(IDG News Service) -- Cognos Inc. said today that its Cognos 8 Go Mobile business intelligence (BI) software now supports Windows Mobile 6 smart phones, as well as Nokia Corp. E-series and N-series devices running S60 Third Edition on the Symbian operating system.
The software works with Cognos' core BI system and can automatically reformat reports for various types of devices.
The Ottawa-based company had already developed support for Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry smart phones.
Cognos' move to support more mobile platforms is logical, according to David O'Connell, an analyst at Nucleus Research Inc. in Wellesley, Mass.
"They're going mobile. They've been doing it for a while," O'Connell said. "Basically, the more platforms you can put BI on, the more people you have adopting it, so there's more ROI [return on investment]."
Anastasia Valentine, product manager at Cognos, said the company made the new clients in response to market interest. Customer interest in Windows Mobile 6 centered in the U.S. and the Asian-Pacific region, while European customers wanted support for Nokia devices, she said.
While the new products are fine-tuned for each platform, they are identical in features to the BlackBerry client, according to Valentine.
Support for one of this year's hottest mobile devices, Apple Inc.'s iPhone, isn't yet on Cognos' docket.
Despite the iPhone's explosive popularity, its immediate value to enterprises has been questioned. Forrester Research Inc. recently issued a report listing reasons why IT departments shouldn't support it, at least for now. Those warnings include the device's lack of support for push e-mail and its cost, Forrester said.
Valentine said Cognos isn't seeing much customer demand for iPhone support, adding that the company is also keeping an eye on Google Inc.'s Android mobile development platform.
A "starter pack" for Cognos' mobile BI software, which includes a server-based license, licenses for 25 users and one year of support, costs $31,000, Valentine said.
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