Since I initially set up my iPhone mail accounts using Mail.app on my laptop, does this mean that Mail.app may also get the new Exchange syncing?

Yeah, I was wondering the same thing... It'll be pretty sad if my iPhone can get contacts and calendar info from Exchange but my desktop still cannot (at least not using Mail.app).

As you may have noticed on everything but the share-price of Apple, Apple announced the new iPhone 2.0 OS and accompanied with a new Enterprise angle and a SDK toolkit to develop your own apps.

A few things I found that needed my comment (Steve are you listening?)...

1) Why choose ActiveSync? I would have been very happy to see that Apple chose to use IMAP-IDLE and an extension on CalDAV to do some of the push-things it is touting with ActiveSync... ActiveSync will only reinforce the use of Exchange to small and medium sized companies, who would have easily moved to a newer platform if the options were given... I agree that ActiveSync does entice the large monoliths to which Apple could sell the remainder iPhones to complete its 10m target, but a less heavy option should have been available based on MacOSXServer technologies. My vision there would have been to use IMAP-IDLE to poll for mails, which works adequate for Mail.app on Macs. The push-calendaring was a very enticing deal, but might also have been possible by extending CalDAV server on MacOSXServer, maybe even by using IMAP as the repository for the calendar events and hence again leverage the IMAP-IDLE technology to push new events, more or less like how ToDo's and Notes are stored on the Mail server right now using Mail.app...

2) Managed iPhones? What I really missed in the Enterprise demo would have been Managed iPhones like the Managed Clients on MacOSXServer. when you boot your iPhone it asks for a login and password and based on that and LDAP/DHCP it would fill your iPhone with the right apps and settings. These could then be managed by a central server and hence a simple lost iPhone would be useless without login and password. Also this would make iPhones very manageable, allowing you to set the mail settings, set locks on the iPhone based on the user. Think of them as small Macs only.

3) If the CFO of Apple is ok with a non tied down iPhone, then I would have loved to hear of a 900$ unlocked iPhone from Apple... Together with an amnesty program this would allow a lot of the high net-worth people all over the world, who are tied down to piracy at the moment to pay Apple for the loss they incur and also enable them to use the iPhone without the worries... By the summer the market of tie-ins would be saturated and those providers that want to join the iPhone gang will have joined, the others will have to read and weep... Maybe sell it with a world-wide covered AppleCare for iPhones...

4) Games on iPhone... "a kind of Wiimote for iPhone" just made me shiver... Please make a more "entertainable" version of the iPhone for this... One that will bounce back when it slips out of your hands on that sharp curve... Can you see the saddened faces when buying a 15$ game and the next day ordering another 499$ iPhone, cause the old one got busted and then figuring that you will need to buy the game again (no transfer of games... I assume).

Just 4 small point to ponder on...

Deeeep