Windows Phone 8.1 Brings Business Features

Windows Phone 8.1, a major upgrade to Microsoft’s smartphone platform, has begun shipping on new phones and will be offered as an upgrade to Windows Phone 8 customers over the next few months. The new version delivers numerous new features that could benefit businesses and consumers, including better device management and the Cortana personal assistant (similar to Siri on iPhones). Revised development architectures can help developers reuse code between Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 8.1 applications. However, Windows Phone holds a distant third-place market share in its fourth year since launch, as Android and iPhone devices dominate.

New Version Benefits Organizations

The first release of Windows Phone (Windows Phone 7 in late 2010) was largely aimed at consumers, but features for businesses have been added with subsequent versions. Windows Phone 8.1 brings improved Mobile Device Management (MDM) support, including a customizable enrollment process; server-initiated connections to ensure device configurations are current; more management policies (such as disabling the Windows Phone Store and disabling un-enrollment); and new inventory tracking properties (such as device phone numbers and roaming status). Windows Phone devices can be managed with Microsoft offerings such as Windows Intune, System Center Configuration Manager, and Exchange ActiveSync and MDM tools from third parties such as MobileIron and AirWatch. (Exchange ActiveSync only supports a subset of the policies available with MDM systems.)