Author: Dan Gendro

This SDK will soon be in the hands of many developers for the creation of applications for users.

SAP has now announced the general availability of its latest mobile app development tools in its Mobile Platform 3.0, which is a software development kit (SDK) that has been designed to allow developers to be able to build applications for business partners, employees, and consumers.

Among the early adopters of this newly shipped software is National Grid, a U.K electricity and gas transmission network.

That company has already used this mobile app development platform update in combination with other tools from SAP in order to provide more than 1,500 field engineers with greater ability for using iOS devices to maintain the energy grid. Those engineers are employing the new system for a broad spectrum of different tasks that include everything from maintenance work that has been completed in the field, to taking photos of the repair work that needs to be done or that has been completed. As soon as the mobile devices connect with a WiFi network, the images that have been captured are stored for transmission alongside the rest of the history for that job, and any additional useful data.

This use of the mobile app development platform will mean a considerable savings on data plan use costs.

According to the UK National Grid’s head of Information Systems, Tina Sands, this new mobile device friendly software from SAP “delivers an incredibly powerful but simple user experience for our field engineers so they can focus on their day jobs.”

Also using a pre-release version of the SAP Mobile Platform 3.0 is Augsburg, Germany-based MSC Mobile. That company’s mobile developers created an application that brings in the power of augmented reality. The concept is that it will allow workers in stores to be able to check whether or not the products that bring in the highest profits remain in stock on the store shelves, or whether they need to be restocked (or reordered, for that matter).

The mobile app development of that MSC Mobile product, which is called Shelf Plus, also provides employees with the ability to view a store shelf through the device screen in order to identify the location of certain items that are on a pre-created checklist.

Future of mobile shopping and payments may lie with messaging apps

Mobile messaging applications may be the future of mobile commerce. A growing number of these apps are being released and many of them are being designed with mobile payments in mind. In some cases, these apps are meant to make mobile shopping more social, allowing users to share their purchases with those they have on their contact lists. Most of these apps simply aim to satisfy the demand coming from consumers who want their applications to do more than one simple task, such as messaging.

Line is set to break into the Taiwanese market with the help of Uitox

A new messaging application from Japan is set to take mobile commerce to a new level in Taiwan. The app is called Line and it’s developer of the same name has partnered with Uitox, an e-commerce organization, to bring Line into the Taiwanese market. Uitox is set to launch a mobile payments pilot program on June 10 that will highlight the use of Line. Numerous brands are already slated to participate in the campaign, and Line will even sell its own branded merchandise through the pilot project.

Line boasts of 420 million registered users globally

Line currently boasts of more than 420 million registered users throughout the world. The application has managed to acquire a great deal of support through its focus on flash sales. Last year, Line started introducing its own brand of flash sales to Thailand, where it found promising success. Taiwan will be the second country in which Line introduces its flash sales.

Line will have to continue competing with more popular mobile commerce platforms in order to find higher levels of success

While Line has managed to generate a great deal of success, it will still need to compete with other applications that are forming a powerful position in the mobile commerce field. WeChat is currently one of the largest messaging applications that has successfully established itself as a mobile payments platform as well. Newly released applications also offer some competition as consumers are often on the lookout for new services that could offer refreshing experiences.