Lets face it. Apple and Outlook simply dont play well together and they never will. In OS X Mavericks they have removed the INFO button from iTunes which allowed you to selectively sync data on your device to Gmail or Outlook. Apple is forcing every user to iCloud. They dont give a sh*t about the professional or business user, they are selling iPhones to your grandmother and 60mm consumers and they want them buying Macs and using native Mail, Contacts and Reminders to manage their data. They want to force everyone into the all-Apple ecosystem.
This is the kind of behavior that got Microsoft nailed with anti-trust violations in the EU.
Bottom line is if you want to use an iPhone or iPad with Exchange-based data, you should consider them to be read-only devices and input ALL new data strictly through your Outlook interface (especially contacts - I find the Calendar to work pretty flawlessly in setting up appointments). Syncing over the air down to the devices via Exchange seems to work. Syncing upstream from devices to Exchange causes problems of myriad types and inconsistently across users. I am an MCSE, I run my business via Exchange (Contacts, Calendar, Tasks and Mail) and have 7000+ carefully coded contacts (via categories) that are my lifeblood. I live in a MS ecosystem and cannot migrate because of the power it gives me via Outlook to run my biz with one interface.
I like the iPhone form factor and have just accepted a certian amount of manual labor is required to keep my feet in both ponds and manage the incompatibilities. I dont rely on Microsoft to do everything right (office365 lost data that was unrecoverable recently) and certainly not Apple (unless you drink the Kool Aid). But Apple doesnt give you enterprise-level functions and tools for your universe of data.
Its a kluge-y world, we all just live here 😟
