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SAP Widens Apple Partnership With New IOS And Mac Apps

SAP is expanding its native iOS app portfolio starting with SAP Ariba and announcing several other updates to its partnership with Apple.

SAP is going deeper in its alliance with Apple with a number of expansions around iOS and macOS, including the launch of additional SAP apps that are native to the two Apple platforms.

The announcements, made in conjunction with SAP's Sapphire Now conference, come as "Apple is on the rise in the enterprise," said SAP CEO Bill McDermott in a news release.

[Related: SAP Readies Apple iOS SDK For Release]

They also build on previous team efforts between the two tech giants, including the launch of the SAP Cloud Platform SDK for iOS, which initially debuted in 2017. SAP says it has rebuilt key mobile apps—including SAP SuccessFactors, SAP Concur and SAP Asset Manager—as native iOS apps.

SAP announced that it will now be rolling out additional native iOS app versions from its portfolio. The company disclosed one such app, SAP Ariba, which offers procurement and supply chain cloud solutions, that will start the next wave of native iOS apps for SAP.

SAP also revealed that Apple's on-device machine learning technology, Core ML, will be made available in the SAP Cloud Platform SDK for iOS for the first time starting later this month. "Machine learning models will automatically download to iPhone and iPad so apps can run offline, and then dynamically update while connected to SAP Cloud Platform," SAP said in its news release.

Meanwhile, SAP is also investing when it comes to macOS, with the company announcing unspecified plans to "expand its app offerings to the Mac," with new apps that "match the power and ease of use of SAP iOS apps."

Marco Nielsen, vice president of managed mobility services at Stratix, a Norcross, Ga.-based MSP, said the announcements are "powerful news for SAP customers and a smart move by both parties to bring more AR/ML solutions to business customers."

The moves give SAP "direct access to all the goodness in the iOS platform, and Apple devices to the rich business backend that SAP has worldwide," Nielsen said in an email to CRN.

Apple CEO Tim Cook called the announcements "an important milestone for our partnership," while McDermott added that the two companies "have a strong partnership."

The announcements "show SAP's commitment to continue our innovation with Apple," he said.

Along with SAP, other enterprise partnerships that Apple has launched or expanded over the past few years include Salesforce, IBM, Cisco, Accenture and Deloitte.

Apple And SAP To Build AR Apps, Bring More Enterprise Apps To The Mac ...

On Tuesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook joined SAP CEO Bill McDermott on stage at SAP's annual tech conference for a mutual love-fest between the two executives. 

They were there to explain how they've expanded their years-long partnership, which included bringing some of SAP's business apps to Apple's iOS operating system and helping enterprises build custom iOS apps. Next up, the executives announced, SAP will be bringing more apps to the Mac, too. 

The two showered each other with compliments, with Cook saying that SAP's finance software helped Apple get out of its malaise during the company's darkest days in the '90s. McDermott, ever the charming salesman, called Cook a friend, and praised everything from Apple devices to Cook's strong stance on user privacy. 

Yet the gist of the news is this: SAP and Apple will be helping enterprises build augmented reality apps for iPhone or iPad, using Apple's on-device CoreML and ARkit tools, as well as SAP's machine learning tech Leonardo. With these apps, you don't need a Microsoft HoloLens, or any other kind of augmented reality goggles that project digital imagery over the real world; just point the iPad's camera around, as with "Pokémon Go." 

McDermott also highlighted that SAP had brought several of its big enterprise apps to iOS, including the HR app SuccessFactors, expense-report tool Concur, and a system for the IT department called Asset Manager. He said that SAP is in the process of building an iOS version of Ariba, its enterprise procurement app, and says that more iOS SAP apps are coming. 

That's a considerable promise. While SAP is best known for its enterprise-planning resource (ERP) financial software, as the world's largest maker of enterprise software, SAP actually has hundreds of applications, similar to its rival Oracle and its frenemy Microsoft.

The real point of the partnership

For the most part, though, SAP's partnership with Apple — which began in 2010 — hasn't really been about bringing SAP's own software to iOS. It's been about helping SAP's 437,000 customers worldwide build custom iOS apps to use in their own companies.

In fact, SAP is one of Apple's largest enterprise customers, and has built handfuls of custom apps for its own employees.

"We have 100,000-plus Apple devices running around SAP. We love 'em," McDermott told Cook on stage.

