iOS 6 May Give Business A Way To Lock Up Devices

Depending on how you look at it, this new iOS 6 feature will be a great creative idea or a party pooper. Apple will be releasing an iOS 6 feature that is aimed at businesses that utilize their devices for a variety of needs. So if you’re the boss of a company and you’re getting tired of the employees horsing around on their company iPhone or iPad this will be great. But if you’re one of the employees that likes some rest time every now and then, these new features will make you want to figure out a way to beat the system somehow.

According to Zenprise, iOS 6 will feature some enterprise features that will “enhance the ease with which CIOs & IT departments can put mobile to work.” The one feature that has people buzzing one that can allow businesses to “lock down” your Apple Device by limiting the features and apps that you’re able to use. So you won’t be able to have a Scrabble tournament in the office anymore.

Now we don’t believe that this is Apple’s attempt at turning employees into mindless drones that can’t get a break. For instance, many upscale restaurants have already been taking advantage of iPads for things like reservations and some allow you to order your meals right from an in-store tablet. These features are designed to take this to the next level. There may come a time soon where businesses will be able to use iPads as a register type device to check out customers and come up with creative marketing ideas utilizing the iPad.

Another new feature that will be available for corporate iOS 6 users has to do with wallpapers. Businesses will be able to change the background of devices to the company logo so that the single use devices have some sort of branding instead of having the standard Apple look. This will give companies the ability to lock the wallpaper so that employees or customers can’t change it and mess around.

While Apple products have primarily been marketed towards consumers rather than businesses, Apple is well aware of the popularity of their devices in companies. In fact, during the iPhone 5 release event, Tim Cook actually spoke on the fact that 94% of the Fortune 500 are utilizing iPads. He even showed off some custom applications for some big name companies such as Mayo Clinic and GE Capital.

Also when you consider Tim Cook’s past working for IBM, it’s quite clear that he has a different take on business customers than Steve Jobs did. Apple has been pushing their products into the corporate market more and more recently but it hasn’t been widely spoken about. Earlier this year Apple unveiled new software that would allow companies to create custom software for the iPhone and iPad.

There are millions of Apple users and more and more businesses are realizing that these users are bringing the devices into work. So by integrating them into their system and trying to control them, they may be able to better manage productivity. This could be the next step for Apple in taking a hold on the business market. For years now RIM has controlled the market for business users with their Blackberry phones but with more and more users shifting to iPhones and Android devices, those days could be coming to an end. So Apple may be on to something with these new iOS 6 features.