Microsoft SharePoint on the iPhone

SharePoint challenge screen on a 2nd-generation (3G) iPhone

There are now scores of iPhone-resident business productivity applications bursting onto the scene for the iPhone, based upon AAPL’s software developer’s kit (SDK).  During the first three days after the 3G iPhone’s launch July 11 2008, 1 million new 3G iPhones were sold and over 10 million applications were downloaded from Apple’s iPhone applications store.

That is a lot of activity downloading individual applications; but Microsoft’s Office SharePoint Server platform is a much bigger suite of fully-featured Microsoft applications than any individual iPhone-resident application.  Being a server resident Microsoft CMS ecosystem complete with an application development universe, app extensions, API, and add-ons there is no comparison to stand-alone, resident iPhone applications in terms of power, extensibility, and potential for scalability and robustness in many business enterprise environments – whether it is a large Corporation, or a startup company looking to execute at breakneck speed.

Why is using SharePoint from an iPhone compelling?

SharePoint on the iPhone may simply be the most promising and robust combination of mobility and a powerful server-based application out there.

Using a SharePoint site from a 1st generation (2.5G) iPhone

Running SharePoint from an iPhone, workgroup team members can be liberated to do these sorts of things “on the go” from anywhere, without needing a laptop computer:

• Centrally host documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in a secure environment
• Edit those documents, spreadsheets, and presentations collaboritely with change control
• Maintain, publish, and distribute group calendars and events
• Schedule and update group meetings and events efficiently
• Share photos/graphics using project-specific albums
• Create internal/private social networks for sub-topic discussions
• Create and share internal web content and media privately
• Track issues, milestones, and Gantt charts for projects
• Conduct internal opinion polls
• Create and post internal announcements

… and that’s just the start of it. SharePoint running on an ultra-mobile device, could potentially  change a lot of corporate lifestyles, and make a major impact on team productivity.

Logged into full-screen SharePoint application with the new 3G iPhone

We have found that having full remote to SharePoint access can be even more useful than having access to email — allowing you to do real substantive work; more than just “knocking down email”.  It’s a very robust private project work portal for teams which has allowed our clients as to enhance team visibility and communications, speeding the pace of workflow.

SharePoint is massively deployed, and growing exponentially

How widely used is SharePoint with Corporate users?  VERY widely, and growing like a wildfire:

“Today at the Microsoft Office SharePoint Conference 2008, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates noted that SharePoint is one of the fastest growing products in the company’s history, having reached the milestone of a US $1billion-dollar business with 100 million licenses sold, and growth of more than 50 percent in the second quarter of the current fiscal year”.

“A recent report by IDC found that 61 percent of users surveyed said they were deploying SharePoint enterprise-wide. Another 28 percent of those using SharePoint in departments today are expected to expand usage to the enterprise within the next 12 months”. [source: Microsoft; IDC]

“Bill Gates showed in terms of growth in revenue, growth in adoption — 100 million users, that’s a phenomenal number. Another number is three-quarters of the Fortune 100 now have SharePoint. That’s just a very impressive number, people seeing the impact that it can have in their businesses, how they do business; just very, very gratifying for us”

[source: Kurt DelBene, Sr Vice President, Microsoft Office Business Platform Group]

Can it really be better than Windows Mobile?

Apples’ ‘Safari mobile’ browser is the first mobile browser to render many websites nearly as well as a notebook computer running fully featured browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Opera.  I was especially surprised by how well Safari handles SharePoint, since even Microsoft’s own Windows Mobile devices do not seem to do that great of job of it.  But that is not too surprising, given that mobile browsers that render any website well, have not been seen until just recently.

I walked up to Microsoft’s Mobile Computing counter at a recent telecom conference (NXTcomm 08 in Las Vegas) and asked if it’s possible login to a Sharepoint site with a Windows Mobile device.  “Of course” was the answer.  The photo below shows what I got after attempting to login with the provided Opera Browser on the new Windows Mobile 6.1 device (see photo).  Clearly, Opera Mobile on WM 6.1 does not work with SharePoint, at this point in time.

Attempting SharePoint access from Windows Mobile 6.1 using the included Opera mobile browser

Authentication screen on a WM 6.1 device running mobile IE

When using the standard-issue IE browser on WM 6.1, I did get the SharePoint “challenge” login screen, but could not get past that.  I am reasonably confident though, that with sufficient effort, full SharePoint access – not just “/m” mode – can be accomplished with a Windows Mobile device.

iPhones can access SSL secured SharePoint sites

I have successfully accessed SharePoint servers with both 1st generaton (2.5G) and the second genertation (3G) iPhones, with secure 128-bit (“https://) SSL connectivity from the browser to the Sharepoint server.  The photo below shows a 3G iPhone successfully accessing a SSL-secured SharePoint site.

MOSS vs WSS

There are two versions of SharePoint: MOSS (Microsoft Office SharePoint Server) and WSS (Windows SharePoint Server).   MOSS is a superset of WSS, and can (among other capabilities) host live Excel spreadsheets on the server (MOSS includes an Excel engine, server-side), allowing individual SharePoint users to collaborate on live-computing spreadsheets (for example, driven by live stock market data) not merley on shared spreadsheet documents.

MOSS and WSS use the same rendering engine.  We believe the iPhone should access either MOSS or WSS SharePoint sites, but further testing will be required to be certain.

iPhone supports NTLM Access authentication protocol

SharePoint uses either NTLM or Kerberos based protocol, along with Microsoft Active Directory, to authentication users for access, depending upon how the server and the SharePoint installation have been configured by the SharePoint server administrator, and the Microsoft Windows Server Administrator. 

The iPhone supports a variety of authentication types including passwords, MD5 Challenge-Response, NTLM, and HTTP MD5 Digest. Some SharePoint sites do not let you past the “challenge” (login) screen, most likely due to NTLM or Kerberos authentication issues.  I do not yet have a handle on what configuration settings prevent iPhones from gettting through the authentication screen for some SharePoint sites, but will report on that once it is sorted out (if technically inclined readers don’t figure it out for me, first!).

Summary

Running full Sharepoint, an extremely powerful server-based application, from a versatile device as small as the iPhone can be a bit of a jaw-dropper.  I suggest you give it a try, before leaping to any conclusions!  The “user experience” is remarkably good.

The author will be following up this article by posting followup comments and perhaps a followup article, after some more research and testing has been conducted.