Salesforce CRM for the iPhone
If the Blackberry has Microsoft and SAP batting for it then the iPhone has its own two stalwarts. Along with Oracle’s announcement of offering free applications via the iPhone comes another announcement by Salesforce.com in which the SaaS biggie has stated that its customer relationship management (CRM) applications and Force.com platform are available as Salesforce Mobile applications for the iPhone.
Businesses can now access not only Salesforce.com CRM but also custom made and third party applications developed using the Force.com platform. The deal implies a great deal of exposure for Salesforce.com products and it being a SaaS provider, its reach increases manifold via mobile internet. It would be cool to find out the manner in which these businesses select partners as being the right fit for their products and services. Do iPhone users have a soft spot for Salesforce.com products?
This really is showing that the iPhone is now taking the place of a laptop computer. The real test is going to be how many people think this way. I am not sure that the iPhone is going to replace the laptop. The soft-keyboard is one impediment, and the other is the size of the screen and how much it can display. For the odd name look-up, the iPhone maybe good enough for that. But to do real work on the iPhone is not that easy. Time will tell whether the iPhone can be used as a work-horse.
This has huge potential. Can you imagine carrying your CRM database in your pocket? Yes, people have been carrying laptops but the ability to work casually on the iPhone or pull up reports is mind blowing. iPhone + thin computing = the future.
http://www.forsolutions.ca
Yes I can see your point about carrying your CRM database in your pocket. However, there are still limitations as I noted before. Maybe to make the odd call, or to update the database in some small way, but to do any real work on the database I still need a larger screen.
Wow! Now I can leave my laptop behind and just do all my work on my iPhone!
Shame that I can’t read the screen in sunlight, that the keyboard needs a child’s fingers to use, that the screen makes a Timex Sinclair look positively large, that it doesn’t really work very well as a telephone….
Hmmm. Maybe I’ll stick to my trusty Nokia and get a G3 card for my laptop.
Sam Green, http://www.reallysimplesystems.com. Keep it simple.
Sorry for being late to the party but…
I own an iPhone and I use/sell http://www.salesnexus.com. One of the little surprises I found when i first got the iPhone was how well our system worked on it. There is no need for a special application or anything. i can use our system as if sitting at my desk. Pretty cool.
The fact that SalesForce.com needs an additional app, makes me wonder when/if they will start charging for that too.
Mark
http://www.salesnexus.com
The Applie iPhone continues to gain momentum in popularity. Whilst it is now becoming a viable replacement for a laptop with the extended apps functionality it is difficult to do a lot of work on the small keyboard enter the iSlate 😉