Socialtext Releases Mobile Web App for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android

Socialtext Sept. 9 released Version 3.6 of its enterprise wiki platform, adding a mobile Web application similar to the Socialtext Miki mobile desktop application the company released three years ago.

Socialtext Mobile works on Apple's iPhone, Research In Motion BlackBerry smartphones and Android smartphones, allowing users to access Socialtext's Twitter-like Signals microblogging tool and browse through users' activities, content and contacts. Users can then access a contact's virtual business card by clicking to e-mail or call the contact from their smartphone.

Socialtext Mobile also lets users access their Socialtext Workspaces, or their wiki pages, blog posts and spreadsheets, Socialtext founder and Chairman Ross Mayfield told eWEEK. The app is only in beta and won't yet work on the Palm Pre or other smartphones.

"We chose this direction of developing a mobile Web app first [as opposed to a native phone app] because for enterprises supporting multiple devices can be a real support burden for them," Mayfield said. "This lowers IT administration costs. While it would be nice to have a rich app that would be automatically updating and I could see these things updating in real time, this works pretty darn well for something that's constrained to 140 characters."

The mobile Web app is a logical move from Socialtext, which competes with IBM, MindTouch, Jive Software and others in the business collaboration software market.

Mobile applications are increasingly becoming table stakes for enterprise workers on the go, but this market is small although swiftly growing. While the market is currently flooded with Web apps for the iPhone that let users communicate and share content with friends and family, few of these apps are tailored for business users.

Collaboration giant IBM has had a play here since August 2008, when it launched iNotes Ultralite, a free Web application that lets corporate workers access their Lotus Notes e-mail, calendar and contacts lists through Apple's Safari browser on the iPhone.

Even so, Socialtext feels Socialtext Mobile will pick up quickly. Mayfield said that while the BlackBerry was the device of choice for users of Socialtext's Miki app, iPhones are becoming more popular among business users.

He also said mobile users shouldn't count out Google's Android mobile operating system, noting that Motorola is doing some "interesting things" on the enterprise side with Android. Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha is expected to unveil two smartphones based on Android at the Mobilize 09 event Sept. 10 in San Francisco.

Socialtext Mobile is available free immediately to all existing Socialtext customers, including subscribers to the company's hosted wiki platform and customers who bought the Socialtext appliance to manage on their own premises.

Those who aren't Socialtext customers can go to the Socialtext.com Website and sign up for the Socialtext Free 50 service, which will include the mobile Web app. A salve during a troubled economy, Socialtext Free 50 is a wiki desktop application the vendor made free for up to 50 users within a business.

Socialtext also upgraded its Dashboard activity streams, adding new widgets for business users' network content, activities and members. Based on Google's OpenSocial APIs, these widgets let users view and post Socialtext Signals to multiple networks and filter activity streams by event, people, activity type or network.