Bottom line: Salesforce and Apple are working together to build better native apps for iOS that make use of features such as Siri and Face ID. However, businesses still need Apple to fix Siri before the apps reach full potential.
As one of the largest developers for iOS, Salesforce has nearly 5 million people actively working on apps that use its services. Apple and Salesforce have announced a partnership to launch a Salesforce Mobile SDK for iOS that will allow for native apps to be created.
In a redesigned Salesforce app, Apple is offering up access to Siri Shortcuts, Face ID, as well as Business Chat among other features. Unfortunately, Apple still has not announced any plans to make Siri better. Even though it can be convenient on occasion to go hands free, business users have little reason to bother with Siri for things like meeting notes and strategy questions until Apple can improve the voice assistant.
Salesforce's SDK is optimized for Swift programming and allows developers to more easily create apps that make use of the Salesforce Lightning Platform. There are currently hundreds of thousands of apps in the App Store that are using this platform.
For any new set of development tools, there needs to be good documentation available if it is expected to take off. Salesforce has already developed its own online training course and Trailhead app to provide ease of access to content. Apple is also launching a new training series on building iOS apps in Xcode with Swift.
Both Apple and Salesforce CEOs made statements about the partnership, but seemed more focused on telling us that Apple devices are the "best devices for business," instead of explaining any more about what exclusive features will be implemented.