Palm knows EAS support is lacking, fix due within 60 days

There are a few areas that Palm could stand to improve webOS and the Pre. One of the most glaring are the holes in their implementation of Microsoft Exchange Active Sync. As undoubtedly many of you have discovered when attempting to hook your Pre up to your corporate EAS server, the Pre does not support EAS remote wiping or EAS pin locks (though such features do exist via your Palm Profile and on the device, respectively). Without those security features that many corporations demand, the Pre simply won’t connect, meaning the investment was for naught.

Thankfully, we’ve received word from Jon Zilber, Director of Online Communications at Palm, that they’re working on it:

Palm understands that some business customers need support for specific Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) policies. We are working to develop support for EAS PIN and password enforcement, as well as EAS remote wipe, for webOS and hope to announce these new features within the next 60 days. We will deliver the features through our over-the-air update system, which Palm has already started using to bring new updates to Pre users as they become available. Until then, Palm Pre customers can enable a PIN or password directly on a device, and can also remotely wipe a device via a Palm profile.

We’ve also heard from a source within Palm that they are aware that many are having problems with SSL connections (in that their server doesn’t support it but the Pre demands it anyway) and are working on a solution that should hopefully be out in the near future. These changes should hopefully fix the vast majority of Exchange server issues we know that many of you have encountered. Just hold on tight, the fix is coming!