And, in a similar approach to that of IBM, another Apple partner, SAP has focused on building industry-specific apps for its customers such as retail, aviation and the like. It offers enterprises a development kit so they can write their own iOS software. This kit will be upgraded to include the CoreML machine learning tool and ARkit augmented reality tool.

Cook offered two examples of the kind of apps that could be built.

One is a retail app for managing inventory on shelves. Such "planograms" are often pieces of paper today, as Cook showed in this picture:

Apple

But once SAP helps retailers builds their fancy new machine learning/AR app, the iPad will be able to identify the inventory, discover which items are missing or need to be restocked, which ones are in the wrong spot, and so on.

Cook showed this photo:

Apple

He also showed photos of using the iPad with AR in the field to replace repair manuals. 

Apple

Of note here is that Microsoft has been pitching similar uses for its HoloLens 2 goggles — so Apple and SAP working on AR tools for the iPad or iPhone might take some of the shine off of that pitch.

SAP coming to the Mac

And, in another blow to Microsoft Windows PCs, SAP said it plans to bring more enterprise apps to the Mac.

SAP was vague as to its commitment as to which apps it would be particularly bringing to the Mac, though. It didn't promise to bring any of its core apps to the Mac. It discussed new apps, similar to the ones it has brought to iOS, though it remains to be seen what, exactly, this push will entail. Like all other vendors, SAP is working like mad to get customers to buy cloud versions of its software. These would run on any device through a browser, and not need to be installed onto each server and PC.

However, the idea here is to beef up the Mac in the enterprise with new apps that make it more useful to workers.

It's another sign at how many employees at enterprises are choosing Macs over Windows when they are given a choice. As Cook pointed out on stage, that according his research, when companies give their employees a chance to choose their own computers: "Three out of four will pick a Mac," Cook said, joking, "I don't know what the other one is doing."

Most companies still run a lot of their business on Windows apps, and there are far more enterprise apps for Windows than for Macs. Enterprises remain a Microsoft Windows PC stronghold.

But looks like Apple is trying to change that, and its grabbed a powerful industry partner in SAP to help.

SAP Executive: VARs Can Tap Into New IOS Apps, Platform As Part ... - CRN

SAP partners will be able to reap the benefits of a newly announced Apple and SAP partnership, an executive told CRN on Thursday.

The partnership will allow SAP, Walldorf, Germany, to develop native iPhone and iPad iOS apps for critical business operations, as well as deliver SAP HANA Cloud Platform SDK exclusively for iOS -- both of which will be available for SAP channel partners that sell to midmarkets and small to midsize business customers.

"We see traditional VAR partners having an opportunity to resell these industry applications and provide their unique expertise," Kevin Ichhpurani, SAP executive vice president of strategic business development, told CRN. "This is also an opportunity for partners to resell the platform to customers and innovate on top."

[Related: Head-To-Head: Samsung Galaxy TabPro S Vs. Apple iPad Pro]

An Apple spokesman did not respond by publication time to a CRN email inquiring about whether the partnership indicated a channel play for Apple resellers.

As part of the partnership, SAP will develop native iPhone and iPad iOS apps for critical business operations using Swift, Apple's programming language.

The companies will also deliver a new open platform as a service SAP HANA Cloud Platform SDK exclusively for iOS, which will enable businesses, designers and developers to build their own iOS apps for the iPhone and iPad.

According to SAP, these native apps will take advantage of iPhone and iPad features, including TouchID, location services and notifications, while providing access to data and business processes on the SAP S/4HANA business suite.

While SAP was once known for selling its customer relationship management applications to large enterprises, more recently the company has sharpened its focus on the SMB space and buffing up its partner program for that market.

"This [partnership] will enable more business for us," said Tomas Fertig, CEO of Seidor, a Spring, Texas-based SAP partner. "Apple and SAP working together didn't surprise us. Apple is one of the leading companies for providing mobile apps, and today the whole world is moving to consuming software through mobile."

On Apple's end, this most recent deal with SAP is reminiscent of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company's partnership with IBM in 2014, in which IBM would build industry-specific apps for iOS gear and resell Apple iPhones and iPads.

IBM now has engagements for more than 200 deployments of native iOS apps for large enterprise customers to accelerate mobile transformation, according to Apple.

During Apple's second-quarter earnings call in April, CEO Tim Cook said the company is making "great progress" with its enterprise initiatives.

"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 Cook in a news release. "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."

According to Apple, the software development kits will begin rolling out before the end of the year.

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