QlikTech Sees Mobile Business Intelligence Moving to HTML5 Browsers
Mobile business intelligence has evolved from browser-based clients to native apps — and now QlikTech (NASDAQ: QLIK) sees them returning to mobile browsers as HTML5 begins to take off.
QlikTech this week unveiled QlikView on iPad, the company's browser-based mobile business intelligence client for Apple's (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPad. QlikView on iPad is HTML5-based and delivered through the Safari Web browser. It was developed for the touch-based functions of the iPad while retaining central IT control over the app.
Jeff Boehm, QlikTech's vice president of global product marketing, said the browser approach means greater security, a consistent user experience across PCs and mobile devices, and greater support for heterogeneous devices like Android and BlackBerry phones and tablets. And the browser-based approach also avoids extra fees that Apple's App Store would require.
HTML5, Boehm said, gives QlikView on iPad functionality that's “every bit as rich as a native app.”
Analyst Howard Dresner of Dresner Advisory Services, who has authored a pair of studies on the mobile BI market (see Apple's iPad Dominates Mobile Business Intelligence and Mobile Business Intelligence: The Next Big Thing), said browser-based clients have so far not been as good as well-designed native apps, but he said QlikView on iPad “demos well. The good news is it's the full client.”
Dresner said a browser-based mobile BI client is also limited by network speed, but Boehm said QlikTech got around that limitation by architecting the client so that very little data needs to be sent.
“The performance is in line with what you'd expect on your desktop,” Boehm said. He predicted that other business intelligence vendors will follow with HTML5-based browser clients within the next 12 to 18 months.
One thing Boehm and Dresner agree on is that tablets like Apple's iPad are changing mobile business intelligence.
“Tablets are taking over,” said Dresner. “Forget about phones as a platform for information.”
“The tablet form factor is really going to accelerate the discussion around mobile intelligence,” said Boehm.
Anthony Deighton, QlikTech's senior vice president of products, said in a statement that QlikView on iPad is a “smart pad” experience that “takes complete advantage of QlikView's core strengths. It lets users explore information up, down and sideways, make any associations they choose, and precisely customize so it maps 100% to their individual requirements. Doing all of this in a browser-based form for enterprise security and manageability also makes it built for the future of the tablet, not just its introduction.”
QlikView can combine data from a wide variety of sources like ERP, CRM and data warehouse systems and Excel and Web-based sources while letting users control and shape the data, the company said.
For more on mobile business intelligence, see Ten Great Mobile Business Intelligence Apps
Paul Ferrill has been writing for over 15 years about computers and network technology. He holds a BS in Electrical Engineering as well as a MS in Electrical Engineering. He is a regular contributor to the computer trade press. He has a specialization in complex data analysis and storage. He has written hundreds of articles and two books for various outlets over the years. His articles have appeared in Enterprise Apps Today and InfoWorld, Network World, PC Magazine, Forbes, and many other publications.
