Citrix has been warning… er… teasing Windows for the iPhone for a while now, but their blog (via Gizmodo) was recently updated to reflect some updates:
As we have announced here on the Citrix Blog ( still no Press Release though … ) we are actively developing a Citrix Receiver for the iPhone that will bring the world of millions of Windows apps and developers to the iPhone. As part of our testing and demonstrations we are looking for examples of compelling applications that will not run natively on the iPhone, however if the app was hosted on XenApp and delivered to the iPhone it would provide a great visual example of the power of Citrix and the iPhone.
They cite examples including IE-only apps (ActiveX?), Flash apps, medical apps, and cut and paste (?!)
While other remote desktop and VNC clients exist for the iPhone, Citrix comes from a background deep inside the Windows kernel and are thus unique situated to develop a killer solution.
So, anybody really want remote access to Windows on their iPhone, and if so, what do you want most from it?
Citrix, the folks behind Go To Meeting and Go To My PC — and if you believe the urban myth, a good portion of the Windows kernel — have just significantly harshened Steve Jobs’ mellow and sent yet another shudder down Tim Cook’s spine.
While VNC/Remote Desktop Apps have been available for the iPhone for a while (see Chad’s Jaadu vs. Mocha Showdown), a helpful Fortune Blog reader points us the differences in the Citrix solution:
“The Citrix client gives access to hosted applications on XenApp servers — allowing dozens to hundreds of users to access their applications remotely from a single system, with the very efficient Ctrix ICA display protocol.
One approach is for individual users — the other is for a cost-effective shared application delivery infrastructure.”
(Thanks to The Reptile for sending this in!)
Right after we complete our contest for TiPB AT WORK: VNC, out comes a preview of LogMeIn Ignition for iPhone. LogMeIn is a free tool for remoting into your Mac or PC. Now, this functionality is coming to iPhone.
This application has me rather excited since I already use this service; and it works well. I am currently hooked on Jaadu and Win Admin, but this could be a very viable option for replacement of these apps. The preview page discusses little about actual functionality, but based on the third image in the above graphic, you will be able to use multi-touch to zoom in and out of the screen.
Also, by looking at the toolbar, it looks like you can search (a shortcut to Spotlight?) left/right-click, keyboard and even a globe (perhaps a shortcut to Safari?)
All in all, very exciting indeed! We will update you as we learn more!
[This is a TiPb AT WORK App vs. App Review! Last week, it was the To Do/Task App Showdown, with Things squeaking out the victory. But which blog commenter won a copy of the winning To Do/Task App? Alex! Congratulations!
This week, the TiPb iPhone Forums voted on their favorite Remote Desktop/VNC Apps, we took the top two, and now they're going head-to-head. But wait -- there's more! One of the forum voters has already won a copy of the winning App... Congrats avt! Want another chance to win? COMMENT BELOW! and make sure you leave a valid email address in the comment form -- it won't be made public, but it will be used to contact you if you win! Check out the full contest details, then grab your iPhone and get ready to get things done -- the TiPb AT WORK Remote Desktop/VNC Showdown is on!]
Like Brian, I use my iPhone for just about everything. So wouldn’t it be nice to use your iPhone to access your computer(s) when you are not at your desk? At work (no pun intended) I rotate with team members to “take” call, meaning, if something needs resolved on a weekend or evening, it is up to me to fix it. My work does not currently supply a broadband card, so it is up to my own devices to have Internet access wherever I go to remote into my PC. The VNC applications Jaadu and Mocha allow me to do just that! For those of you that don’t know what VNC is, it allows you to remotely control another computer. Now, this ability is available on your iPhone (side rant, why doesn’t Apple give us this ability as part of our MobileMe subscriptions? Ah, I digress…)
I can now leave my laptop behind and just use my iPhone to connect to my work laptop at home or my iMac desktop and save the day! Let’s take a look at these two VNC apps!
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