Apple Announces iPhone 2.0 Software Beta with Exchange ActiveSync

by Volker Weber

apple exchange

CUPERTINO, California—March 6, 2008—Apple® today previewed its iPhone™ 2.0 software, scheduled for release this June, and announced the immediate availability of a beta release of the software to selected developers and enterprise customers. The iPhone 2.0 beta release includes both the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) as well as new enterprise features such as support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to provide secure, over-the-air push email, contacts and calendars as well as remote wipe, and the addition of Cisco IPsec VPN for encrypted access to private corporate networks.

Maybe IBM wants to build a Traveler client.

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Comments

Please.... PLEASE .... let it be soon

Paul Mooney, 2008-03-06

-Please.... PLEASE .... let it be soon

With IBM's open protocols it should be possible for 3rd party soon to start coding :)

Flemming Riis, 2008-03-06

This could be an idea for your next poll: Onto which platform should Notes Traveler be ported? Symbian, iPhone, Android, Linux (EEE PC)... ;-)

Anyway, that's great news, though not really surprising. The only surprise might be the removal of the SIM lock.

Oliver Regelmann, 2008-03-06

Flemming, can you point me to a protocol specification of IBM's open protocols for talking to mobile devices?

Volker Weber, 2008-03-06

-Flemming, can you point me to a protocol specification of IBM's open protocols for talking to mobile devices?

sorry was my bad attempt to be funny :) but since they proclaim they are so open these days they surely must be somewhere.

Flemming Riis, 2008-03-06

What do you mean 'Want to build' it should already be built and appear alongside the 'Microsoft Exchange' icon in the new email services screen on the iPhone.

There is absolutly no excuse for it not to have been announced today alongside the Exchange announcement. If Apple can work with MS to get Exchange on the iPhone then IBM could certainly have worked with Apple to do the exact same for Notes. It's not as if the 'push' technology does not exist on the Domino server with Lotus Traveller.

When Notes mail on the iPhone was 'leaked' before lotusphere the same thoughs went thru everybody, please let it be push mail, please let it use the native iPhone apps. When it was shown at Lotusphere to be an iPhone interface for DWA there was a collective groan. Web apps on enterprise devices are useless, the CEO is not going to click refresh, they want the mail pushed to their device, preferably the instant it is received by the server.

So come on IBM. You have till JUNE to talk to apple and get Lotus Notes push email support into the IPhone V2 firmware. Oh and a native sametime client might be nice :-)

Declan Lynch, 2008-03-06

only sad thing is that my phone will problery be bricked again for a while after the 2.0 release.

must move to a real country that sells iphones some day.

Flemming Riis, 2008-03-06

Declan, as far as I understand IBM never had the foresight to create something like an ActiveSync protocol that other people could license. Nokia has licensed ActiveSync from Microsoft, and so has Apple.

Does anybody know the origin of Notes Traveler. I don't think it was built by IBM. It only runs on Windows, and it only supports Windows Mobile. Yes, I know. The next version ...

Volker Weber, 2008-03-06

Ouch. This doesn't look good for IBM. Say what we like about how many Notes seats are still out in the Real World (and all due respect to Alan Lepofsky's post about IBM's commitment to Notes), Apple just announced that Enterprise support for the iPhone means Exchange and ActiveSync. And I haven't seen a single post so far asking, "Where's the support for Notes?" IBM needed to be there today, not 6 or 9 months from now. Perception isn't necessarily reality, but this sort of announcement helps to spread the perception that Notes isn't relevant anymore.

Or am I in too negative a mood? Anyone got a silver lining for this cloud?

Rob McDonagh, 2008-03-06

Amen, Declan! The only things I would add to that is that we need full integration of the personal address book, calendar, and to do. All pushed. Also access to the enterprise directory. Essentially a Blackberry, only pretty.

Corey Davis, 2008-03-06

Rob... you are not too negative. This announcement combined with the fact that Congress apparently thinks that Notes no longer exists/is no longer supported (http://tinyurl.com/2pqag8) just reinforces the impression that Notes is at best a 2nd class citizen in the corporate world... at worst dead. Very disappointed with Apple and IBM at the moment.

Kirk Kuykendall, 2008-03-06

@Kirk, I hear you, but I wouldn't pay too much attention to the US Congress' opinion of the messaging market. They're just not really that bright. *rolls eyes*

Rob McDonagh, 2008-03-06

What the hell? I can not believe they dropped the ball so badley on this, and they cannot claim there was not demand, that they had never thought of this, and if apple worked with microsoft they definitley would have worked with IBM.

No excuses!

Maybe i am so upset because i thought maybe after lotussphere they were on the right track, they demoed a web version, and then did not release it. So i figured they were working on what we really wanted, which was native support, only to be let down and find out that the compition(which Apple derides a great deal in its adds) gets the stage and the glory.

Mark Hughes, 2008-03-06

My goodness. Just because it wasn't on stage didn't mean it isn't happening. Two Lotus VPs were in Cupertino today. Please stay tuned. Honestly, I -was- expecting an announcement today.

@vowe Lotus Traveler was built by IBM Lotus. There is some third-party technology included in the core engine, but the development is in-house. Not that it matters.

@Kirk, the record may not read the same soon.

@Mark, why would Apple's willingness to Microsoft mean they "definitely" would have worked with IBM?

Ed Brill, 2008-03-06

@Ed,

If there was a day to make an IBM announcement for all the world to see today should have been it. The spotlight was on the iPhone and the enterprise and IBM Lotus wasn't in the SteveNote.

Bruce Elgort, 2008-03-06

I figured as IBM and Apple were working closly on the Mac/Eclipse stuff including Notes 8.5 it would be a shoe in for them to work togeather. You must admit Microsoft and Apple must have a strained relationship with the current ads on tv.

