Like other mobile operators and vendors, the second-largest wireless carrier in the U.S. is targeting enterprises as a growth opportunity. Along with paving the way for machine-to-machine applications that could provide a steady stream of data usage for years to come, AT&T and others are trying to get businesses to integrate smartphones more deeply in their business operations. Last week, Samsung Electronics America a cloud-based service that can adapt Oracle databases and other applications within enterprises for use on mobile phones.
AT&T introduced MEAP in September 2008 as a platform on which enterprises could develop, deploy and manage applications that extended back-end systems to mobile devices. It uses middleware from Antenna Software that lets enterprises configure an application once to work with BlackBerries, Windows Mobile devices and iPhones, minimizing the work involved in reaching all the devices, said Igor Glubochansky, a director in AT&T's mobility product management organization. MEAP includes three basic types of capabilities -- sales force and field force automation and IT support -- as building blocks for other services. The back-end systems it can support include Oracle, SAP and custom in-house applications.
In addition to the applications created by individual enterprises, which can be run in-house or hosted by AT&T, the carrier has identified certain vertical-market uses for mobile that are fairly similar from one organization to the next, Glubochansky said. For these "repeatable" use cases, AT&T can build ready-made applications, he said. A MEAP pharmaceutical sales application has been available for several months already.
On Monday, the carrier introduced AT&T MEAP: Merchandising for the Consumer Goods Industry and AT&T MEAP: Maintenance and Repair for Hospitality. Both are hosted by AT&T and designed to run on Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices. The iPhone isn't often used by workers in these fields, Glubochansky said.
The merchandising application is designed for workers who deliver products, especially foods and beverages, and monitor how those goods are selling and are displayed and promoted in each store. The mobile software lets them submit forms and reports instantly on a smartphone instead of filling out paper forms and turning them in at the end of the day, so supplies can be replenished and billed for more quickly, Glubochansky said.