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Will iPhone 3G support Outlook Web Access (not in Safari)

zub3qin

zub3qin

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 10, 2007
1,315
4
Does anyone know if iPhone 3G Mail will have support for Outlook Web Access (OWA)? I'm not talking about going to the mail site on safari-- i'm talking about getting the mail within the Mail applicaton. A lot of phones including Palm and the Samsung Instinct allow you access exchange email via OWA on the Mail client (not the browser) WITHOUT bugging your IT people to make changes on their end.

I know a lot of people are going to be disappointed when they learn that they need to have their IT departments allow the iPhone to access mail on Exchange servers, because these IT departments will be dragging their heels...

Will iPhone support Outlook Web Access as part of Mail?

Thanks
 
I haven't heard anything about that, no. That doesn't mean it won't happen, but I think it's unlikely. Apple has clearly invested a lot of effort into doing it the "right" way and getting all those big companies to sign off on it.

To be clear, this really doesn't have anything to do with the iPhone 3G, it's about the 2.0 software.
 
That is just an app.
The iPhone supports POP and IMAP mail servers. Exchange will be supported in 2.0.

If someone writes an app for OWA it will work. Its nothing Apple has mentioned supporting.
 
mrogers said:
I haven't heard anything about that, no. That doesn't mean it won't happen, but I think it's unlikely. Apple has clearly invested a lot of effort into doing it the "right" way and getting all those big companies to sign off on it.

To be clear, this really doesn't have anything to do with the iPhone 3G, it's about the 2.0 software.
Click to expand...

While I agree that the "right" way of implementing the exchange mail is best, the reality is that OWA works great and is better than nothing (which I fear is going to be the reality for the vast number of corporate iPhone 2.0 users)

While it is great that Apple has gotten some high profile big companies to sign off on the iPhone, the vast majority of the population works for the smaller companies, which may not follow suit right away.

Is it legal for a third party to create an OWA mail app? Or does SDK prohibit making apps competing with Apple's?
 
It's not really web access if you aren't going online to the web. Why not just access it as normal email over IMAP? You don't need to set up anything special for that. The only reasons to deal with your IT department is to get push mail, and to make it so they can wipe your mail in case the phone gets stolen. Of course, I dunno about your company, but my company has a policy that *requires* that we go through them for it so they can use remote wipe if need-be.
 
The exchange access = OWA access. At my former company all of our windows mobile devices pointed activesync to owa.acc.org and passed the username and password.

TheiPhone will do the same thing. When you set up an exchange account it will ask you for the name of the exchange server which is where you put owa.yourcompany.com and then put your username and password.
 
Requiemm said:
The exchange access = OWA access. At my former company all of our windows mobile devices pointed activesync to owa.acc.org and passed the username and password.

TheiPhone will do the same thing. When you set up an exchange account it will ask you for the name of the exchange server which is where you put owa.yourcompany.com and then put your username and password.
Click to expand...


Ooooh I so hope you are right. It would be cool if it was that easy.
 
Requiemm said:
The exchange access = OWA access. At my former company all of our windows mobile devices pointed activesync to owa.acc.org and passed the username and password.
Click to expand...

Sorry, but no. OWA = Outlook Web Access, which is accessing your Exchange mailbox through a webpage. The fact that your company used a DNS name for it's external access that started with "owa" has nothing to do with Outlook Web Access. It's just a DNS name. Active Sync is a method of getting exchange mailbox access natively in a mail client.
 
Sonicjay said:
Sorry, but no. OWA = Outlook Web Access, which is accessing your Exchange mailbox through a webpage. The fact that your company used a DNS name for it's external access that started with "owa" has nothing to do with Outlook Web Access. It's just a DNS name. Active Sync is a method of getting exchange mailbox access natively in a mail client.
Click to expand...

You're right, but I specifically said that we put owa.acc.org for the servername in ACTIVESYNC. Not through a web page. This is how it's set up in activesync. As I wass the administrator for 100 Blackberry devices, 40 Windows Mobile devices and about 20 Palm devices I'm pretty sure I know the difference between activesync and a web page.

However, your IT dept has to have enabled Outlook Mobile Access as part of OWA for it to work that way.
 
Odds are that if you can access your email through the Internet via OWA, you will be able to use ActiveSync.

