With the release of the iPhone SDK for iPhone OS 4, Apple updated the iPhone Developer Program License Agreement (section 3.3.1) and locked out all applications that are not developed with Apple technology (Objective C, C++ or JavaScript against the Webkit API):

"Applications that link to Documented APIs through an intermediary translation or compatibility layer or tool are prohibited"

This move IMO is clearly to hurt Adobe - with CS5 they released a Flash-to-iPhone converter. I guess this is a payback for some unsettled balances from the past. But this could also affect other tools: MonoTouch, Titanium and ALL cross-platform development!

But what I would like to know: What impact does this move have on SAP solutions on the iPhone?

A few weeks back I attended the CRM Insider conference in Orlando - I was surprised how many companies offer mobile solutions for SAP, most of them have at least one iPhone application. Nearly all of these solutions have something in common: Write once, run everywhere. That is an old and outdated Java slogan, but for the mobile world, this is a big topic. Most companies have their own framework that allows creating the mobile solution with a proprietary tool and then running it out-of-the-box on all kind of devices.

So for the iPhone, they do not use a native language for development. I give you a few examples:

• Sky Mobile: Their Solutions are built within SAP, so for sure you do not touch any Objective-C or JavaScript code. So are they still allowed to submit updates to the AppStore?
• DSI - they use a proprietary development language, that is interpreted by the client on the iPhone (and on other platforms); no native iPhone development either - so AppStore or not?
• Syclo just announced an iPhone client - they also do no native development (at least for the other mobile devices they support today); can they create an iPhone client that supports their current technology and that they can submit to the AppStore?

The only company that I saw in Orlando, that offers native iPhone applications, is Sybase. Their CRM solution for SAP was developed in Objective C and you see that. Compare this native app with any other product and you will see and feel the difference.

This could be a big and bad surprise for all of them. If you spend a lot of time and money on building a framework, if you have commitments to customers and then you find out that the door is closed for you ... it could kill your business. At the moment most SAP customers are not selecting the iPhone as their main mobile device, but it will be more and more in the future. And even if they don't do it today, are they willing to work with a software partner that does not support the iPhone? Or will they go with one that has native iPhone applications?

The real question is: How strict will Apple handle this topic? Is this new clause only in the agreement to screw Adobe or will they also mess with MonoTouch, Titanium, Sky Mobile, DSI and others? At the moment this is hard to answer, we will only see when the iPhone OS 4.0 will be shipped by Apple. For now we can only hope the best ...