Salesforce Platform Mobile Services

Question

I've been doing force.com mobile development for several years now but I'm very confused about the nomenclature with some of the recent changes.

1) Is Salesforce Platform Mobile Services (recently launched) same as the Salesforce Touch platform? If not, what is the difference between the two. If yes, would Salesforce Touch name be deprecated? 2) The Salesforce Touch Mobile Development Guide talks about the Touch Platform containing three components - A) Force.com for Touch which contains Mobile REST API & Chatter REST API B) Mobile SDK C) Identity

For A), I don't think that these two APIs are specific to mobile so the whole premise of this being called for 'Force.com for Touch' doesn't seem rightly named C) Identity - The Salesforce Touch Mobile Development Guide defines it theoretically but from a developer perspective, what is this? Is it connected apps? Is it mechanisms such as SSO & SAML?

I've been using the Mobile SDK ever since it launched and as far as I'm concerned, it has everything that means Salesforce Touch to a developer - templates, REST API wrappers & built-in oAuth mechanism.

I understand the Salesforce Touch Mobile Development Guide is obsolete and may actually be re-written when the revamped mobile platform launches but it would be nice to get some concrete inputs on these aspects ASAP.

Answer 1

Salesforce Touch: a mobile app for iPad/iPhone, and a mobile gateway for HTML5 compliant mobile devices (Android, Blackberry), authenticated through Identity (Oauth2), and capable of using Visualforce pages, as well as configuration-based updates (e.g. changes to standard layouts will affect the app). Salesforce Mobile Packs are not required for using Touch (but would help with Visualforce). Edit: This is meant to be a replacement for Salesforce Mobile, having been renamed to Salesforce Mobile Classic. There's no mention of when Salesforce Mobile Classic will be removed, but surely not until usage has dropped to critical levels.

Salesforce Mobile Packs: a set of open-source frameworks that are built upon de facto standard frameworks, and include JavaScript for accessing data, leveraging OAuth2, etc. Usable in Touch via Visualforce, if configured, but Touch is not required. Ideal for developers with JavaScript framework experience. It even includes examples for hybrid apps that can leverage hardware, such as cameras or storage devices.

Salesforce Identity: A OAuth2 service that allows you to create user accounts and/or authenticate with any OAuth2-compliant service or app. Not only can you login to Chatter and other apps to access your salesforce.com data, you can also use it as a SSO for any OAuth2-enabled service or app that can connect to salesforce.com. You can revoke this access at any time. Both Touch and the Mobile Packs can leverage Identity.