Apple teams up with Salesforce to deliver better business apps for iOS

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Salesforce iOS
The redesigned Salesforce app will bring exclusive features to iOS next year.
Photo: Apple

Apple has entered into a new partnership with Salesforce to deliver new iOS apps focused on business.

Salesforce is redesigning its app and adding exclusive new features as part of the deal, while Apple has vowed to provide tools and resources to help millions of Salesforce developers create their own native apps for iOS.

Apple devices haven’t always been first choice for corporate customers, but in recent years, its presence in the enterprise industry has been growing. That’s largely thanks to partnerships with the likes of IBM, General Electric, and Accenture, which are focused on delivering better business apps.

Now, Apple has reached another with Salesforce.

Apple will work with Salesforce to build better business apps for iOS

The new partnership brings together “the number one customer relationship management platform and iOS, the world’s most advanced mobile operating system,” Apple says.

Apple and Salesforce will deliver a new Salesforce Mobile SDK exclusively for iOS, as well as a new iOS app development course that will be distributed through Trailhead, Salesforce’s free web-based learning platform.

“We’re excited to work with Salesforce and that their industry-leading CRM will embrace native iOS and deliver exclusive new features on iPhone and iPad,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “With the powerful combination of iPhone, iPad and iOS — the best hardware and software for business — together with native Salesforce apps and the new Salesforce SDK, we can deliver great customer experiences for businesses around the world.”

How Salesforce will help make iOS the best for business

Those attending Dreamforce 2018 will get an early look at the new Apple and Salesforce projects, but for the rest of us, Apple has explained what the partnership will bring.

Customers can look forward to a redesigned Salesforce Mobile App that will offer new features exclusively available on iOS. It will take advantage of unique Apple capabilities, such as Siri Shortcuts, Face ID, Business Chat in Messages, and more.

Salesforce also plans to introduce its first Trailhead Mobile App on iOS, as well as the first Salesforce Mobile SDK. Optimized for Swift, it will enable businesses and developers to build and deploy new apps for iPhone and iPad based on the Salesforce Lightning Platforms.

In addition, the two companies will support developer learning and career growth. 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.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the deal defines “a new era of mobile innovation.”

The Get Started with iOS App Development Trail is available today from the Trailhead website, and the new Salesforce Mobile SDK for iOS will be available by the end of this year. The redesigned Salesforce Mobile App is scheduled to make its debut in early 2019.

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