Apple Mac HQ

Is the largest business email server and iPhone finally ready to play nice? According to Ars Technica, Apple sent out invitations to a press event on March 6th. Included in the invitation is a short statement about the event subject matter. “Please join us to learn about the iPhone software roadmap, including the iPhone SDK and some exciting new enterprise features.”

“New enterprise features”: Perhaps the one and only thing enterprises cares about when it comes to a phone, besides making calls, is email. Anything less than Exchange push (ActiveSync?) will be a huge disappointment. It was only a few months ago that Apple was hiring an iPhone/Exchange QA engineer. Could the iPhone finally be on even footing with corporate purchasers?

The support for push email from Exchange servers is the single largest hurdle to getting the iPhone into the hands of corporate users. Supporting push email from Exchange would finally allow the iPhone to enter the conversations when corporations talk about mobile devices. Currently the iPhone hasn’t even pulled up to the table, much less entered the conversation. With corporations come big budgets and that means more money for Apple and AT&T. I REALLY hope they announce Exchange support at this meeting. I’ll be asking my work to set me up the next day if they do!