Groupware - Lotus to make Notes run on mobile smartphones
Lotus has developed a cut-down version of its Notes groupware client to run on mobile devices such as smartphones and palm-size PCs.
Lotus has developed a cut-down version of its Notes groupware client to run on mobile devices such as smartphones and palm-size PCs.
Shipping in the first quarter of this year, Mobile Notes will provide email, calendar and directory functionality on a range of handheld devices, including the Palm V. The software, announced at Lotusphere in Orlando last week, is built on XML and WAP technology.
Mobile Notes is one of three versions of Notes, along with the standard desktop version and iNotes, which allows access to Domino messaging and collaboration services through a Web browser or the Microsoft Outlook client.
Lotus has so far confirmed only a hardware partnership with Palm, but said announcements about deals with Ericsson and Nokia will follow.
Blair Hankins, director of Notes product management, said Microsoft Windows CE is also "under consideration" as a supported platform.
Rob Ingram, manager of Lotus's wireless group, said Mobile Notes would not be tied to any one operating system or device. "It is built on XML and WAP so that it can run on many devices without having to port to each unique OS," he said.
Eric Woods, a senior analyst at researcher Ovum, said it is essential for Lotus to extend Notes to mobile devices. "The service will probably not be too price sensitive in the early stages," he said.
Meanwhile, Lotus has admitted that customers who use the Microsoft Outlook messaging and calendar client with the Domino groupware server will not get full Outlook functionality (see Analysis, page 14). Jeff Papows, outgoing chief executive of Lotus, had said Lotus would support Outlook as an alternative client for the Domino server, using the iNotes product. But after a sceptical response from some analysts, Lotus has admitted users will get only 85 to 90 per cent of Outlook functionality when they use it with Domino.
Papows assured customers and developers at Lotusphere that after 10 years of developing Notes, Lotus had not thrown in the towel in the corporate messaging client battle.