Invasion of the (belgian) iPhone users

So the iPhone SDK got presented to the world. As I guessed, Apple has now announced a lot of new features aimed at enterprises:

• push mail
• push contacts
• push calendar
• global address list
• cisco vpn ipsec
• certificates and identities
• WPA2 / 802.1X
• enforced security policies
• device configuration tools
  
• remote wipe
  

So it's aiming at Blackberry and might more easily find enterprise adaptation now. I saw an article mentioning that the iPhone will come to Belgium in May. It will be a simlock free version but one with a higher price. But it will work with all three mobile operators. Nevertheless, we have already seen people in Belgium carrying jailbroken iPhones. So they have been among us for some months now. I think CIOs need to consider these people as probably some want to sync their phone with their emails and contacts. Especially those VIP users. Just saying no, will probably lead to individuals trying the circumvent security controls. Like forwarding all their mails to a public account which they can sync with their iPhone.

Last juicy detail, Apple licensed the ActiveSync protocol (from Microsoft). This will enable Apple to build support for Microsoft Exchange directly into the iPhone.

I haven't seen any mention of data encryption. So I'll have a look at that possibility in the next days. One thing is sure, keep an eye out for those gadget loving people with an iPhone in your corporation. The countdown has started.