Big News for iPhone CRM in 2010? We Hope So!
We like to spend a bit of time examining iPhone CRM trends here—and mobile CRM in general—and so we can’t end this week without taking a look at the week’s most-discussed item: Google’s Nexus One smartphone.
Every time a new smartphone is released, questions arise as to whether or not it will be the mobile device to dethrone the iPhone, which at first gained notoriety for its cool-factor, but has since become a widely-used enterprise device. All the major CRM players—Salesforce.com, Oracle, SugarCRM, etc.—have had iPhone CRM applications since shortly after the phone’s release in 2007; about three years later, smaller CRM providers have jumped aboard as well.
Despite lackluster sales last quarter, the Motorola Droid phone was hailed the new enterprise smartphone; Google’s Nexus One is also getting good reviews, but it remains to be seen whether either will unseat the iPhone in the business world. One of Nexus One’s crowning features, according to myriad reviews, is its simplicity—something the iPhone is loved for as well. On his blog, Tim O’Reilly also lauded its “completeness of cloud integration.” Everything about the Nexus One suggests that it is a wonderful new smartphone, and yet little evidence indicates it will take the lead in that market. Most Nexus One admirers predict that it won’t be a huge game changer. A sleek mobile device? Yes, but it’s not the “superphone” some predicted it would be.
Mike Burke, VP Business Development at IQ Services, which provides communications technology testing and monitoring, is one with faith in the iPhone’s continued dominance in enterprise. And more to the point of iPhone CRM, he predicted a big mobile CRM development this year in an interview with TMCnet. He didn’t elaborate on what exactly that innovation would be, but given the proliferation of, and competition among, smartphones, hopefully we’ll see some big changes in 2010, and some really sleek applications.
[…] Update: Get the latest iPhone CRM news here. […]