Latest News from Wireless Developer's Journal

Building Android Apps with Cloud-based Mobile App Builder

Tue, 15 May 2012 16:49:00 EDT

Wednesday and Thursday this week the Tiggzi team will be at AnDevCon conference in San Francisco. Stop by our stand and learn how to build Android apps, connected to any REST API using Tiggzi app builder. What’s really nice is that you can build an app in Tiggzi, export the Android binary, and instantly publish [...]

SAP Announces New M2M Initiative

Tue, 15 May 2012 06:03:00 EDT

For the past two years I have been predicting that M2M (machine to machine) communications will eventually become important and ultimately merge with enterprise mobility. Why? Both involve remote and often mobile sources of data coming into the enterprise. A few weeks ago, SAP made an announcement about M2M that I think is very interesting. Here is an excerpt, "SAP today launched a new machine-to-machine (M2M) resource center with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The site features research and opinion from SAP, the EIU and other partners exploring successful M2M business models and scenarios." I have also seen press about SAP's Mike Wendell, VP Industry Solutions, speaking at various conferences on the topic of M2M recently.

Mobile Commerce News Weekly

Mon, 14 May 2012 23:10:00 EDT

The Mobile Commerce News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking and mobile security that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information. MasterCard, the No. 2 payments processor, has unveiled PayPass Wallet Services, its own take on the digital wallet. The wallet will allow users to store all of their cards, and MasterCard plans to distribute developer tools to allow other wallets to work with its network.

Mobile Retail Apps Equal Sales

Mon, 14 May 2012 06:27:00 EDT

If companies have hesitated to develop a mobile strategy or mobile retail apps over concerns as to their value, this article on a report from ABI Research should send them straight to the phone calling the next available mobile developer. Here is an excerpt from the article, "The results are promising for retailers, with 45.8% of respondents saying the app caused them to visit the store more, buy more of the store/brand’s products and services (40.4%), spread the word about their store shopping experience (35.8%), and even encourage friends to visit the store (30.8%)."

SAP's Mobility Vision - Any Way You Want It

Mon, 14 May 2012 06:15:00 EDT

When you first look at the list of mobility vendors that are attending SAPPHIRENOW 2012, it may seem like most of them compete with SAP mobility, but that would be to forget that SAP sells ERP software. Look at where SAP makes their money. They make their money selling and maintaining large enterprise software implementations that run companies. Mobility is an enabler. Mobility extends and adds value to these large SAP users. Those are important points to understand. In a way, I think SAP's mobile strategy can be defined as, "I don't care." I don't care what mobile software you use as long as it adds users and value. If more users can access SAP through a third-party mobile solution, and SAP receives more user fees, then all is well. Yes, they have spent billions of dollars on mobile middleware, tools, infrastructure and mobile applications (e.g. Sybase and Syclo), but that was, I believe, to ignite a now explosive enterprise mobility marketplace. They needed to kick-start the market and they have succeeded. There are now many mobility vendors supporting SAP users.

Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly

Sun, 13 May 2012 17:59:00 EDT

Welcome to the Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility in Asia. Asia is predicted to be the fastest area of growth for enterprise mobility between now and 2016. Citing a commitment to the Asia Pacific region as an important market for cellular communications, Celcite Management Solutions has opened a new office in Singapore.

Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments, M-Commerce

Fri, 11 May 2012 05:30:00 EDT

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP

Enterprise Mobility and MEAPs - The Mobile Cloud Avatar

The Evolution of Enterprise Mobility

Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities

Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences

Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas

Mobility Innovations for the Next Generation Utility

On The Road to Agile Mobile Business Applications

Unvired Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP)

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM

5 Lessons for Enterprise Mobility Success in the Cloud

Enterprise Mobility in 2012: One Solution for Multiple Devices

Healthrageous Mobility Case Study

Making Sense of Mobile Middleware Strategies

The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies

The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access

Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

Ruggedized and Industrial Mobile Device Articles

Consumer Smartphones or Industrial Smartphones?

You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies.

I have added a feature to my blog site that supports email subscriptions. You can now receive all blog articles directly via email. If you are interested, click here.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Study Reveals Behavior Patterns of China's Thriving Mobile User Market

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:08:49 EDT

A new infographic and survey conducted by Guohe, a mobile advertising management platform in China sheds light on behavior patterns of China's Android and iPhone users. The results may help global advertisers and app developers understand China's growing mobile market. A greater percentage of China's iOS users spend more money on apps than do their Android counterparts, says a study conducted by China mobile ad platform company, Guohe Ad. Apple has a head start in the app business, and this may be because of Apple's removal of the currency barrier and allowing payment by RMB for app downloads. 62% of the iPhone users have at least bought one app before, and among these app-buyers, surprisingly 17% have bought more than 11 apps.