I support approximately 40 Exchange 2003 / 2008 servers. The "typcial" installation of OWA / OMA is all that is required to support ActiveSync. Most companies will use SSL (https). Make a note if you go to https (or redirected from http to https) when connecting to OWA. You will need to note this during the configuration of ActiveSync on the iPhone.

Also, if you receive an error every time you connect to your OWA email (something to the effect that the site can not be verified, do you want to continue), your company may be using a self-signed SSL certificate. If so, you will need to import the certificate into the iPhone prior to setting up ActiveSync. The one problem is that as of this date, I am not sure if an iPhone can import a self-signed certificate.
 
The 3G iPhone does support OWA. When I downloaded the 2.0 software and then put in my OWA details the iPhone synced all of my Emails/Calendar & Contacts just as it does on a Windows Mobile device.

In fact the only thing it doesn't sync when compared to a windows mobile device was the task list - but I guess that is because the iPhone doesn't have a tasks application built in (unfortunately !)
 
Sonicjay said:
Thr current phone/firmware supports OWA just fine. It's just a webpage. I use it all the time.
Click to expand...

Interesting.. how did you do that? When I bring up our exchange server safari hangs - a symptom that's been there since the earliest revisions.. google seems to show this as a common problem.

OTOH the OP was *not* talking about using Safari. He was talking about some integration with the mail application, which isn't going to be there - only ActiveSync which is a separate thing.
 
retrospek said:
The 3G iPhone does support OWA. When I downloaded the 2.0 software and then put in my OWA details the iPhone synced all of my Emails/Calendar & Contacts just as it does on a Windows Mobile device.

In fact the only thing it doesn't sync when compared to a windows mobile device was the task list - but I guess that is because the iPhone doesn't have a tasks application built in (unfortunately !)
Click to expand...
Is this a new feature in the 2.0 software i.e. Using OWA to sync Mail, Cals and Contacts? So you're not using OWA via the iPhone web browser, you're entering your OWA security credentials within the iPhone settings and this will then do the sync? If so, this is pretty awesome and exactly what I'm after.
 
Ok, here we go.

In 2.0 in the mail app you will have an exchange option when you want to create a new account just like you have the one for .mac, yahoo, etc.

Select the exchange option and it will ask you for your exchange server. This is where you put in your owa.yourcompany.com address as well as your username and password.

Presto, exchange syncing through the mail app!
 
TonyHoyle said:
Interesting.. how did you do that? When I bring up our exchange server safari hangs - a symptom that's been there since the earliest revisions.. google seems to show this as a common problem.

OTOH the OP was *not* talking about using Safari. He was talking about some integration with the mail application, which isn't going to be there - only ActiveSync which is a separate thing.
Click to expand...

I didn't realize anyone was having trouble using OWA in Safari on the iPhone; it's always worked for me; at the job I'm at now, as well as my previous job. Exchange 2003 in both cases; not sure if 07 makes it an issue (or certain patch levels, customization of exchange, ie:CRM integration, etc).
 
Requiemm said:
Ok, here we go.

In 2.0 in the mail app you will have an exchange option when you want to create a new account just like you have the one for .mac, yahoo, etc.

Select the exchange option and it will ask you for your exchange server. This is where you put in your owa.yourcompany.com address as well as your username and password.

Presto, exchange syncing through the mail app!
Click to expand...
But will the Contacts and Calendar applications on the iPhone be synced with your contacts and calendar from exchange?
 
I believe so but will let those who have had the luck to see the app first hand verify it.
 
TonyHoyle said:
Interesting.. how did you do that?
Click to expand...

Oh, also, I unchecked this box in Exchange System Manager ;)

exchange.JPG
 
heh.

I don't hold out much hope for 2.0 personally.. mail.app has never been able to make head nor tail of our exchange 2000* server (and upgrading is not on the roadmap).

What I would like to know is if 2.0 connects to the VPN automatically rather than the manual process the current iphone has.. that makes even checking IMAP rather a pain.

* You think that's old.. in my last job they had no plans to move from 5.5 - exchange servers are so mission critical that even logging into them is practically a capital crime let alone upgrading them...
 
Well...

I have been accessing my exchange email on my iPhone for nearly a year now .... using a service called synchronica.com

It allows your mail app in iPhone to access your corporate exchange mail- don't have to tell your IT people anything.... "It just works"

Something tells me Apple will cock it up with 2.0 and make me have to keep using synchronica.
 
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