The Chattering classes go mobile

Gordon Peters
Thursday, 09 September 2010 13:02

IT Industry - Market

Enterprise cloud computing group, Salesforce.com has launched Chatter Mobile, which the company says empowers every employee with social, mobile and real-time collaboration.

Salesforce claims that, since launching into general availability on 22 June, Chatter’s industry reception has been “hugely positive”, with multiple industry awards for innovation and nearly 20,000 companies with Chatter deployments discovering a new way to work.

According to the company, with Chatter Mobile users will be able to monitor their Chatter feeds, including posts from colleagues and alerts from apps, as well as post status updates and comment on relevant conversations – all from their mobile device. The service is also now accessible on Apple iPad, iPhone, the new iPod touch, Google Android and RIM BlackBerry devices.

Salesforce says that people who access Facebook through a mobile device are twice as active on the site than non-mobile uses. Similarly, according to a report from IDC, mobile devices are becoming the “new enterprise desktop” for more than 50 percent of the workforce. Salesforce reckons Chatter Mobile for Apple iPad, iPhone and the new iPod touch, Google Android and RIM BlackBerry devices will help employees “increase productivity in this new computing paradigm no matter where they are located.”

Chairman and CEO of Salesforce, Marc Benioff, says   "Chatter Mobile means you can know what is happening in your entire enterprise, wherever you are,” and he claims, the combination of devices like the iPad or the new iPod touch with mobile apps like Chatter that push information to you in real-time are “making the desktop obsolete.”

Benioff says that Salesforce is accelerating the market shift to the next cloud computing paradigm, Cloud 2, with its introduction of Chatter Mobile.

“The first phase of cloud computing was about leveraging technologies that were low cost, fast and easy to use on your desktop,” and Benioff says Cloud 2 represents the “next generation of cloud computing - one that is inherently social, collaborative and delivers real-time access to data and information across new mobile devices.”

Benioff again cites a recent IDC report showing that there are now more than 500 million people who access the Internet via a mobile device and predicting that the use of mobile apps will grow at a double-digit rate.

And, Benioff says that, according to a Morgan Stanley report, the number of people who access the Internet via mobile devices will surpass desktops and laptops by 2012.

Chatter Mobile, Benioff says, extends Salesforce’s existing success in mobile apps. with its CRM embraced by customers and more than 250,000 downloads from the Apple App Store and more than 100,000 from the BlackBerry App World.

Salesforce says Chatter is now generally available and included at no additional  charge with all paying user subscriptions of Salesforce CRM and Force.com, and that Chatter Mobile will be available at no additional charge for Salesforce CRM and Force.com subscribers.

Chatter Mobile apps for BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone and the new iPod touch are currently scheduled to be available in late 2010, according to Salesforce, and Chatter Mobile for Android devices is currently scheduled to be available in the first half of 2011.