PTC Gets Ready to Mobilize Windchill

Last June, during PlanetPTC Live user conference, Brian Shepherd, PTC's executive VP of product development, decided to shake things up a bit, quite literally. He previewed an iPad app (only a prototype at the time) that lets you explode an assembly model by shaking the device. By the end of March, what Shepherd demonstrated could be available commercially.

The first mobile app coming from PTC will be Windchill Mobile, according to Michael Distler, product marketing manager for Windchill. "You'll be able to pick an object, view your assignments, look at the object's details, understand where it was used, understand its components. Embedded within [the app] will be a viewer, so you can interrogate the product," he said.

PTC plans to deliver the Windchill app for iPhone and iPad, to be followed by an Android version. PTC hasn't decided on its pricing, so it could be free or fee-based, depending on the number of users it needs to accommodate in collaboration sessions.

The company is also developing a mobile viewer, based on its Creo View (currently available for Windows PCs for MCAD, ECAD, or both). It's an "active project," said Distler, but no delivery target date is available. "That will have the shake-and-bake feature Brian [shepherd] demonstrated," he revealed.

Whereas Windchill mobile app will focus on PLM (product lifecycle management) users, the mobile viewer will be targeted at general CAD users who need to view, annotate, and share 3D design files.

Other PTC products getting the mobile treatment include Creo Sketch, a paint and sketch program; Windchill SocialLink, an enterprise networking app with social media features; and Arbortext, a technical publication program.