Maybe(probably) i have overeacted after reading front page stories in places like yahoo and foxnews about business email and the iPhone which only mentions Exchange and how great it will be.

I guess I wanted those stories to be about Lotus Notes and Domino as well or exclusivley. It would go a long long way to tell people(who dont work in IT) Notes is still out there and going strong and updating.

Mark Hughes, 2008-03-06

Ed, it does matter a lot if IBM owns the IP. However, "some third-party technology" may mean it does not.

If you scroll down further on the press release, you get to "Leading Developers, Enterprise Customers & Partners Applaud iPhone 2.0 Software". Would it have been very expensive to get IBM there?

Volker Weber, 2008-03-06

I am standing next to my PR manager right now and we are discussing that very question.

Ed Brill, 2008-03-07

No point in closing the barn door after the horse has bolted...

Bruce is 100% correct, today was the day to have IBM Lotus Notes up on stage when the words iPhone and Enterprise were together in the same sentence.

Declan Lynch, 2008-03-07

I am not sure, but my belief at this moment is that Apple did not want the two competing vendors in the same limelight, especially since -they- licensed ActiveSync from MS. I can see where that would be logical, even if it doesn't feel "right" to us.

Ed Brill, 2008-03-07

Marketing / PR speak at it's best :-)

Declan Lynch, 2008-03-07

@Rob - Not negative at all.

@Bruce - Absolutely

@Ed - If Apple had to pay Microsoft, then that makes Apple the customer, not Apple.

If you are implying that connecting (an iPhone) to Domino does require some purchase from IBM; wouldn't that be of value to Apple? Wouldn't they want to brag how one vendor didn't rake them over the coals, where the other said "it just works with our stuff, have at it."

Lastly, is your PR Manager still standing next to you (wearing a Patriots jersey)? Or has he/she run to pick up the ball that was dropped?

Henry Ferlauto, 2008-03-07

we have customers which asks us where to go. IBM or MS? If Apple will support MS only, they will go with MS.

I am really disappointed that IBM is not on the list for the iPhone Support today.

Please IBM let us work with iPhone and Notes 8.0.x.

Ciao marco

Marco Foellmer, 2008-03-07

and the winner is:

again and again. MS exchange.

I really want to sell more IBM Lotus Notes licenses but imho this is a BIG hurdle.

Marco Foellmer, 2008-03-07

Marco, Ed has hinted that IBM is going to do something for the iPhone.

However, that is not the point here. The best communicator this industry has yesterday announced what matters in Enterprise support. It is being picked up by the press all over the world, because the iPhone is on many people's mind.

It's pretty hard to counterbalance Steve Jobs with even tens of thousands of blog posts on how important Notes is.

Volker Weber, 2008-03-07

There is an enterprise beta program, where you can apply!
You get ask for your mailserver and Domino is one choice.

Okay.... get up.

All Domino customers should sign up. I just do it.

Detlev Poettgen, 2008-03-07

Our CEO has declared he is getting an iPhone and is expecting Notes support for it. I am having to tell him we cant support it yet other than via IMAP.

If the CEO sees this Apple announcement about Exchange support for the iPhone and no mention of Notes support, he can quite easily just make us move to Exchange. Rights and wrongs of this put to one side, I can assure you that we wont be the only company in this position. This is a PR disaster for Notes. IBM need to come up with something fast -and- Apple sanctioned to counter this, like during the next week.

Andy Mell, 2008-03-07

Andy, I tried to discuss this almost nine months ago, when it was time to get the baby going.

Volker Weber, 2008-03-07

OK, I have a little more background on what transpired Thursday in Cupertino.

No, it seems, we could not have gotten into the press release.

Two Lotus vice presidents were in Cupertino, and had productive meetings after the announcement. I do not think we will get Andy's nirvana of something Apple-sanctioned in the next week. How long ago did the word get out that Apple had licensed ActiveSync for Exchange? And look how long that took to be announced. These things don't move at speed of crisis because it is not a crisis.

If your CEO needs to hear from IBM what plans IBM has around Notes and iPhone, then contact me and we will make that happen. I don't care if I get 500 e-mails, we'll handle them. ed_brill@us.ibm.com

More thoughts on my site.

Ed Brill, 2008-03-07

@Detlev
Too bad that the enterprise program is limited to US based companies.

Lars Berntrop-Bos, 2008-03-07

The Traveler technology was described by a number of IBMers here in the UK as being based on Commontime's mNotes product, and hence is currently very Windows/WinMobile-centric.

Obviously Ed et al know far better than I do, but I would be very surprised if this technology is ready to be opened up to other devices (such as the iPhone). It's going to be 6 months at least I would think...

Stuart McIntyre, 2008-03-07

Stuart,

Lotus Notes Traveler is not based on Commontime. I have no idea where they would get that...

Ed Brill, 2008-03-07

@Ed, that's interesting... They seemed very clear on the mNotes connection... People you would know, too.

Stuart McIntyre, 2008-03-07

If it's not mNotes, then what is the third-party technology?

Volker Weber, 2008-03-07

As far as I know, Traveler is based on SyncML, but why is all the hype about push technology. Frankly all I need is to get iTunes to recognize Lotus Notes. Then I will get all my calendar entries, ToDo's and contacts to my iPhone without using DAMO...... :-)

Tommy Oustad, 2008-03-07

@Tommy PocketMac's GoBetween for Lotus Notes does work very well to sync contacts and calendar stuff between notes and iPhone on the mac.

Declan Lynch, 2008-03-07

unfortunately I'm on WIN,....Vista... Maybe it's time to switch.

Tommy Oustad, 2008-03-07

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