If you had any doubts about the pervasiveness of mobile, look no further than the SAP Sybase purchase announcement yesterday.

Instantly, SAP has become a formidable player in multiple mobile vertical markets. SAP runs the backend systems for many enterprises, including providing the core deposit software systems for a number of banks around world. SAP also gets leading database technology that lets them avoid giving $1B annually to arch competitor Oracle.

With Sybase, SAP can mobile-enable many of those services which previously would have involved difficult integration efforts at each company. That said, SAP is also known for lengthy integration efforts and obtuse user interfaces.

Sybase brings solid mobile messaging and mobile banking capabilities. Until now, mobile banking vendors have partnered with larger companies like Fiserv, FIS, Diebold, and NCR with varying levels of success. SAP’s move could spark a round of acquisitions as vendors feel the need to more fully integrate these solutions into their product set.

Integration and product development is the key to the success of this purchase. Mobile applications use data from disparate areas of the enterprise and often seem deceptively simple to implement. SAP will have a very compelling offering if they can make it work. SAP has the backend systems. SAP has the data analytics capabilities necessary for the highly targeted segmentation required in mobile marketing. SAP now has the infrastructure for SMS, mobile web and native mobile applications. SMS also gets a database and a platform for rich enterprise mobile applications.

If SAP gets this right, this unlocks a tidal wave of mobility. So far though, no one has really gotten it right.

CIBC iPhone Mobile Banking Application

CIBC is live with Canada’s first full-featured mobile banking iPhone application.

The native iPhone application provides a key money movement feature that have eluded American mobile banking solutions. CIBC leverages the Interac email money transfer system to allow sending money to others.

American bankers have been dreaming of a P2P payment system like this for a while.

The CIBC iPhone application also has all the standard capabilities found south of the border including full account management capabilities, including credit cards.

The application also provide a branch & ABM/ATM locator.

Scotiabank announced late 2009 it would offer a native iPhone application this Spring. Both Scotiabank and Desjardins have ABM locators in the app store.

Most Canadian banks have had browser-based solutions live since 2000 when the first wave of mobile excitement swept the world — then went nowhere for nearly a decade.

CIBC and Scotia are two back-to-back examples that the gloves are off in Canada and the mobile banking competition has begun.

Canadian consumers will definitely be the winners!