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SharePoint + iPhone = Killer App?

I stumbled across this very enthusiastic post on the Bell Consulting Group's blog today: SharePoint from my iPhone - now here is a killer app for mobile computing!  The author goes on at some length about his surprise at being able to access a SharePoint site with the iPhone's Safari mobile browser.  Personally, I was more surprised to hear that he was unable to access a SharePoint site with a Windows Mobile device.  In my experience, the Safari browser on my iPhone seems to be full featured, although slow (still waiting for the 3G upgrade).  I fully expected to be able to load a SharePoint site, although I had never tried, and couldn't immediately think of why I would want to.

Even though this post included an image of a SharePoint portal rendered on an iPhone, I decided I would have to give it a whirl myself.  It did take a couple of minutes to get past the authentication challenge, but once I was in, our portal pages rendered quickly and were easy to navigate. 

There is my team's project calendar, my personal task list, etc.  Actually, there's a lot of data that might be helpful to access via mobile.  Now that I'm more aware of the capability, I might actually make changes to our site layout and organize things a little differently to make mobile access more convenient.

iPhone + SharePoint = Killer App?  No.  Will I be editing list items, uploading files or doing much real work from my phone?  Unlikely in the short term.  Good to know I can get there if I need to?  Priceless.

Posted Jun 26 2008, 04:07 PM by Steve Gaitten
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Comments

Steve Bell wrote re: SharePoint + iPhone = Killer App?
on Fri, Jun 27 2008 8:10 PM

Would enjoy speaking with you about this - can you shoot me an email, or reach me the old fashioned way with a phone call?  My # is on my website's contact page.  Or email me your #.  

I've discovered since writing my blog post that not ALL SharePoint hosting providers, allow iPhone access.  You get the challenge screen, but that is where it stops with 2 of the 3 providers I've tried.  I'm trying to find one where it works (I closed out of my first fprovider, for other reasons) so I can bring my SharePoint sites back online ASAP -- WITH iPhone access for my clients.

thanks,

steve bell | bell consulting group inc | tech startup business planning coach | los gatos ca | www.bellc.com

Jeff Tubb wrote re: SharePoint + iPhone = Killer App?
on Wed, Jul 9 2008 6:24 PM

It looks like someone else thinks there are synergies between Sharepoint and theiPhone.

From cultofmac.com:

“iSharephone is a version of Microsoft’s Sharepoint software that provides secure mobile access to corporate intranets, letting you access company files as if you were sitting at your desk in the office instead of chatting with a prospective client at the ballgame.”

http://www.isharephone.com/

SharePoint Blank wrote SharePoint Mobile Services
on Tue, Jul 29 2008 5:47 PM

If you follow the Bamboo Team Blog, you may have already seen a photo of our corporate portal strutting

The Bamboo Team Blog wrote Announcing List Print -- possibly our most aptly named product yet
on Thu, Oct 9 2008 11:04 AM

Web browsers are great -- they do a lot of things really well. They display data, they accept user input;

About Steve Gaitten

My name is Steve Gaitten, I am Director of Online Operations at Bamboo. My primary mission is to make Bamboo Nation the most useful SharePoint community site on the web.  I am also focused on ensuring a world class shopping experience for customers who visit the Bamboo Solutions Online Store.  Prior to Bamboo, I spent over a decade at America Online.  At AOL my most recent roles included Director of Product Management in the Messaging & Social Media division as well as Managing Editor of AOL Money & Finance.  I am a patented inventor, a bad golfer, an enthusiastic horticulturalist and a dog lover. 

Bamboo Solutions Corporation, 2002-2009