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The Oracle People iPhone App is Here

Posted by JakePosted ago

Oracle People iPhone app Update: There is a new version of this app, Oracle People2. It supports iOS 4 and 3.x. See the details here. As before, drop a comment here or on the newer post to get the details from me.

With many thanks to Clayton Donley who built the app with help from Rich, Anthony and Noel, I give you the Oracle People iPhone app.

I’ve been teasing this app for nearly two week, and it’s finally approved and ready for general consumption. If you’re interested (and work for Oracle), drop a comment with your oracle.com email address, or email me for the download location.

Features
Contact info obfuscated to protect the innocent, i.e. meSo, what does it do, and why is it a big deal?

The app came from a really basic use case. Employees need the ability to search for other employees while on the go to contact them. Easy stuff, right?

Not so much actually due to the requirements for VPN and the mobile browser limitations. Sure, we have ways to get inside the Oracle firewall, but they’re not very mobile-friendly.

Clayton began with this in mind, and his implementation of VPN and OSSO is very user-friendly, at least compared to doing the same tasks in Safari. By the way, if you get annoyed at entering your credentials, that’s a security requirement, not a part of the app.

So, you can find people, and when you do, the app uses Connect API goodness to show you the person’s profile and Connect activity. The profile actually combines the person’s Connect and corporate directory profiles into a single view. Tapping the person’s phone number/s open the Phone app; tapping the person’s email address opens the Email app.

Pretty sweet, but wait, there’s more.

Create/Modify contact in your iPhone address book, invite to network, tweetYou can add the person to your iPhone’s address box or update an existing contact. This is a huge time saver because it populates the fields that you’d normally have to type in yourself. Brilliant. And, you’ll get a profile picture too, if the person has one.

In addition, you can invite the person to join your Connect network and send an OraTweet if you like.

Many people have IM IDs entered too; I haven’t tested this, but at some point, I can see the addition of tap-to-chat. Rich found a way to add his geocode, and we’re already pondering ways to update that from the iPhone. There are loads of geo features we could add, which would open a huge amount of cool features to road warriors. Stay tuned.

Comment on your activity logBeyond all the contact stuff, the app also surfaces a lot of Connect’s functionality to your iPhone. You can view your network (Connections) and various activity logs, and you can reply and comment on items in your activity logs, by email and by OraTweet.

There’s a lot in there.

People Involved
About Oracle PeopleAs I mentioned, this app is a joint effort. It’s also a great example of harnessing the talent of hackers for a really useful result. Clayton worked on this app in his free time, as did everyone else involved. The data flow between several systems inside the firewall via open APIs and RSS.

We’re seeing a lot more demand for this type of functionality internally, and Rich and Anthony have formalized API specs for Connect data to help people develop their own special side projects. Noel has an API for OraTweet as well.

So, if you have a project or want to scratch an itch, let us know.

Hit up the comments if you want the information about the Oracle People iPhone app. Remember to use your oracle.com email address.

AboutJake

a.k.a.:jkuramot

254 comments

  2. I would like the link as well. Also curious about source. We have some web services in the rgbu that could be wrapped in an app, instead of having to type/click a ton on the phone or having to just whip out a netbook when not in the office or on the weekends.

  4. Just for convenience of rest of users, people mobile app worked perfectly in Blackberry, so if anyone need to access internal sites using vpn, blackberry can do it to.
    regards
    Nestor

  5. Jake, Clayton and the Appslab team,

    well done on a great job. The app is brilliant on all counts. In a way it is a shame that there is so much security as the information is freely available in everyone's email signature – but I also understand that folks at Oracle would freak out if you tried to work around the existing security policies.

    Well done.

  6. Thanks. I agree that Clayton did a phenomenal job, and Rich and Noel worked very hard to accommodate all the API requirements. We now have a full set of APIs for any app on any platform inside the firewall that wants to produce similar Connect/OraTweet functionality.

  9. Great work guys! I use Aria about 20 times a day…it would be great to add it to my phone and eliminate the PC. Can you send me the link?

  10. Hi, Can you pls. send me the link. I am finding it difficult to configure oracle VPN on my iphone 3G.

  11. Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this but is this app likely to be available for the Blackberry? What about the Oracle VPN?

  12. No problem. As Nestor mentions here, there is a generic mobile version that Blackberry users can use, but it doesn't have the social goodness of Connect/OraTweet.

    Re. VPN, Clayton has skinned the SSL VPN concentrators in an iPhone friendly way, no other magic involved. Drop me an email if you want the mobile app info.

  17. Are you an Oracle employee? I can't find you in Connect with the information you provided. Please drop me a note through email or leave a comment with your oracle.com email address.

  24. Claton / Jake,
    Please forward the link for the Oracle People iPhone app.
    It will be better than iPhone contacts and something to show off in the field.

    Thanks

  35. Can you forward me the latest People app? Somewhere I had 1.0.6 and it was working great up to a month or so ago.. I like the idea of the new GeoCode and have had my team mates all using the OraTweet function so we know what we are all doing!

  40. Hello, Can one of you send me the link to install Oracle People? Thanks in advance.

  42. sudeep.x.agarwal at oracle.com

    plz send me the download location…Thanks!!!

    Gr8 idea btw…

  44. Hi I am interested and do work for oracle and appreciate to receive the download link

  45. I work for Oracle and interested in this app, please send me the download link

  48. Pingback: iPhones and Enterprise Identity Management | Oracle

  50. Please send me the App. I had it installed and the provisioning expired and it had be remove it. Now the App does not work.

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