SharePoint 2013 new mobile functions

SharePoint Server 2013 offers new, optimized viewing experiences across different mobile platforms. Additionally, several new features were added to help improve both worker productivity and usability on the device. I would like to summarized them into three categories as following:

1. SharePoint 2013 new mobile functions including Office Web Apps. Here is the list of the new functions. This  included in SharePoint 2013 upgrade currently targeted for upgrade project.

• Optimized viewing across different mobile platforms.
• One site, multiple renderings. Ability to render a single published SharePoint site in multiple designs to accommodate different devices.
• Push notifications. Works for Windows Phones.
• Geolocation field type. For mobile app development.
• Ability to view business intelligence content.
• Office Web Apps. Ability to view Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents.

2. Share and view documents across different devices through SkyDrive Pro. Here is the overview of SkyDrive Pro. This is included in SharePoint 2013 upgrade currently targeted for upgrade project.

• Store and organize your private documents and other files in a secure location in the cloud or on your company’s SharePoint servers. (We may only implement SharePoint SkyDrive Pro NOT cloud SkyDrive)
• Share files and folders with other people in your organization and give them permission to review or edit the content.
• Synchronize files and folders in your SkyDrive Pro and other SharePoint libraries with your computer or mobile devices, so you can access your content offline.

3. SharePoint App Store – new module to provide new mobile functions. More are coming from Microsoft. We will take a look after SharePoint 2013 upgrade depends on the business requirement.

There are lots of instructions to build mobile apps for SharePoint 2013. It is not difficult to set up an environment for developing mobile apps for SharePoint. However, most of the SharePoint 2013 Apps like “Create a Windows Phone SharePoint 2013 list app” are based on Window phones at this time. We have confirmed that Microsoft will provide more instructions to develop SharePoint Apps on different devices in the next several months. We might need to take a look the App Store development on different devices at that time.