The new iPhone has hit the streets, and with its ActiveSync support, that means it’s hit our enterprise, too. We support Windows Mobile via Activesync and Blackberries via BES, and we enforce password and locking policies on all devices. The deal breaker is whether or not a device can be remotely wiped, which Windows Mobile and Blackberries can. One of our coworkers scored a new iPhone on “Release Dayâ€, so we had a chance to test it out.
After configuring ActiveSync, the iPhone picked up the policies fine, after a reboot, the PIN policy was in place, as was the user’s e-mail. When we tested the remote wipe, trouble ensued.
It appears that remotely wiping an iPhone bricks the device. Unlike a Blackberry or Smart Phone, which are basically reset to factory after a remote wipe, the iPhone starts to an Apple logo and just sits there. Attempts to resurrect it by sync’ing it with iTunes had no effect. The error messages indicate that the OS is not found on the device.
We’re still working on it, and are about ready to visit a Genius Bar or AT&T store to resolve the issue.
<update>
The iPhone has been rejuvenated. The user was attempting to reactivate the iPhone through his iTunes, which originally activated the phone (and was installed Friday, Release Day. For some reason, it wasn’t working. When the iPhone was hooked up to a new install of iTunes today (Tuesday), the iPhone came back to life. We’re not sure if there was a hotfix for a known problem or just a different iTunes or what, but the issue seems to be resolved.