The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

I mentioned Egnyte back in August, when they released version 1.5 of their secure storage, collaboration and backup solution. Today they've announced version 2.0 with support for iPhone access through a web application. I spoke briefly with Vineet Jain from Egnyte about the iPhone-compatible release. According to Vineet, the fact that 40% of Egnyte's users are on Macs was the impetus for the iPhone being the first device supported in their mobile development. The number of Mac users in their customer base surprised them a little, and so did the number of people using the service primarily as an offsite backup. Logically, they've concentrated their efforts based on user demand and improved the backup capabilities and performance as well.

The iPhone interface, dubbed m Drive, allows users to log in to their accounts and work with their files. Access permissions can be set and changed on-the-go, and files can be shared by emailing them as attachments, or by emailing an access link to the file on the Egnyte server. Links to files can be set to expire at a given time and don't require an Egnyte login. m Drive also allows users to view previous versions and comments on files.

The interface is simple, easy to navigate and not bad looking. It currently lacks the search features present in the full version. Such features may be present in a dedicated iPhone app, which is coming, I'm told. For the moment a web app makes more sense (to me), given its current goals. Egnyte offers a 15-day free trial, and plans are configurable based on your needs, starting at $15USD/month for 1 "Power user" and unlimited standard users (comparison chart on the pricing page).