Mobile Expert Video Series: Harish Rau, Part 2

Thu, 10 May 2012 07:15:00 EDT

This is Part 2 in this series with Element Five Solutions' Harish Rau. In this segment, he shares advice and lessons learned during implementations of the Sybase Unwired Platform. He is a true enterprise mobility expert. By that I mean, he has been down the path and lived to share his experiences with you and I.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobility News Weekly

Thu, 10 May 2012 07:00:00 EDT

The Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends. Apple is in roughly the same position it was last quarter, with an 8.8 percent share of the market in terms of units shipped (according to IDC) and a share of profits (according to Dediu) down two percentage points to 73 percent.

Blackberry 10 – Putting Developers First

Wed, 09 May 2012 05:00:00 EDT

Blackberry 10 OS is unveiled this week at Blackberry World. In many ways Blackberry 10 is probably the last chance for Blackberry to gain back the market share and be a formidable competition to other Smartphones. If the announcements at the conference are any indication, Blackberry is going all out this time to make their next generation of OS as the best smartphone platform.

Multihop Wirelesss Networks

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:50:00 EDT

Due to such features as low cost, ease of deployment, increased coverage, and enhanced capacity, multihop wireless networks such as ad hoc networks, mesh networks, and sensor networks that form the network in a selforganized manner without relying on fixed infrastructure is touted as the new frontier of wireless networking. Providing efficient quality of service (QoS) support is essential for such networks, as they need to deliver real-time services like video, audio, and voice over IP besides the traditional data service. Various solutions have been proposed to provide soft QoS over multihop wireless networks from different layers in the network protocol stack. However, the layered concept was primarily created for wired networks, and multihop wireless networks oppose strict layered design because of their dynamic nature, infrastructureless architecture, and timevarying unstable links and topology. The concept of crosslayer design is based on architecture where different layers can exchange information in order to improve the overall network performance. Promising results achieved by cross-layer optimizations initiated significant research activity in this area. This paper aims to review the present study on the cross-layer paradigm for QoS support in multihop wireless networks. Several examples of evolutionary and revolutionary crosslayer approaches are presented in detail. Realizing the new trends for wireless networking, such as cooperative communication and networking, opportunistic transmission, real system cross-layer design for QoS support over multihop wireless networks are also discussed in the paper.

Google and Android Infringed Oracle Copyrights

Tue, 08 May 2012 10:00:00 EDT

After days of deliberating, a San Francisco jury Monday found that Google and its Android operating system infringed the Java copyrights now held by Oracle. However, the jury remained as deadlocked as it was last Friday over the issue of whether Google made so-called “fair use” of the IP. It couldn’t come to a unanimous decision on that question. Google denied all the allegations and claimed it developed Android from scratch and that the parts of Java it did use aren’t covered by copyright. After the verdict was read Google moved for a mistrial – which would mean a whole new trial and possibly new evidence – while the judge accepted the partial verdict and forged ahead. The partial verdict says Google infringed the sequence, structure and organization of 37 Java APIs by using those APIs in Android. FOSS Patents figures that was the most important decision the jury made. The blog also figures there’s really no “fair use” case here and is critical of the instructions given to the jury about fair use.

The HTC One X: A Senseless Disaster

Mon, 07 May 2012 06:15:00 EDT

HTC recently released their flagship device, the One X, internationally, with a US release soon to follow. The device has a 4.7″ Super LCD 2 display at 720p, Tegra 3 innards, HSDPA+ modems and 32GB ROM (1GB RAM). The US version replaces the Tegra 3 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 to complement the included LTE [...]

Mobile Devices Are a Marketing Powerhouse

Fri, 04 May 2012 04:00:00 EDT

Smartphones – they are everywhere. You would be hard pressed to find anyplace from a grammar school to a nursing home where there is not one. Given the two most intrinsic aspects of smartphones – they are mobile, they are communication devices – As of Q4 2011 over half of those aged 18 – 44 [...]

Building Mobile Apps with the WAC API

Thu, 03 May 2012 04:30:00 EDT

WAC (the Wholesale Applications Community) offers a single cross-operator payment API across 9 operators today with plans to extend to all 58 member operators. Mobile carrier enabled in-app billing promises better conversion for app developers since there is no reason to enter usernames and passwords. Do you want to see how to use in-app carrier [...]

Real World Enterprise Mobility in Scotland

Wed, 02 May 2012 07:45:00 EDT

Edinburgh, Scotland

It is valuable for me to leave the office and spend time with different IT teams wrestling with real world enterprise mobility challenges from time to time. This week I had the privilege of working with a team in Scotland. We explored the use of MEAPs (mobile enterprise application platforms), the role of HTML5, MDM (mobile device management), IDEs (integrated development environments), mobile business strategies, and how to create RFIs for mobile solutions. This was the general overview, after those sessions, we jumped into how each of those components work in the real world - where nearly every company has a challenging mixture of back office applications and legacy systems.

