For the record: Here is Glenn Barber's recent reply to a year-old question:

First of all they said we would be seamlessly transitioned as partners under regional managers - however the fine print is that we all had to commit carry $4 million in liability insurance to cover SAP's possible losses from our selling their software (never ever have I heard of something like the from Oracle, Microsoft or Sybase). We use to be able to order Product for our customers from the Eshop - now we find we have to contact the mid tier partner and they have to contact our customers directly - bypassing us to get the customer to sign elaborate licensing agreements just to purchase a copy of SQL Anywhere workgroup.

We used to be able to sell runtime licenses for an embedded application - now we can't even get anyone to return our calls about that agreement - and now the list price of the product is starting to skyrocket.

Ive been a Microsoft Partner, Oracle Partner, and Sybase Partner and never found it anywhere as difficult as trying to sell product for SAP.

Without small Partners - there won't be small customers....

Glenn Barber

If I remember history correctly, it was in 1992 that a small but brilliant group in Waterloo released Watcom SQL. It was a breath of fresh air for those of us who weren't big enough to buy Sybase SQL or Oracle: two products that did the job but you had to have a lot of money to buy and a LOT MORE money to be invited in behind the castle walls to access support.

That breath of fresh air blossomed and grew. And gave me many years to brag about how we had big system capabilities in our small systems, and indeed EXCEEDED the big names in many ways. We have successfully running systems in a LOT of remote places in Canada; places that no IT support would even think about going to maintain something.

The last 4 years for our small OEM partner company has been: 1) determination to enthusiastically embrace the change to SAP, 2) followed by worries over the signs that seemed to contradict the hope, 3) and now the realization that the castle walls have been under construction for some time now and the product has just been relocated to the new castle.

I have met quite a few of the brilliant people in Waterloo who develop and support the product. My respect for them has not diminished at all.

But I have just cancelled my OEM Agreement that expires next week in the realization that, although we will be SQLA developers for some time to come yet, the future isn't there anymore.

Are there any more brilliant minds out there with great technology ideas and a passion to overcome obstacles...

The SAP store has been updated to include information on the support options for SQL Anywhere. Currently, this information can be found in the 'pricing' section of the product detail page. They (the SAP store team) are working on expanding this information as well as making it easier to find.

The current text you will see for the different support plans is as follows:

SAP Support Plans: SAP offers customers a comprehensive and tiered portfolio of support offerings to enable the successful development, implementation and operation of information technology organizations. You can select your support level based on your individual business needs and considerations, including your landscape complexity and desired depth of SAP support.

1. SAP Enterprise Support is our most comprehensive offering of prioritized and proactive services for companies where downtime is never an option and performance and stability are mission-critical. This plan truly offers customers the ultimate in service levels as well as a focus on continuous improvement in order to get the most from your investment.
   
   In addition to all of the deliverables in the SAP Standard Support Plan (unlimited technical telephone support, access to new software version releases and maintenance updates), the SAP Enterprise Support Plan provides the highest priority response times (P1 less than 1 hour), priority access to the Enterprise Technical Team and proactive services such as account management and regular review meetings. Due to the robust nature of this offering, it is no wonder this is our most popular support plan!
   
   The SAP Enterprise Support Plan is available for purchase through SAP Store at the time of your software product purchase.
   
   
2. SAP Standard Support provides the reliable responses you need to address your technical disruptions and maintain the health and integrity of your IT systems. SAP Standard Support is an inclusive offering for companies that require high-quality support for critical issues, access to new releases and online support services to maintain continuous software system operations.
   
   The SAP Standard Support Plan provides access to our Technical Support organization and a variety of other user services including: unlimited technical telephone support, access to new software version releases and maintenance updates and 24x7 support for Priority 1 incidents.
   
   The SAP Standard Support Plan is offered for purchase through SAP Store at the time of your software product purchase.

I am sorry you are having problems with the store Glenn. I am working on getting the store pages updated to provide a better idea of the support options.
I expect for most people using SQLA, the Standard Support option will be sufficient.

This isn't an answer or even specific to your question, but it is enlightening:

Many SAP customers struggling to figure out its mobility strategy, user survey finds

Chris Kanaracus

Mar 31, 2014 1:15 PM

pcworld.com

It’s been nearly four years since SAP got into enterprise mobility with the acquisition of Sybase, but many customers still don’t quite understand its mobile product strategy, according to a new survey by the Americas’ SAP Users’ Group.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they had either a “poor” or “fair” handle on what SAP is doing with mobile. Another 33.7 percent said they had a “good” sense of it, but only 9.5 percent professed to have a “very good” understanding.

“Communication and clarification from SAP on its mobile strategy is absolutely crucial to customers gaining a more favorable perception of it,” the survey states.

About two-thirds of respondents said they’d welcome more stories about SAP customer mobile implementations, while three-quarters want “better/more information” on product road maps, according to the survey.

ASUG members named a series of challenges they’re facing with respect to implementing SAP’s mobile software. Forty-five percent cited cost as a significant issue.

“I’m not saying it has to be super cheap,” said one SAP Mobile Platform pilot user, who was quoted anonymously in the survey. “But give your existing customer base a break.”

Meanwhile, many SAP customers are struggling to formulate a concrete mobile strategy of their own. While 47 percent of respondents said they were developing mobile applications, 44 percent said prioritizing these efforts has been a challenge.

SAP responded to the findings in a statement that was published as part of the survey.

For one thing, more than 70 percent of respondents had either a fair, good or very good understanding of its mobile offerings, SAP said.

However, “we take to heart that SAP can improve the articulation of our multi-faceted strategy, and we will follow up with specific sessions to discuss the next chapter in our mobile strategy,” it added.

SAP is trying to build a complete stack of mobile technology, SAP said: “This is an important distinction because many competitive individual mobility solutions are being acquired or simply putting up ‘out of business’ signs.”

This year, SAP will publish an “enterprise mobility map” that will “help customers better understand their mobility baseline today and make decisions regarding other areas of their business to mobilize,” the statement adds.

Customers can also expect more mobile case studies and road maps this year, SAP said.

Some 306 ASUG members representing a wide variety of industries responded to the survey in November and December. More than 90 percent were from companies with more than 250 employees.