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iOS5: What's in it for Busy Professionals?

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

The much awaited release of iOS's latest version happened last month, as we were going to press. This is the most significant release of the OS till date, with over 200 mouth watering features that are relevant for both consumers and mobile professionals alike. In fact, system administrators will find continued support for features that have made iOS a hit in the enterprise —the best mobile exchange support out there, multiple VPN connectivity options, Mobile Device Management (MDM) API that lets you use third-party applications to manage all mobile devices, etc. Those who love to message on the move will also fall in love with its iMessage service and the notifications center. In this article we take a look at some of the features that make their first appearance in iOS5.

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Snapshot

Price: iPhone users

USP: Find out the key features a mobile professional would find useful

Related articles: How to choose a business phone: http://ld2.in/3vw

Search engine keywords: iOS 5

Truly Post PC

iPad was hailed as the first post-PC device and with iOS5, Apple delivers on the promise. System administrators don't need to spend sleepless nights worrying about the next batch of 500 iPads with their "connect to iTunes" screens anymore. All iOS5 devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) can be setup & activated without connecting to a computer. On first power-on, the user is greeted by a helpful wizard that helps them setup their iOS device as a new device or restore it from an iCloud or iTunes backup (which would of course require a PC).

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Syncing the device to a computer still requires iTunes, but you now have the option of syncing over Wi-Fi. iOS5 also enables Over The Air (OTA) updates which means you no longer need to connect your device to a computer to upgrade to the latest iOS version. Apple ships OTA updates as delta updates i.e. it includes only the files that have changed since the last release, which typically results in much smaller downloads.

iCloud

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iCloud is Apple's cloud that can be used to automatically backup your device —address book, photos, videos, application data, etc. It comes with 5GB of storage free and users can buy extra storage at a reasonable charge. It opens a lot of possibilities for users including daily scheduled backups of your device to the cloud, so you no longer need to worry about losing your data when you are on the road with just your iOS device. Apple states that all information stored on iCloud is encrypted but details of the same could not be determined at the time of going to print. Usual disclaimer about storing sensitive information on third-party servers applies.

Mail/Exchange Enhancements

iOS5 comes with support for S/MIME (Secure/Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) which offers enhanced security for all email communication. S/MIME lets you sign/ encrypt all emails using certificates and iOS5 supports both commercially available as well as self-signed certificates. Certificates can be installed via the iPhone configuration utility (updated versions for both Mac and Windows available) or emailed to users and can be configured for signing, encrypting or both emails for each email account.

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Mail in iOS5 comes with enhanced offline mode support that lets you work offline (e.g. delete emails) and the changes are automatically synced the next time you go online. Also included is an improved search that offers complete message search (including body) in both online and offline modes.

iOS5 also addresses some minor —or not so minor, depending upon how often you used them — gripes. The email composer now offers rich text formatting (bold, italics, underline) as well as indentation control. One feature that I used to miss almost every single day, the ability to mark emails for follow up, is finally included as well. Another feature that is sure to be a major timesaver is the ability to drag and drop email addresses between to, cc & bcc fields. The forgetful will also love Mail's friendly warning when they try sending a mail without specifying a subject.

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Exchange users will appreciate the ability to sync Exchange tasks with your iOS5 device.

iMessage

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This is a new messaging service that lets iOS5 users message each other over a data connection (Wi-Fi, Edge or 3G). iMessage is pitched (and implemented) as an alternative to SMS rather than BBM or any other IM service, in that there's no concept of "availability". If a contact in your address book is also using an iOS5 device (and you have an active data connection), the "Send SMS” button will automatically turn into a "Send iMessage" and you can send text as well as photos, videos, locations & contacts. Since this communication happens over the data connection, there is no extra charge associated with it.

iMessage also supports groups & messages are automatically encrypted, which makes it ideal for use in the enterprise.

Volume Purchase Program

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Though not part of the iOS5 update, July 2011 saw Apple launch the Volume Purchase Program (VPP) that lets businesses buy iOS applications in bulk for their employees. Business can, thus, centralize their purchases and ensure that the money is being spent in purchasing & deploying apps necessary for their business, instead of, say, giving every employee an iTunes Gift Certificate that may or may not be used by the employee to buy the said applications. Businesses participating in VPP also benefit from having access to a private marketplace that features custom applications from selected vendors. While VPP is restricted to US App Store and businesses as of writing this article, it is expected to be rolled out in other countries soon.

A wireless alternative to projectors

If you have iPad 2 or iPhone 4S running iOS5, you can use Airplay to wirelessly mirror your device's screen on a High Definition TV connected to an Apple TV. It's hard to imagine a more compact & convenient setup to showcase your presentations in the board room.

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