iPhone OS 4: Enterprise

Stuffed in the middle of the new OS announcement was a quick little blurb about how iPhone 4 will better support enterprise. It will provide better data protection for email and for app data encryption through a new sdk.

Exchange 2010 will get better support and users will be able to access multiple Exchange accounts - all from with the Mail app's new single inbox option.

Companies will have new VPN options and be able to distribute in-house apps through wireless distribution.

And what appears to me to be the real show stopper: mobile device management.

Having worked in corporate IT for too many years, one of the things we loved was being able to lock down all devices for security of data and stability of the device (i.e. no, End User, you may not install whatever you like on your machine).

With the iPhone and iPad getting these enterprise upgrades, IT departments will have a harder time arguing that a user MUST use a BlackBerry in order to keep the company secure.

While not a sexy thing to announce to the general public, it is definitely a huge step in Apple's fight to make inroads back into the corporate (and even the educational) realm.