Rumor: iPhone Will Support Push E-Mail for Secure Networks

Pete Mortensen ()

Activesyncdiagram
One of the biggest knocks on the iPhone (other than its slow mobile data rate and lack of unlimited storage, ala the INCREDIBLE LG Fusic) is that it doesn’t currently support live updating e-mail from corporate networks, the killer app that makes the BlackBerry the CrackBerry people know and snort. The iPhone can sync with Outlook and get push e-mail from Yahoo, it just can’t blend the two.

Well, maybe not for long. According to Mary Jo Foley, Apple might announce tomorrow that it has licensed Microsoft’s Exchange Active Sync software, the only missing piece preventing the iPhone from tapping into Exchange servers wirelessly actively to pull down messages automatically. It’s a very simple system, as seen above. No, I didn’t invent that flow chart. What it seems to mean, though, is that the last barrier to adoption of the iPhone among executives is about to vanish.

Hear that? It’s the sound of Palm and BlackBerry getting sick again.

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About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is a design strategist for consulting firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

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Posted in iPhone, Software |

  • Sabon

    Of course there is no love for Novell’s GroupWise (GW) e-mail which a lot of city, state, and part of the federal goverment use. It’s a lot more secure than Outlook/Exchange. Note that top people in Novell that are in charge of GroupWise changed and they finally “get it”. They are revamping the GW desktop client (which will also have native Linux and Mac OS X versions too) so it looks a lot better and will be a lot better competitor to the look and feel of Outlook. GroupWise version 8 is supposed to be coming out this October/November. People that love Outlook have said that GW 8 is really cool. That’s how I know Novell finally gets it.

  • GregR

    This is not a biggie. IMAP works just fine with Exchange. Exchange is only 32% of the market for purchased mailboxes and 4% of the market for ALL mailboxes.

  • http://bounceyzone.com/ Charlie

    The “last barrier to adoption of the iPhone among executives”… Well there’s also the built-in camera, and many organizations have strict No Camera policies. (Which I think is extremely silly unless they’re into top-secret military stuff or have a clothing-optional workplace.) But most executives decided decades ago that such trivial workplace policies don’t apply to themselves, so maybe the camera won’t be problem after all. At least for the top 2 levels on the org chart.