Apple And SAP Partnership To Bring HANA-Powered Apps To iPhone And iPad

Apple and SAP will work together on enterprise applications for iOS powered by SAP HANA in-memory analytics in partnership that the two companies claim will “revolutionise work on iPhone and iPad.”

SAP will develop native iOS applications built on Apple’s Swift programming language and create a specific design language for its Fiori user experience (UX) to help developers build their applications.

The partners say employees across all industries will become more productive and make better decisions. For example, doctors will be able to share patient data with other medical staff or a field worker can take actions directly from their mobile device without needing to return to the office.

Some SAP applications are already available on Apple devices, including the Apple Watch.

Combined

A new training academy for developers, partners and customers will be established later this year, while the new design language and software development kit (SDK) will be made available before the end of 2016.

“By combining the powerful capabilities of SAP HANA Cloud Platform and SAP S/4HANA, together with iOS, the leading and most secure mobile platform for enterprise, we will help deliver live data to people wherever and whenever they choose to work,” said Bill McDermott, SAP CEO.

The deal with SAP builds on Apple’s existing partnership with IBM as the iPhone manufacturer looks to penetrate the enterprise market to combat sliding iPhone and iPad sales in the consumer sector.

More than 100 ‘MobileFirst for iOS’ applications have been co-developed by Apple and IBM, while the latter is selling iPads to its customers.

“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,” added Tim Cook, Apple CEO.

“As the leader in enterprise software and with 76 percent 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.”

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