Enterprises should feel more confident about allowing iPhones as work devices if users can connect the phones to the Internet using an existing enterprise account with security and policy settings, Kaplan said. S60 is the Symbian-based operating system for Nokia smartphones, which are widely used in Europe but less so in North America. iPass already had a client for Symbian.

Next up is software for Research In Motion's BlackBerry platform, coming this summer, Kaplan said. With that rollout, iPass software will be available for 90 percent of all smartphone operating systems, he said. Also on Tuesday, iPass is introducing a new client interface for Mac OS.

Tuesday's announcements and the new ecosystem initiative are both parts of a renewed focus on enterprises at iPass. The company introduced the iPass Connect service plan for individual travelers in March 2008 but has backed away from the consumer business, said Kaplan, who took over iPass last November. Mobile operators aim their data plans mostly at consumers and serve them well, while they haven't done a good job selling data services to enterprises, he said. The one exception is a consumer version of the iPhone client, which is already available from the App Store and is relatively easy to keep offering, he said.

"What we're trying to do is do everything we can to mate what we do to how the enterprise wants to buy. They don't want to buy a two-year contract. They don't want to buy equipment they have to keep tracking up," Kaplan said.

Because mobile operators now offer increasingly broad 3G connectivity and access to many Wi-Fi hotspots, the challenge for iPass is to differentiate itself, according to Kitty Weldon of Current Analysis. Although the company offers access to the largest set of hotspots, many users may be just as happy turning to their carriers for broadband on the road, she said.

"Being the biggest can only get you so far," Weldon said.

One way iPass can set itself apart is through a tighter embrace of VoIP, which carriers are ambivalent about because it can eat into their sale of call minutes, Weldon said. Another is acting as an independent party between carriers and enterprises, managing mobility across many different networks. The plan to integrate third-party applications might play into this strategy, though it's too early to say, she said.

This role would particularly suit enterprises that take control of their employees' mobile use instead of letting them set up their own accounts and reimbursing them, Weldon said. However, companies are still struggling with that notion, possibly unwilling to take the leap because of initial costs despite potential long-term benefits.