Microsoft announced today that a “feature pack” update will be arriving to Windows Phone 8 in the first half of 2014. The company also said it would be increasing the length of its support lifecycle from 18 months to 36 months, so devices will get security or feature updates for three years now.
“These updates will be incremental, with each update built on the update that preceded it,” wrote Tony Mestres, VP of Windows Phone partner and channel marketing. “The mobile operator or phone manufacturer may control the distribution of these incremental updates and update availability may also vary by country, region, and device hardware capabilities.”
Here’s what’s coming in the update:
- S/MIME to sign and encrypt email
- Access to corporate resources behind the firewall with app aware, auto-triggered VPN
- Enterprise Wi-Fi support with EAP-TLS
- Enhanced MDM policies to lock down functionality on the phone for more enterprise control, in addition to richer application management such as allowing or denying installation of certain apps
- Certificate management to enroll, update, and revoke certificates for user authentication
Previously on GeekWire: Nokia Lumia 925 coming to T-Mobile on July 14 for $49 down
