Web Development Live

Salesforce.com today introduced the summer upgrade to its on-demand CRM software, called Salesforce Summer ‘08, featuring enhancements on both the client and server-sides of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform.

Force.com, the Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) that allows developers to build their own applications to run along side the ones provided by Salesforce, has been expanded out to allow for developing any kind of application the users want with Apex, Salesforce’s Java-like programming language.

Also, Visualforce is now live in every edition of Salesforce, enabling developers to create their own custom interfaces based on Web 2.0 UI items that will work on any device. So it’s possible to make your Force.com applications run on a PC, laptop, BlackBerry or iPhone.

“Visualforce really completed the whole stack for how developers can use Force.com to create applications,” Al Falcion, senior director of product marketing for Salesforce, told InternetNews.com.

“Any client with a browser is covered. There’s definitely a need for different UIs, even if they use the same app.” As such, Visualforce lets developers create an application that presents data one way on a desktop, and in a different way on a notebook or smartphone.

One of the knocks on Web 2.0 is the performance of Ajax, which requires a lot of JavaScript to run on the client. “The key is having the right frequency of refreshes so they don’t drag the client down,” said Falcione.

Apple also said it will unveil new iPhone features aimed at businesses, potentially stepping up competition with Research In Motions popular Blackberry devices.
Apple will detail the software road map for the iPhone on March 6 at its Cupertino, California headquarters, the company said in an invitation sent to reporters.
Shares in Apple were up 2 per cent at $US121.50 in afternoon Nasdaq trading. The stock has fallen 30 per cent in the past three months on concerns that a slowing economy could hit sales of its Mac computers, iPods and iPhones.
When Apple launched the iPhone last June, it only allowed outside software developers to make Web-based programs, not ones that could be installed and run on the device itself.
The policy sparked an outcry among developers, who quickly found ways to crack Apples restrictions and offer unauthorized programs. Within months, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs backtracked and promised to open the phone up to outside software.
Apple has understood the importance of local applications and they are responding to that, and it will help them sell more iPhones, said Tim Bajarin, principal analyst of Creative Strategies.
It should release a plethora of creative applications and it will make the iPhone much more practical as a mobile applications tool, Bajarin said.
UNLOCKING CONCERN
Analysts have expressed concern in recent weeks over iPhone sales and the practice of unlocking them to run on networks other than that of AT%26amp;T, the exclusive US carrier.
Bernstein Research last month estimated that more than a quarter of iPhones were unlocked, pressuring Apples business model since the company does not collect a portion of carrier fees from those users.
Cracking down on unlocked phones could scare some users away and cause Apple to miss its sales target for the device, whereas allowing them could erode profitability and make it tough to sign more carriers to similar revenue-sharing deals, Bernstein said.
Apples invitation did not indicate whether it would address the unlocking issue at the March event.
Apple also gave no hint of what enterprise features would be unveiled, but many professional users have clamored for push e-mail that sends full messages from a corporate mail network to the phone.
That is how Research In Motions Blackberry devices work, but iPhone users must manually pull the messages down from their accounts.
Apple has acknowledged that there has been great interest in the enterprise community for the iPhone, Bajarin said. Theres no question it has great potential in enterprise given the right application.

Speaking at the Mobility Summit in London on Monday, Andrew Moran said that mobile Linux was fragmentation city and completely unfeasible. Despite describing Linux as being important as a web server platform, Moran claimed it was currently too hard for enterprise users to plan deployment of open source on mobile handsets. You would have to have a rock-solid business case to do that, he added.

Nigel Heaney, the EMEA telecoms director for mobile applications company Dexterra, agreed that there are currently no suitable devices that run Linux, but hinted that such devices are starting to appear. He also suggested that RIM’s BlackBerry smartphones would become less popular in the future, as Microsoft and Nokia increasingly drive the marketplace.

SAP, the worlds biggest maker of business management software, will include the program as part of new sales-force automation software that it is launching this month.
The iPhone has become such a popular thing, said Bob Stutz, a SAP senior vice president who is responsible for developing the companys customer relationship management software. Everybody wants the ease of use of the iPhone.
The first generation of the iPhone software will load business contacts, information on sales prospects and account data onto the device, Stutz said.
SAP is breaking with precedent by introducing versions of the new software that are compatible with the iPhone ahead of ones for mobile devices that businesses traditionally use. These include Research in Motions Blackberry, Palms Treo and devices that run on software from Microsoft.
Stutz said that SAP had decided to introduce the iPhone software ahead of programs for those devices at the request of its salespeople, saying they prefer using iPhones to the other devices.
The iPhone software, part of a new sales-force automation suite from SAP, uses a Web-based interface with drag-and-drop tools similar to ones available on Google.

Google recently released a tool kit which allows developers to build applications for its

“Android” platform, due for release next year. Google’s system is a

free software package for mobile phones that it says will make it easier to surf the Web from

cellphones.

The Associated Press reports that Google will award 50 $US25,000 prizes, 10 $US100,000 prizes and

10 $US275,000 prizes.

Motorla, Samsung, HTC and LG Electronics have agreed to install the Android operating system on some

of their phones, AP reports.

Google’s operating system will compete with several different established players, including

software from

Microsoft, BlackBerry’s Research in Motion, and Symbian, which is owned by Nokia and other large

mobile makers.