In the real world there are many bespoke/custom software applications. There are good software applications and bad. There are software vendors that don't want to expose their data to other vendors or mobile apps. There is corrupt and incomplete data. There are mobile applications that don't work well. There are old, expensive handheld computers with out-dated mobile operating systems. There are old mobile apps that only run on old handhelds.

Let me digress for a minute and just say - Microsoft has purposefully destroyed the ruggedized handheld industry. They stopped developing upgrades to Windows Mobile 6.x and left the entire industry of handheld manufacturers desperate for something new to sell. They chose to not provide an upgrade path, nor a replacement. This is like laptop manufacturers trying to sell MS-DOS based laptops today. It is bad for both the customer and for all the ruggedized handheld manufacturers. Shame on you Microsoft.

Back to the subject of real world enterprise mobility. In the real world - there will need to be multiple platforms that support mobile solutions in many companies. They may need a campaign based mobile marketing platform. They may want an HTML5 environment for online only mobile apps that is separate from their MEAP environment that supports field services with online/offline mobile app capabilities. There may also be a B2C environment that is unique and focused on providing multimedia experiences, or mobile banking.

All of these real world discussions, with a Scottish accent, make for a great experience.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

So You’re Looking for a New Tablet?

Tue, 01 May 2012 15:56:00 EDT

Much has been written about how tablets are not “needed,” but are rather just fun toys. I must say I agree with this, to a point. I feel that there are many great use-cases for tablets. They are lighter and more portable than any laptop (yes, even the MacBook Air) and last longer. Devices such as the the Transformer Prime (with keyboard dock) have extremely long battery lives as well great production (not just consumption) capabilities. Tablets have access to their (respective) app stores, which offer far more software applications (at lower cost as well).

The End of a Saga - Nokia

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 08:15:00 EDT

The End of a Saga - Nokia

The last couple of days really seems to have put yet another nail into the coffin that represents the of Nokia (and Europe)'s dominance of the mobile phone industry. Apple since long is top as the number one gross revenue player and Samsung last quarter overtook the top one position for number of units shipped. The first time in 14 years that Nokia not number one. The end is near.

But there are three other significant points of data that furthers supports the statement:

1. The quarterly result where Nokia has managed to turn around a €300M profit to 1.3 billion in losses, but where the emerging markets really suffers. Global sales drops 40% and China a whopping 70% decrease in (true, Windowsphone just started to sell but still)!

2. The exodus of Nokia executives - lately Colin Giles had to leave, EVP Sales, which is not surprising given the horrible sales results but in all fairness, is he to be blamed?

What is worse is that Nokia's management (aka NLT) is now left with 'stars' like Niklas Savander in charge of Sales, Marketing and Production. And he has yet to deliver anything, whereby his further strengthened position is really questionable. Moreover, the NLT is basically brand new and I fear that Nokia has lost its Finnish roots, which would have been the foundation for any rebound. Never underestimate the finnish Sisu!

Colin told me later that it actually was a personal decision that he took more than a month ago and not related to the poor sales performance but I think it was an indirect result. Given how much he now travels, he would have to travel more and work even harder to recover the loss of sales for the the next 12-18 months. So though not fired, the poor sales is probably the reason for leaving.

And Windowsphone? Well, a lot of positive comments about the UI/UX but it has not translated into sales and Microsoft is really gunning for Windows 8 with tablets and smartphones, not 7.x, which leaves Nokia in no-mans-land for another year.

3. India going Android, where Reliance's deal with Google on committing to Android for the next two years shows that Nokia has lost its grip even in the emerging market. Nokia has been too late in addressing the need of low-cost smartphones (and the latest marketing pundits effort to rename S40 into a smartphone platform doesn't fool consumers or the market), which is now clearly visible in sales performance in China, India and also Africa.

The BRIICA markets abandons Nokia.

But the decline started long time ago, long time ago. And it was highlight when Jorma Ollila resigned and promoted a bean-counter, Olli-Pekka Kallesvuo (OPK), to CEO. Sadly to say, and this is quite common by many charismatic and successful business leaders, the appointment of a CFO to be the CEO was not the smartest move. And, like the new leadership in China in 16th century, OPK could only preserve the business and maintain the strategy but not be able to see (or understand) or change the company to reflect the momentus changes that happened between 2006-2009, with the rise of Asian vendors (Samsung, LG, Huawei, ZTE) and the clear change of user preferences, introduced by Apple.

The results are bluntly obvious today, where Nokia has been kicked down from its #1 position both in terms of revenue and units shipped, posting a horrible billion euro loss. The mentality of being an underdog has to be reinforced but probably also a much needed adjustment of the organization will be required, quite similar to the steel-bath Ericsson undertook 10 years ago, shrinking for 150,000 employees to a mere 50,000 in one year.

