In light of yesterdays iPhone/Exchange announcements, Ed will tell you to talk to your Apple rep and to tell them that you want to see Lotus Notes/Domino support on the iPhone. Umm..... I don't buy it. We are talking about IBM here "I B M" one of the worlds largest software companies - not some small rinky dink Web 2.0 start-up looking for a place on the iPhone. I point the blame at IBM as they are responsible for the relationship with Apple - not Bruce, Joe, Jeremy the little guys.
Comment posted by Nathan T. Freeman06/10/2008 09:54:35 AM
Homepage: http://nathan.lotus911.com
Well, Bruce, you're just plain wrong.
Look, Lotus has never done a real good job of dealing with ISVs, but we've seen clearly they can be successful. Just look at RIM.
Apple is locking everybody out except MSFT. There's simply nothing to program against. Cupertino has to choose to let them in.
Comment posted by Bruce Elgort06/10/2008 09:56:24 AM
@Nathan,
IBM are also having the same issue now with Salesforce.com. Ping me offline to discuss.
Comment posted by Ed Brill06/10/2008 10:17:21 AM
Homepage: http://www.edbrill.com
Bruce, I'd assert that the salesforce.com situation is EXACTLY like this one. Lobbying from the ISV isn't getting it done -- the motivations from the vendor being lobbied are shaped by their own objectives, not necessarily by their partners'. Hearing from customers directly is the only way to reshape those objectives.
Comment posted by Bruce Elgort06/10/2008 10:22:34 AM
@Ed,
And with this Salesforce.com doesn't want to make their products work with Notes 8 anytime soon. This in turn puts Notes in a corner with not many options for customers other than to not upgrade to Notes 8 or move to another support platform.
Comment posted by Turtle06/10/2008 10:30:14 AM
Homepage: http://www.weightlessdog.com/shell.nsf
I'm willing to blame Apple and IBM about 60/40 on this one... Apple for deciding that Exchange is the only "enterprise" system they need to pay attention to, and IBM for not explaining how doofy that decision is.
Comment posted by Ed Brill06/10/2008 10:30:20 AM
Homepage: http://www.edbrill.com
Exactly. And they won't make it a priority, until they hear the requirement from more customers.
Comment posted by Ed Brill06/10/2008 10:31:28 AM
Homepage: http://www.edbrill.com
oops, that was a response to Bruce's response.
Turtle, that was the first conversation had with Apple back in March after the Exchange announcement.
Comment posted by Handly Cameron06/10/2008 10:33:50 AM
Homepage: http://handly.blogspot.com
IBM does do a lot of Jams, such as the SOA Jam at Impact. The problem is that they are usually concept and not product related and they are only open for 72 hours or so.
Apparently IBM thinks of Jams as a single brainstorming session instead of an ongoing idea exchange. Most of their Jams close right when they start to get a critical mass.
In several cases, I found out about the Jam towards the end and then did not bother because I knew I would just get cut off.
Comment posted by Ben Poole06/10/2008 10:51:57 AM
Homepage: http://benpoole.com
So if we're being told now that we need to push the issue with Apple, what was all that pre-LS08 hype about regarding the iPhone? And why weren't we being told to fight IBM's battle for it then?
Oh well, either way it's blown now.
Comment posted by Ed Brill06/10/2008 10:57:10 AM
Homepage: http://www.edbrill.com
The pre-LS08 hype was about the DWA ultralite mode.
To be direct, I don't think we knew anything then about Apple's plans with Microsoft.
Comment posted by Denny06/10/2008 11:25:29 AM
Homepage: http://www.sherpasoftware.com/blogs/SherpaBlog.nsf/
Bruce,
I just posted about the same type of thing on Friday.
http://www.sherpasoftware.com/blogs/SherpaBlog.nsf/dx/06062008031131PMDRUQHS.htm
We constantly hear of customers leaving Notes to go to Exchange because their other apps to integrate well with Notes.
I asked the same questions of who's fault is it.
Comment posted by Richard06/10/2008 01:53:04 PM
@Ed - The irony.
IBM has dragged their feet provided a best in class Notes application on the Mac since R5. I can remember many Mac BOFs where the Apple rep was in the room begging customers to ask IBM to improve the client. IBM apparently needed a business case from their customers?
Sound familiar?
Comment posted by Ed Brill06/10/2008 02:04:11 PM
Homepage: http://www.edbrill.com
it worked, didn't it?
Comment posted by lance spellman06/10/2008 02:20:49 PM
"To be direct, I don't think we knew anything then about Apple's plans with Microsoft."
If accurate, it's an excellent description of the problem.
Comment posted by JOhn Head06/10/2008 04:23:52 PM
@ Lance
"If accurate, it's an excellent description of the problem. "
Yeah, cause Apple is going to tell IBM all of it's secrets and product plans and everything going on .. so IBM would totally know about it. ROlling my eyes and hoping people put their feet back on solid ground sometime soon
Comment posted by Neil Wainwright06/20/2008 12:02:46 PM
Homepage: http://www.nexonia.com
Hey everyone (and Bruce)! Apple is not locking out IBM. IBM is free to build it's own client with the SDK and use the upcoming push service to do notifications. However, that will suck in comparison to ActiveSynch integration. I'm sure Apple would be quite happy to implement IBM's ActiveSynch-like solution...except it doesn't exist. Apple wants it's own mail, calendar and contacts interfaces front and center...with all the integration they allow in the SDK. IBM just needs to give them an interface to hook into.
...Neil
