SAP, Apple set release of IOS tools for developers

Bloomberg

Apple Inc. and SAP SE took another step toward courting millions of developers who write applications for SAP’s systems, saying they’ll release a software development kit for iPhones and iPads March 30. The tools, which the companies said they’d build last May, lets the 2.5 million developers who customize SAP’s financial and logistics programs tap into building blocks of Apple’s iOS operating system, including fingerprint sign-on and location awareness. The companies announced the release Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Features of the resulting apps could include letting employees log in to their companies’ SAP systems by touching a finger to their iPhone, or tracking inventory in the field based on a user’s location. The SAP development kit employs Apple’s own Swift programming language. For Apple, the cooperation is a way to court SAP customers and consultants to write native apps for its iOS products. Susan Prescott, a product marketing vice-president at Apple, said a majority of the 500 biggest global companies are in Apple’s Enterprise Developer Program and many have expressed interest in using the new kit, called SAP Cloud Platform SDK for iOS.
For Walldorf, Germany-based SAP, gaining broader mobile adoption of its software is a way to make sure businesses keep upgrading to the most current versions of its technology, and can help ingrain its products in companies’ daily business operations.