iPhone Enterprise Mobility Apps

Finally, it appears that iPhone has real enterprise business applications available to run on it. This article lists the top enterprise mobile software applications as:

1. Oracle for iPhone
2. Salesforce for iPhone
3. Sybase's Mobile Office for iPhone

These are small applications, but with great potential.

Great Article on Enterprise Mobility Trends for Mobile Handheld PDA Applications

This is one of the best articles, with good data, good opinions and bold projections on the enterprise mobile computing industry, Handheld PDAs and Mobile Software. It is interesting that this article came out on MacNewsWorld.

http://www.macnewsworld.com/story/iphone/64169.html

Apple's App Store & T-Mobile's Application Store

Both Apple (with App Store) and now T-Mobile (T-Mobile unconfirmed) are launching or are preparing to launch online stores to distribute and sell mobile business and consumer software applications. I have long been involved in the mobile business application markets and can see both the benefits and challenges this model can have. Let me summarize:

• Online stores promoted by big name companies - this is a good thing. Most mobile business application companies are small companies that can use all the help they can get from a larger company's marketing funds.
• More visibility to the carrier's network of sales people and reseller channels - again this is good for the small software company producing mobile business applications
• Sharing 30% of the revenue with the Online Store - this means you are effectively giving up 30% of your revenue as a "cost of sales" or "marketing cost". This would be OK, if you consider the Online Store as a reseller, however, you are still likely to be required to do all of the pre-sales, sales, post-sales and support work anyway. This can get expensive and unprofitable if mishandled.
• Most mobile business applications consist of many different software components, only a small portion are actually downloadable to the mobile device. So if your multi-component mobile business application only makes a mobile client available on the Online Store, then the remainder could be sold directly by the small mobile business software company in a separate transaction. This is the likely scenario that will work. The Online Store would sell a $19 mobile software client, but the mobile application server, administration component, mobile workflow and device management would be separate applications and fees available directly from the software vendor for another $97,000 (I just made that number up).
• In effect - the software vendor will just alter their pricing to lower the price of the mobile client - sold through the Online Store, but raise the price of their server, manager, work flow and device management components to meet their revenue model.
• The net effect to the Online Store is they will make 30% of the $19 mobile client component downloaded from their site, but none of the $97,000 for the rest of the enterprise mobile software platform, consulting and integration fees.
• The Online Store will not like this model and will tend to promote a monthly service based software package in the SaaS model. The Online Store will see this as getting a larger piece of the entire enterprise mobile solution, not just the small mobile software client.

It will interesting to watch how this model plays out in the market.

- Kevin Benedict

Great Links to Mobile Technology Portals, Websites and Other Points of Interest

Hello Folks,

I found this list of wireless and mobile industry links that is quite useful.


» Portable Design Mobile Computing
» Wireless Week» Wireless Net DesignLine
» Mobilized Software
» Mobile Enterprise
Wi-Fi Planet
» Mobile Handset DesignLine
» RF Design
» RCR Wireless News
» Wireless Design & Development
» Unstrung» Wireless IQ
» Ultrawideband Planet
» Mobile Tech Today
» CWNP Wireless Certifications
» Global Wireless Education Consortium
» WiMax Forum
» FCC- Wireless Telecom Bureau
» Google Mobile
» CDMA Development Group
» WINLAB» MIPI Alliance
» Investing in Wireless
» Open Mobile Alliance
» WLANA
» 3GPP
» 3GPP2
» Bluetooth SIG
» Enterprise Wireless Alliance
» UMTS Forum
» Wireless Messaging Association
» Mobiliser Intel for Wireless Executives
» CTIA
» 3G Today
» The Wireless Report
» BlipLog Mobile Content
» Mobile Mentalism
» Mobile Entertainment
» m-trends Mobile Media Lifestyle
» This is Mobility
» Mobiltee
» Wireless-Watch.Community
» MobHappy
» Mobile Monday

More on iPhone Challenges and Mobile Software

Larry Borsato of the Industry Standard wrote an insightful article recently on the Nine reasons the iPhone apps platform is lacking. Tiny companies, developing tiny applications, with tiny investments may be interested in developing tiny mobile software applications for tiny niche markets, but any significant mobile software company that develops industrial strength mobile applications would be unwilling to work under the present conditions set forth by Apple.

- Kevin Benedict