Apple Highlights iOS 7 Features for Business

Apple has posted a new Business page for iOS 7 that highlights the upcoming operating system's benefits for businesses.

With a beautiful all-new design and powerful all-new features, iOS 7 is the most significant update since the original iPhone. And for business, iOS 7 offers more advanced ways to deploy devices and deliver a great user experience for your employees.

More for business.
iOS 7 provides enhanced security, powerful new ways to configure and deploy devices at scale, and features to help businesses purchase, distribute, and manage apps with ease. Features including per app VPN, enterprise single sign on, App Store license management, and new mobile device management (MDM) configuration options are just some of the new capabilities in iOS 7 that provide more for organizations of all sizes.


Managed open in.
Protect corporate data by controlling which apps and accounts are used to open documents and attachments. Managed open in gives IT the ability to configure the list of apps available in the sharing panel. This keeps work documents in corporate apps and also prevents personal documents from being opened in managed apps.

Per app VPN.
Apps can now be configured to automatically connect to VPN when they are launched. Per app VPN gives IT granular control over corporate network access. It ensures that data transmitted by managed apps travels through VPN — and that other data, like an employee's personal web browsing activity, does not.

App Store license management.
The App Store Volume Purchase Program now offers businesses the ability to assign apps to their users while keeping full ownership and control over app licenses. Companies purchase app licenses through the VPP website, and can use their MDM solution to assign apps to employees over the air. Employees can enroll with their personal Apple IDs without providing it to their company, and apps are placed in their purchase history for self-service download, or are installed automatically via MDM. Apps can be revoked at any time and reassigned to other employees. In addition to iOS apps, VPP now supports the purchase of Mac apps and even books, so users can be provided all the tools they need to get the job done.

New MDM configuration options.
The MDM protocol in iOS 7 includes a number of new commands, queries, and configuration options that make third-party MDM solutions even more powerful. Wirelessly set up managed apps, install custom fonts, configure accessibility options and AirPrint printers, and whitelist AirPlay destinations.


Streamlined MDM enrollment.
Institutionally owned devices can be automatically enrolled in MDM during activation. As a result, IT can skip basic setup steps and fully configure devices with corporate settings and policies — and users can get up and running faster than ever. IT can now supervise devices over the air enabling additional controls for highly managed deployments.

Enterprise single sign on.
Authenticating into corporate apps is now as simple doing it once. Enterprise single sign on (SSO) means user credentials can be used across apps, including apps from the App Store. Each new app configured with SSO verifies user permissions for enterprise resources, and logs users in without requiring them to reenter passwords.

Third-party app data protection.
Using methods that leverage the user’s passcode to create a strong and unique encryption key, data protection provides IT with peace of mind that corporate data is secured without additional configuration. All third-party apps now have data protection enabled automatically, so information stored in App Store apps is protected with the user’s passcode until they first unlock their device after each reboot.

Improved Mail.
A whole new design and use of new systemwide gestures make Mail easier to use than ever. New features like the ability to add and reorganize smart mailboxes in the mailbox list, view PDF annotations, and totally redesigned search make the killer app for business even better. Microsoft Exchange 2010 users can also now sync notes with Outlook on their Mac or PC.

Caching Server 2 supports iOS 7.
By caching purchased content and software updates on a local Mac running OS X Mavericks Server, Caching Server 2 speeds up the download and delivery of content through the App Store, Mac App Store, iTunes Store and iBookstore. Your users get faster downloads of content and updates to their iOS devices directly over your corporate network.

Read More