Things Apple Should Consider - iPhone, iPad, iPod Forums at iMore.com

I have been playing with 7 on my iPhone and had a few thoughts on what Apple should considering doing to continue to grow iOS

- iWork should be free for everyone

One thing lacking from an enterprise perspective is native Office compatibility without a cost to entry. Apple has taken a great step by making it free for new iOS devices, but it should just be made free for every device. That would be a great step towards making iPad a more effective tool for quick editing of Office formatted files. It seems rather silly that you have a $600+ device, but you still have to pay $10/app for a Word, Excel and Powerpoint clone. I know the argument can be made that you have to pay for Office on Windows, but you can also reverse that and say Apple is giving it away for some, why not all.

- iCloud for Enterprises

I know you have services like Box that can be a file storage, but Apple should make an enterprise level iCloud that could even sync with an enterprise file system to further extend the benefit of iWork on devices. It would make iPads even more valuable to enterprise users. This would be a feature that stands iOS out from an enterprise perspective. It would also be a great tool for Apple to demonstrate the power of iCloud and encourage more adoption of the platform.

- Embrace Jailbreaking

This will probably be one of my more controversial suggestions, but I think it could be a good thing for Apple. Why fight jailbreaking? Why not give people the option to unlock an "Advanced Features" option on their device to enable things that are typically used by jail breakers? This would allow innovation without the constant cat and mouse game regarding exploits. It would also allow innovation and creativity that is currently being banished from the AppStore because of current policies. They would be able to focus their efforts other things people want, rather than putting effort in shutting down jailbreaking. Apple could even go as far as to charge for the feature and provision from the AppleID. It could be argued that people will complain about the changes to their device, but most who want this option understand the risks they are exposing themselves to, and even jailbreak currently.

- Unify Enterprise Management

There are tools that allow you to manage iOS devices, but Apple should make a management utility that centralizes the enterprise management of iOS devices. It seems like a cliche, but central management is one thing Blackberry did right. You could push apps, provision devices and policies from the portal. Apple should get ahead of the game and make an iPhone Enterprise Administrator Portal that is powered by iCloud. You have the devices provision from your Enterprise iCloud, and you can manage, wipe, provision, or even push internal apps from it. If it is powered by iCloud, the IT admins wouldn't need to have a local server like BES to manage devices.

Ron

source: forums.imore.com