One of the big new technological advances is the mobile device, whether it be the iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, or the Android phone (I know I have missed others so save the comments). I have heard many engineers, especially at SolidWorks WORLD this year, ask for the ability to view their data on their mobile devices while they are on the go.
While at SWW10 this year I asked an employee that was previously involved with SolidWorks Labs if there was any research done with making native SolidWorks files available on mobile devices. The response I got was that it was being looked at, however, the hold up was where is the data stored and the size of the files because of the size limitations on the mobile device. These are both viable areas of concern.
Over the weekend I decided to search the App Store on my iPhone for Dassault Systemes apps and was surprised to see 3 apps out there from SolidWorks parent company. Here are the products currently available from Dassault Systemes in the Apple App Store.
All of this makes me wonder if a native SolidWorks app can be too far down the road. Even over the concerns that the SolidWorks employee mentioned it looks as if Dassault is figuring some of these things out. All of this along with the closer intergration between Dassault Systemes and SolidWorks Corporation make me wonder if this is closer than many think. I, for one, sure hope so.
Here are some of my ideas for SolidWorks apps (Apps, not mobile sites that I need to open my browser for).
- Mobile SolidWorks Forums
- eDrawings
- PDM or PDS program
Let me know some of the SolidWorks apps or programs you would like to see on your mobile device.
