What Does the Recent SAP Apple Union Spell for Enterprise App Development?

SAP and Apple have recently joined together to improve iOS in the enterprise by combining native apps for iPhone and iPad with the SAP HANA platform. So what does this mean for enterprise app development? Apple is hoping that the millions of SAP developers will create enterprise apps for iOS and that the apps they create together will introduce a new generation of enterprise-class apps for iOS, setting a new standard for the industry.

According to Joel Shore for Tech Target, this union benefits both partners, but is especially favorable to Apple. This partnership comes at a time when the iPad is in need of a reboot in the enterprise. With tablet sales falling across the board due to laptop/tablet converters and this could be their chance to reinstate their use in the enterprise.

“Driving the partnership to develop iOS mobile apps is a plan to create a development environment for building native apps for iPhone and iPad that leverage SAP’s HANA in-memory analytics platform,” says Shore. “Two key initiatives behind the partnership are a new iOS software development kit (SDK) and educational academy that trains developers to create purpose-built iOS apps. SAP plans to develop its own apps for the iOS platform as well as open the environment to corporate and independent developers.”

This training academy for developers is essential to be sure that the apps are created properly with user-friendly UIs that are still as complex as they need to be under the surface.

“This partnership will transform how iPhone and iPad are used in enterprise by bringing together the innovation and security of iOS with SAP’s deep expertise in business software,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “As the leader in enterprise software and with 76% of business transactions touching an SAP system, SAP is the ideal partner to help us truly transform how businesses around the world are run on iPhone and iPad. Through the new SDK, we’re empowering SAP’s more than 2.5 million developers to build powerful native apps that fully leverage SAP HANA Cloud Platform and tap into the incredible capabilities that only iOS devices can deliver.”