Divide for iOS is the closest thing to having a work profile on your iPhone

Earlier this month I reviewed Touchdown for iOS, a feature-rich Exchange client for iPhone and iPad. This week I take a look at another Exchange client for iOS called Divide (free, App Store).

Divide does things a little differently than other Exchange clients for iOS. Divide provides comprehensive remote management tools and an instinctive, iOS-like user experience. But more on them in a second.

While it's easy to use iOS' built-in Exchange tools, a separate third-party app like Divide keeps your corporate and personal data separate, which is good for both corporate compliance and personal privacy. Divide, as its name suggests, provides a completely self-contained environment (which it calls a "workspace") to access your complete Microsoft Exchange account. 

Once your PIN is validated, you'll enter the Divide workspace, which is the closest things to having multiple accounts on your iPhone or iPad:

Inside the Divide workspace (above) you can access all of the features of your Microsoft Exchange account, including Mail, Calendar, Contacts, and cool things like a separate file manager (more on that soon) and a web browser.

Divide's dual-persona design allows corporate IT departments to maintain control without having to manage the entire device. IT administrators get the benefit of managing a standardized workspace across all of their devices and protecting corporate data. 

Here's how Divide differs from the competition:

PIM functionality: Divide supports mail (including S/MIME), Calendar, Contacts, and Tasks. Divide can also remove exported work contacts from the personal side in the event that a remote wipe is required.

User experience: The most significant difference between Divide and its competition is its user experience. Rather than requiring users to learn a completely new user interface (and its associated learning curve) Divide mirrors the iOS UI.

Full-featured container: Divide includes a fully-featured container with its own launcher, browser, secure file management, OfficeSuite viewer and editor, and third-party app wrapping in order to add other apps into the work container. Divide also allows the user to set work hours and smart notifications.

Provisioning: Divide offers sophisticated provisioning capabilities and Divide Manager makes the experience painless for end users.

Management console for IT: Divide Manager includes container cloud management with sophisticated policy controls and reporting; Touchdown is now offering a basic PIM management function as a cloud service for the first time. Divide Manager can configure more than 60 unique container policies.

Management console for end users: MyDivide is an optional, free service for all app store users that enables remote ping, locate, and wipe, and manages certain end-user features on their own.

Customize and brand: Divide is able to customize and brand the client experience to match corporate branding via Divide Builder. Divide Builder can even change the app name and icon, as well as over 1,000 individual assets (graphics, strings, etc.). Even without Divide Builder customization, Divide Enterprise customers can use Divide Manager to change the launcher background, show customized Terms of Service, etc.

Here's another look:

Divide 2.0, which the company refers to as "perfecting the mobile work experience," will be out any day now for iOS and features:

OfficeSuite Integration (Enterprise only) provides full editing capabilities for documents, presentations, and spreadsheets which you can securely create, edit, view, save, and share within Mail and Files

Tasks

With a whole new UI and full integration of your desktop and mobile task lists, Divide Tasks is the best way to stay on top of your daily to-do list:

• Remote (Exchange, Office365) and local (Lotus, Google Apps) support
• Swipe to delete tasks
• Folder support for Exchange
• View tasks how you want with sorting by Name, Due Date, and Priority
• Easily find tasks with title and note field search
• Quickly identify high priority and recurring tasks
• Stay current with your daily to do list with task notifications support and reminders

Camera

• Capture and store photos in your secure workspace
• Send camera pictures to your team for review straight from Divide
• Show colleagues your camera roll without compromising personal privacy

Contacts

• Secure contact field export - choose between exporting all fields or name & number only

Divide Basic is free and Divide Enterprise costs $60 per year per user and gives you Divide Manager, Divide Builder and extensions. If you use Microsoft Exchange at the office, Divide is designed from the ground up for iOS and will help ensure your BYOD success.