadler didn't consider that a major problem, Jack Gold, an analyst at J. Gold Associates, called the lack of push capability a "barrier to adoption" for banks and regulated companies.

Dulaney said enterprise users are still researching potential limitations in iPhone OS 4, meaning the update may "only be completely understood when hardware arrives in the summer."

Here's a list of the iPhone OS 4 enterprise improvements, as ranked by analysts (with the most important first):

1. Wireless distribution of in-house applications. That means IT shops can securely host and distribute these apps to their employees via Wi-Fi and 3G without the need to connect to a PC and go through iTunes. "No more iTunes on corporate PC's. That's good news," Schadler said. "This is a big deal," agreed Gold.
2. Improved e-mail. This includes support for Exchange Server 2010, which is expected to be important to many companies upgrading e-mail systems. Also, users will be able to set up multiple Exchange ActiveSync accounts and benefit from a unified inbox that allows users to see all their e-mail accounts in a single inbox or quickly switch between separate e-mail accounts.
3. The ability to open attachments using compatible apps from Apple's App Store. Schadler predicts a new market for applications that can open and possibly edit Office documents and PDFs.
4. Application and e-mail data protection. "This is a big deal," Schadler noted. Apple said that e-mail and attachments stored on the latest iPhone 3GS will enable the device passcode to be used as an encryption key. Also, Apple said that new data protection APIs can be used for custom and commercial apps so that business information is protected -- even if a device is hacked or stolen.
5. Mobile device management upgrades are included that rely on new APIs to integrate with third-party products to wirelessly configure and update settings, monitor compliance and lock or wipe data from a compromised iPhone. Gold called the management APIs a "major upgrade" and Schadler said management software vendors Sybase and Good "need this badly" to work well with the iPhone.
6. Support for SSL VPN via upcoming apps from Juniper and Cisco. Although the iPhone is already protected with the Cisco IPSec VPN, Schadler said the upgrade in iPhone OS 4 would make it "easier to open the corporate network" to the device.

While Apple didn't list the new ability to multitask in a somewhat limited way as purely an enterprise feature, Dulaney said it could allow background processing that would overcome a number of enterprise limitations in device management, security and telephony.

Matt Hamblen covers mobile and wireless, smartphones and other handhelds, and wireless networking for Computerworld. Follow Matt on Twitter at @matthamblen or subscribe to Matt's RSS feed. His e-mail address is mhamblen@computerworld.com.

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