On the same day that Apple is touting it’s security advantages. Google’s Android head Sundar Pichai had a very different approach:
We cannot guarantee that Android is designed to be safe, the format was designed to give more freedom. When people talk about 90% of malware for Android, they must of course take into account the fact that it is the most popular operating system in the world. If I had a company dedicated to malware, I would also be addressing my attacks on Android.
Apple has unveiled its new deployment programs.
Device Enrolment Program (US only)
AppleID for Students Program
More enhancements to the Volume Purchase Program
Fraser Speirs has a good write up on his blog.
Yesterday Apple released two new deployment programs for iOS and Mac, and rolled out enhancements to another. I want to explain as best I can how they work together.
The Volume Purchase Program has been significantly enhanced and there are two new programs: Device Enrolment Program and AppleID for Students. Let’s look at each of these in turn.
Apple has released a new iOS 7 Deployment Guide on its business website. It is worth a read if you manage iOS devices. You can download it here.
This guide is for IT administrators who want to support iOS devices on their networks. It provides information about deploying and supporting iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch in a large-scale organization such as an enterprise or education institution. It explains how iOS devices provide comprehensive security, integration with your existing infrastructure, and powerful tools for deployment.
Understanding the key technologies supported in iOS will help you implement a deployment strategy that provides an optimal experience for your users. The following chapters serve as a technical reference you can use when deploying iOS devices throughout your organisation.
Apple has just pushed out an update to its iWork for iCloud web apps that brings a redesign for some elements of the three apps and a long list of new features and improvements. Apple has added a new iOS 7-style UI for each app’s template chooser and document library (the first thing you see when launching the apps, pictured above), but when editing a document you’ll still get the old black and grey editor UI for now.
All three apps— Pages, Numbers, and Keynote— get the ability to add passwords and share password protected documents, spreadsheets, or presentations, as well as “improved voice over support for body text and document manager.” You can also now view a list of your documents, spreadsheets, or presentations that others have recently shared with you from a clock icon at the top of each app.
Other improvements in today’s update include new keyboard shortcuts and some highly requested editing features such as rich formatting of text in table cells.
It is good to see Apple showing a level of commitment that we haven’t seen from their online services before. I hope the sharing options continual to improve and iWork become a better Google Docs replacement.
Apple has released a small update to Configurator bring improved redemption of VPP codes.
What’s New in Version 1.4.3
Apple Configurator 1.4.3 improves redemption of VPP codes when installing App Store apps.
When apple updated their iWorks app at the latest Apple event, some users where left feeling unhappy with the missing features in Mac Apps. Apple has now come out with a support document to reassure users. Some of the features from iWork ’09 which didn’t make the initial release, will be returning.
The new iWork applications—Pages, Numbers, and Keynote—were released for Mac on October 22nd. These applications were rewritten from the ground up to be fully 64-bit and to support a unified file format between OS X and iOS 7 versions, as well as iWork for iCloud beta.
These apps feature an all-new design with an intelligent format panel and many new features such as easy ways to share documents, Apple-designed styles for objects, interactive charts, new templates, and new animations in Keynote.
In rewriting these applications, some features from iWork ’09 were not available for the initial release. We plan to reintroduce some of these features in the next few releases and will continue to add brand new features on an ongoing basis.
I believe that Apple has seen the future and built a new base to build it’s office apps upon. Having a unified file format across 4 platforms (Mac, iPhone, iPad and Web) is huge. This is something no one else can match currently and I can’t see Microsoft doing this. Especially after their awful iPhone Office App.
Yes, it has lead to a bit of dumping down but mobile and web technologies improve, iWork will become extremely powerful. Don’t panic.
Apple has released iOS 7.0.3 for all iOS 7 devices. It includes support for iCloud Keychain which was introduced in Mavericks and many bug fixes. Most importantly, the bug that “could cause supervised devices to become un-supervised when updating software”. Good news for education users.
Release notes:
This update contains improvements and bug fixes, including:
Apple has pushed a little updated to their iOS deployment tool, Apple Configurator. Here’s the release notes:
What’s New in Version 1.4.1
Apple Configurator 1.4.1 contains improvements and bug fixes including:
• Configure which Setup Assistant steps will display during device setup
Apple Configurator will now let you skip certain steps in the initial setup assistant. It will be so nice to skip all those Apple ID and Location Services screens when deploying multiple devices!
The skip options in Apple Configurator 1.4.1
Apple has informed Mac developers that it is preparing to launch the ability for educational institutions and developers to purchase apps from the Mac App Store in volume for a discount.
It looks like VPP is coming to the Mac App Store. Big news for Business and Education users.
