The CRM company wants to extend its applications to mobile platforms, and the Sendia acquisition will help with Salesforce’s launch of AppExchange Mobile.
More than sixty “Mobile Ready” applications from Salesforce (CRM) will be available for users of smartphones and other wireless mobile devices. Salesforce’s $15 million purchase of Sendia Corporation, a mobile technology company based in Santa Monica, allowed Salesforce to enable those on-demand applications for mobile use.
Sendia president and COO Alex Klyce has been named senior vice president and general manager of the AppExchange Mobile Business Unit for salesforce.com. “AppExchange Mobile allows developers and partners to create applications directly for on-demand and mobile, rather than having to first develop an application and then port it to a mobile OS,” said Klyce.
Once created, those applications can run on any Web-enabled PC, without additional coding. Salesforce chairman and CEO Marc Benioff said AppExchange Mobile is “further extending the power, creativity and freedom of the on-demand model and The Business Web to our customers and partners on the move.”
AppExchange Mobile runs on multiple wireless platforms, including RIM’s BlackBerry, Intel Centrino, Palm OS, and Windows Mobile. Those platforms can be found on millions of portable devices in use today.
The increasing capabilities of those platforms, coupled with high-speed data connectivity options from companies like Verizon and Sprint Nextel, make such mobile applications a more viable choice for users.
Moving data to and from the back-end systems needed to support a CRM or other intensive application operates best with faster connections. Firms embracing these mobile applications may decide to begin or expand their existing wireless service agreements with network providers.
Escalated demand for high-speed wireless and the applications AppExchange Mobile supports will require some time to reach a point of influence. If Salesforce can convince a Fortune 500 firm to employ its mobile platform, others may follow suit.
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David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
