Business Applications Squeeze Onto Mobile Devices

Mobile workers have been held back by the limited processing power of their devices, bandwidth availability, and a relative lack of applications. That's changing as devices and networks get more powerful and as vendors deliver applications and development tools that make it easier to put desktop-like functionality in employees' hands.

Nokia last week certified Oracle's Mobile Field Service and Siebel Wireless applications to work with Nokia's E61 and E62 smartphones. Mobile Field Service provides access to work schedules and job information, allowing service dispatchers and reps to process work requests. With Siebel Wireless, mobile workers can view, create, and edit information stored in a Siebel Enterprise database.

"Mobile e-mail is important, but forward-thinking organizations are already asking, 'What's next for mobility?'" says Chris Fletcher, marketing director of Nokia's enterprise solutions group. Increasingly, the answer is access to CRM and other business applications.

Welding equipment company Miyachi Unitek deployed a mobile version of Salesforce.com's AppExchange a few months ago, and salespeople carrying Treo smartphones are saving up to six work hours a week dealing with customers while on the move. "When I'm in the field and a customer cancels an appointment, I can go right into AppExchange, look at the different opportunities in that area, call another prospect, and try to make another visit instead of wasting the downtime," says Jim Malloy, Miyachi Unitek's VP of sales.

Cisco Systems last week announced the $31 million acquisition of mobile application vendor Orative, whose software extends Cisco's Unified Communications functionality, including presence awareness, collaboration, and unified voice and e-mail, to several mobile platforms, including BlackBerrys, Brew, Java 2 Micro Edition, and the Symbian operating system. The acquisition follows Cisco's purchase earlier this year of Metreos and that company's voice-over-IP application development platform. Part of Cisco's strategy is to help customers create applications that can be delivered as services over a network, says Alex Hadden-Boyd, Cisco's director of mobile communications. "You want to be able to access those on many different devices," he says.

BEYOND E-MAIL

With more demand comes a need for easier development. Research In Motion last week released BlackBerry Enterprise Server for MDS Applications, software to create, deploy, and manage mobile applications for BlackBerry devices. MDS stands for Mobile Data Systems. The software was formerly packaged with RIM's e-mail server. Its launch as a standalone product is a sign that RIM is serious about pushing mobile applications to BlackBerrys, with or without e-mail.

Verizon Wireless last week became the first carrier to launch Adobe Flash-enabled handsets. The delivery mechanism--it's available exclusively through Verizon Wireless' commercial Get It Now download application--isn't suited for enterprise development, but that will change, says Anup Murarka, Adobe's director of technical marketing for mobile devices. Meanwhile, some companies already have begun creating prototype mobile Flash applications on their own.

Mobile applications extend the power of the desktop to employees on the move. What's next? If only developers could get everything to look good on those tiny devices.

with Elena Malykhina

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