NEW YORK — Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM) Nov. 30 made its AppExchange enterprise application store available via smartphones and tablets based on Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Android and Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS operating systems.
The move, part of the customer relationship management (CRM) software company’s bid to blend mobile and social technologies with the cloud, means the more than 1 million Salesforce.com AppExchange users will be able to choose from nearly 40 mobile apps from their iPhone, iPad or Android smartphones and tablets.
AppExchange users must go to AppExchange.com from their handset or tablet to browse and access apps from Salesforce.com and AppExchange partners all designed specifically for each device.
Moreover, when users visit the AppExchange from their mobile device, the store will filter by smartphone or tablet to show users the apps available for their particular gadget. Salesforce.com said it is currently supporting native and HTML5 apps on Android and iOS.
App titles on the AppExchange include Dragon for Salesforce from Nuance, which lets Salesforce.com Chatter social network users update their status by voice. The app will also let Concur users create and update expense reports on the go.
Other partner apps available on AppExchange Mobile include: Advanced Image Direct, Apttus, Cameleon, Docusign, Drawloop, Field Day, FinancialForce, Foretuit, Get Satisfaction, Group Logic, Infuze Mobile, Model Metrics, PepperMob, Proximiti, Red Funnel Consulting LLC, Scan Biz, ServiceMax, Spectacle, Sylpheo and Xactly.
AppExchange also includes free, open source apps from Force.com Labs, such as the HTML5 Contact Viewer and Salesforce Viewer for iPad.
Salesforce.com announced the news via a blog post the same day CEO Marc Benioff unveiled the Social Marketing Cloud at Cloudforce here today.
This cloud leverages social monitoring, engagement and analytics technologies from Radian6, which Salesforce.com acquired earlier this year for $326 million.
The idea is to help Salesforce.com get a competitive advantage over Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), which encroached on Salesforce.com’s social CRM market by acquiring RightNow Technologies in October.