SAP's iPhone Amnesia

This morning RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie took the stage at SAPPHIRE to expand on last week's announcement that his company is partnering with SAP to natively integrate SAP applications with BlackBerry devices. When asked whether SAP would also integrate with Treos and iPhones, Henning Kagermann said that the RIM deal wasn't exclusive, but that he didn't have any plans to integrate with BlackBerry competitors.

Which is indeed strange, given SAP's announcement of an iPhone version of its software six months ago:

SAP is breaking with precedent by introducing versions of the new software that are compatible with the iPhone ahead of programs for mobile devices businesses traditionally use, such as Research in Motion's Blackberry, Palm's Treo and devices that run on software from Microsoft Corp.

"The iPhone has become such a popular thing," said Bob Stutz, a SAP senior vice president who is responsible for developing customer relationship management software. "Everybody wants the ease of use of the iPhone."

The first generation of the iPhone software will load business contacts, information on sales prospects and account data onto the device, Stutz said.

Stutz said SAP decided to introduce the iPhone software ahead of programs for other devices at the request of its sales people, saying they prefer using iPhones to the other devices.

Mr. Stutz, who runs CRM and industry verticals for SAP, just walked past me in the press room. His iPhone was ringing. Once he gets off the phone, I'll ask him to clarify.

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