Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
[ MUSIC ]
LANINGHAM: This is the developerWorks podcast.
I'm Scott Laningham in Austin, Texas.
My guest this time is Dirk Nichol, who is Program Director
of IBM Mobile Strategy and Product Management.
And he's here to talk about the IBM Mobile Foundation and IBM support
for cutting-edge mobile technology --
in particular, Apple iOS 6 which was just released in the last couple of weeks.
Dirk, good to see you again.
How are things?
NICHOL: Hi, Scott.
How are you?
LANINGHAM: Great.
Good to have you here.
It seems we all measure, really, the evolution of mobile through the latest Apple numbers.
Isn't that the truth?
So just a couple fascinating ones to mention.
Apple has sold over 400 million iOS devices.
And of course, with iOS 6 just coming out they've announced that just
in the last two weeks 100 million downloads of iOS 6.
That's amazing numbers.
Aren't they?
NICHOL: Yes.
Definitely.
It's going to be a big change in the marketplace with all of these things going on.
In mobile, it seems to be something is always changing.
There's always a new operating system, a new environment.
So it's going to be a real challenge for developers
and customers to stay on top of things.
So that's why it's important for platform providers like IBM
to have the latest support for the latest operating system.
So that's one of the reasons why we wanted to move so quickly and make sure iOS was supported.
LANINGHAM: Yes.
Dirk, I was reading in Information Weekly recently about the trends
with the top 500 IT departments and how even though gaining greater efficiencies
in IT is always a chief concern that doing more inside and outside the firewall
with mobile solutions is really rapidly gaining ground on that standard top concern and focus.
I take it that's no surprise to your team at IBM.
NICHOL: No, not at all.
Yes. I think the interest in the mobile space is hot.
It's going to continue to be there.
Making sure developers have the latest tools and technologies to sort of stay
on top of things is going to be key.
LANINGHAM: All right.
Dirk, could you talk about the IBM Mobile Foundation?
What exactly is it?
NICHOL: The IBM Mobile Foundation is really a set of core capabilities that one needs
to really get started with their mobile strategy.
It has a mobile application development called Worklight.
It has endpoint management or a device management capability called IBM Endpoint
Manager for Mobile Devices.
And then for connectivity, it has Cast Iron.
So Cast Iron gives you the ability to very easily and quickly connect
to back-end systems -- both traditional back-end systems and cloud systems.
So with those three together you really have all you really need for a mobile solution.
LANINGHAM: Okay.
So taking that into consideration and, of course, what we mentioned,
the big news with Apple iOS 6, 100 million downloads in two weeks.
Tie all of what you're talking about together
around this iOS 6 release from an IBM standpoint.
NICHOL: So as you know, the marketplace is really dynamic.
There's always new technologies coming on the scene, new environments.
iOS 6 is just an example of that.
And so developers need the latest technologies.
They need to have their platforms, their tools, their environments that they use
to have the latest technologies and support the latest operating systems.
And so that's what we did with Mobile Foundation.
So particularly Worklight and Endpoint Manager now support iOS 6 right at the start
of the launch of iOS 6 coming on the scene.
LANINGHAM: Dirk, I've got to know what you're using in your house.
Of course, I've got the iPhone 4S here.
What are you using?
NICHOL: Well, I have the iPhone, but I also got the Android Galaxy just to have another platform
around so I could see what that's like.
LANINGHAM: Well, I guess you'd better have all of the platforms.
Right?
NICHOL: That's right.
Exactly.
LANINGHAM: Yes.
That's a definite job perk for you.
You get to have all the new toys.
Don't you?
NICHOL: Yes.
Stay on top of all the new things.
That's right.
LANINGHAM: All right.
One way to learn more is to go and download the no charge developer edition of Worklight
at ibm.com/developerworks/mobile/worklight.
So Dirk, a lot of excitement with IBM customers about all things mobile.
You must be having conversations constantly about this stuff.
Right?
NICHOL: Yes, definitely.
The challenge with developing mobile applications is,
as you've been talking about, things change so quickly.
And I think that's one of the big challenges that developers are facing.
So given the tools, documentation, resources like developerWorks to sort of make sure they're
on top of the latest trends and the latest technologies, education is going to be key.
So we've got a big...a pretty nice development resource around Worklight and the mobile story.
So I want to encourage developers to check that out.
As you mentioned, there's a developer edition of Worklight so that you can download it
and get started real easily and real quickly.
So I think between developerWorks and Worklight we have a great resource for developers to stay
on top of the latest trends in mobile and get started quickly.
LANINGHAM: Dirk Nichol, again, Program Director for IBM Mobile Strategy and Product Management.
Thank you, Dirk.
It's great to talk to you and I hope we can do this again soon.
NICHOL: Great.
Thanks so much.
LANINGHAM: This is the developerWorks podcast.
I'm Scott Laningham.
Thanks for watching.
[ MUSIC ]