Finally, they admit it: Microsoft licenses Exchange ActiveSync to Apple for use in the iPhone. (For a play-by-play of the announcement, see Engadget.) This is great news for both Apple and the Exchange team, but much less so for the Windows Mobile team. I suspect that they have a few aces up their sleeve, though. First is SCMDM, which ups the ante for mobile device management by adding Group Policy Object support for Windows Mobile devices. When you can domain-join a mobile device and push policy to it using the same tools you use for desktops and servers, that’s the dream scenario for managed enterprises. The iPhone software update won’t support SCMDM’s policy extensions, and I’m betting that it won’t implement 100% of the Exchange 2007 version of Exchange ActiveSync policies either. Of course, the Windows Mobile team has their own set of surprises planned for their next release. We’ll have to wait and see.
Technorati Tags: Exchange 2007, iPhone, Windows Mobile
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