Salesforce, Apple partner to spur mobile enterprise development

Salesforce is redesigning its iOS app and launching an SDK and training program for developers.

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Apple Ios12 1920x1080 EhzlhmSalesforce is redesigning its iOS app as part of a strategic partnership that will provide new tools for Salesforce developers, including its first mobile SDK, and developer training to build native apps. The company plans to redesign its app in early 2019 to take advantage of new features for iOS 12.

The tech giants announced the partnership on Monday. The iOS SDK will be available by the end of 2018, and an iOS app development course, hosted on Salesforce’s learning hub Trailhead, is available immediately.

Just last week, Apple released iOS 12, its newest operating system, which includes substantial enhancements to its AR functionality, Siri and notifications.

Why you should care

More than 150,000 businesses use Salesforce, making it the largest and most-used customer relationship management (CRM) system in the world. The partnership underscores the mobile-first shift in B2B sales and marketing technology.

Apple, at least, is eager to enable voice for the enterprise, with Siri integrated natively into mobile sales and marketing processes. “We’re going to be able to provide the sales rep instant access to things using your voice instead of clicks and going through different apps,” Tim Cook told Reuters.

The Salesforce native SDK will enable other businesses to build and deploy B2B apps for iOS on the Salesforce Lightning Platform. Marc Benioff, chairman and co-CEO of Salesforce, said, “Together, Salesforce and Apple are defining a new era of mobile innovation with native apps on iOS, and empowering millions of people with access to Trailhead and the skills they need for the jobs of the future.”

More on what happened

  • The Salesforce Mobile App will use iOS 12’s new and enhanced capabilities, such as Siri Shortcuts, Face ID, Business Chat and more.
  • The SDK is optimized for Apple’s programming language, Swift.
  • Apple is launching a new Get Started with iOS App Development Trail that will teach anyone how to build native iOS apps in Xcode with Swift and will introduce the first-ever Trailhead Mobile App, available in 2019.
  • Also this week, Salesforce announced its Einstein Voice Assistant, which is accessible through the Salesforce app.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


About the author

Robin Kurzer
Contributor
Robin Kurzer started her career as a daily newspaper reporter in Milford, Connecticut. She then made her mark on the advertising and marketing world in Chicago at agencies such as Tribal DDB and Razorfish, creating award-winning work for many major brands. For the past seven years, she’s worked as a freelance writer and communications professional across a variety of business sectors.

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