On the face of it, it seems that one of iPhone OS 4’s Enterprise features offers the same ability that a patent filed by (not granted to) Microsoft for mobile phones(?). I had posted some time back that Microsoft had filed for a patent that allowed remote management of mobile phones from a central location, at least that’s what the patent states implies in simple terms. Today, when Apple unveiled the iPhone OS 4, they mentioned a feature for the Enterprises – Mobile Device Management. According to Apple:
Mobile Device Management
Deploying and managing large iPhone fleets will be even easier with iPhone OS 4. New Mobile Device Management APIs can be integrated with third-party solutions to wirelessly configure and update settings, monitor compliance with corporate policies, and even wipe or lock managed iPhone devices.
My interpretation of this is that iPhone OS 4 will allow enterprises to remotely configure iPhones and that’s what the Microsoft patent is about. Here’s an image from the patent:
Again, I’m not sure about this in lawyer terms, I stand to any correction.