Earlier this week, InfoWorld reported that “Apple lied” about the secure mail functions of its original and 3G iPhones. While that claim could be argued, you’d be going too far to agree with the article that says the iPhone has now betrayed business users.
Encryption of e-mail is the issue here. Microsoft Exchange mail servers, used in so many corporations and large companies, insist on encrypted mail when they deliver your messages. They don’t double-check your assurance, however. The trouble stems from more than Apple’s previous iPhones. Exchange will apparently believe anything that a mobile mail program tells it about messages.
That’s not new behavior from Microsoft engineering, but Apple took advantage of it ever since it released the 3.0 version of its iPhone software. 3.0 was touted as being ready to swap mail with Exchange. All the software was doing was claiming to send and receive messages with encryption. Only the newest 3GS iPhones can actually do this. Apple’s done the right thing after mis-reporting security. So now the earlier iPhones can’t exchange secure mails if they’re updated to the 3.1 software.
It’s complicated, but the situation’s fallout isn’t as simple as the InfoWorld article claims. If your iPhone user is a corporate-level officer, like a VP of Sales, they’re going to insist on being able to read company mail over their iPhone — security be hanged. You just try to tell them they have to buy a new iPhone to do that. And there may be a good data for believing the iPhone has become a C-level officer’s tool. Microsoft might have to wear some of the egg on its face.There’s a obvious way to avoid being blocked on mail exchange using the older iPhones. Don’t apply the 3.1 upgrade. It’s a complex process to back a phone away from this version if you’re unlucky enough to have updated an older phone to the newer 3.1. You must back up your phone, reset it, look for a 3.0 iPhone software package (which might be in your Time Machine backups), then apply the older software — and fiddle with your phone’s content like playlists and any custom Web links.
That sounds like a lot of resetting that the typical iPhone user will struggle through. One solution is to give the phone to the IT department for the downgrade, an option that the VP can wrangle. As for the rest of a corporation’s iPhone users, upgrading to a new phone looks like the only way back to exchanging mail with Exchange. Or permitting Exchange to approve mail from those original and 3G models. Or best of all, to be a company small enough to avoid an Exchange server for mail through the oldest iPhones.
By the way, you cannot call a 3G phone an older model. Apple and ATT will happily sell a 3G iPhone if you’re unaware of the difference. At an ATT store I visited, the question wasn’t 3G or 3GS. It was “8, 16 or 32GB?” Even though I asked whether there were significant differences between the 8 and 16, I didn’t get a complete answer.
There are enormous differences besides a $100 lift up to the 16GB model. The 8GB iPhone is a 3G only, without video camera, faster processor and so much more. Apple should make customers aware that buying the least expensive iPhone doesn’t deliver mail encrypted for Exchange. Especially the corporations that might be buying in bulk and have procurement departments seeking the lowest price.
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