NetSuite and the iPhone

It didn't take long for NetSuite to crack the iPhone ... any hip enterprise iPhone user can now access data from NetSuite 2007. Wait, not just data ... the iPhone user can employ NetSuite's user interface, because they have strong (although not perfect) support for Safari, the browser Apple has included in the iPhone. This includes the Javascript and XML support provided by Safari to enable AJAX applications.

The brilliance of the NetSuite/iPhone integration has yet to be truly appreciated, but think of the world about 12 months from now. Apple's complete Safari browser on its phone will lower the cost of developing rich Web 2.0 applications for both desktop and mobile deployment. Sophisticated users in the field, including front line service and sales personnel, won't need separate training. They'll be able to get full access to all the data they need, not just a subset offered by a specialized mobile application version of a CRM system.

Is this going to drive a lot of iPhone and NetSuite sales? Not in the short term. Probably not even in the medium term. But you'll start to see two things happening in the market. First, smart phone manufacturers are going to seriously reconsider their OS requirements, pushing innovation back up to mobile OS companies (listening, Redmond?). Second, NetSuite's brand will get a bit of polish. Any company doing business with Apple -- a hotter company today than ever -- is in great company. NetSuite's upcoming IPO isn't going to hurt. It will be able to tout its shoulder-to-shoulder "relationship" with Apple, even though, truth be told, any company doing AJAX development can get their apps in the pockets of iPhone users.

UPDATE: Stuart Lauchlan, contributing editor at MyCustomer.com, just put out a nice piece on this topic. Check it out!