Given what has happened and the state of the company, windowsphone and the competition, Nokia will follow the route of Sony Ericsson and become a niche player, posting 10-15% market share in 2012 and maybe €10-12B revenues (please note, I am not a financial analysts, so revenues are just for reference).

I have a real problem seeing what could make Nokia rebound into being a significant mobile phone player again, given the lack of strategy beyond mobile phones per se. The only good thing is that Nokia spotted the problems before it had a solid financial effect. Compared to Motorola and RIM, Nokia has already taken decisive measures to change strategy, reduce headcount and have a path to success. Let's see if that path leads to glory or misery.

50% of Enterprise Mobility Applications To Be HTML5 Based by 2015

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 09:45:00 EDT

This week in an interview with me, SAP's Head of Mobility, Sanjay Poonen predicted that by 2015, 50% of enterprise mobility applications would be HTML5 based. In another interview I conducted this week with Sencha's CEO, Michael Mullany, he predicted that by 2014, 50% of enterprise mobility applications would be HTML5 based, 20% would be native, and 30% would be a hybrid of HTML5. The bottom line is that HTML5 is going to be very important for enterprise mobility going forward. BBC Worldwide has invested in HTML5 tech company Spaceport.io and will use Spaceport’s technology to create new games and apps that will run on the web, mobile devices, and connected TVs.

Interview: Sanjay Poonen on SAP's Mobile Strategies

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 06:30:00 EDT

Yesterday afternoon, I had the pleasure of spending time on the phone with Sanjay Poonen discussing SAP's intent to acquire Syclo, and other SAP related mobile strategies. Sanjay's current titles are President and Corporate Office, Technology and Innovation Products, Head of Mobile Division, SAP AG.

Why the Massive Move to Mobile Computing Changes Content Marketing Rules

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 06:00:00 EDT

Rethink Your Content Marketing by Aiming at Billions of Buyers on the Move For those of us who been around computing since the early days of PCs, the consumer move to mobile devices and away from desktop and even laptop computers is astonishing–and maybe a little terrifying. Smartphones Soar First, smartphones such as the Blackberry, [...]

Best Way to Grow Enterprise Mobility In-House

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:40:00 EDT

Taking a stance of 'Build it and they will come' has never worked in IT and especially now with the Consumerisation of Mobility and the Prosumers (Professional + Consumer) in your Enterprise, whom are expecting or even demanding the same experience as Mobile Apps on the App Stores/Markets. These employees have been covertly educated to expect the best mobility experience and are now turning their thoughts to solutions in their daily tasks, on the go! Just look at the best ranking mobile apps within the App Stores/Markets and the Apps that are being acquired for large sums of money… they would have all done their homework to ensure maximum effect and this is now the target where Enterprise Mobility is expected to shoot for! In-House Mobile Application Development is the key going forward for the Enterprise and many companies nowadays have a Chief Mobility Office (CMoO). It is the CMoO's top responsibility to Co-ordinate Mobility Trends and Directions, reducing any wasted time and effort and ultimately empowering the Enterprise with the benefits of mobility that I have mentioned in previous articles, such as streamlining business processes, rapid response, ultimately gaining a competitive advantage.

Mobile Marketing News Weekly

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 14:32:00 EDT

The Mobile Marketing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile marketing that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information. According to GroupM, an ad agency that released a white paper on digital auctions, Twitter's new self-serve ad platform could generate $300-400 million in ad revenue this year. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and Masabi US Ltd, a pioneer in transit mobile ticketing, will bring mobile ticketing to MBTA commuter rail riders this fall. Once tickets are purchased, customers will be able to use and display directly via their phone screen.

SAP's Sanjay Poonen on Mobile Strategies

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:59:00 EDT

I interviewed SAP's Sanjay Poonen yesterday and he referred me to this video on SAP's mobile strategies for additional information. Enjoy!

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Enterprise Mobility, Mobile Sensors and Data Collection

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:00:00 EDT

I am reading a book titled Spying with Maps. It details the amazing sensors that are available on cameras and infrared scanners today. Perhaps not on your typical handheld camera, but if you have a heavy duty spy camera or infrared scanner hanging from an orbiting satellite you could have these capabilities. Here are some examples:

sensors able to distinguish camouflage from natural vegetation
sensors that can pinpoint distressed crops
sensors that can identify heat loss and soil moisture
sensors that can identify and classify vegetation
sensors that can detect changes in objects (the object moved since yesterday)

A Whitepaper by Kevin Benedict

Perhaps you are scratching your head wondering how this will be useful at your next family reunion, but it gets even better! In this MacWorld article titled Photo Measures and Measured for iOS, the author describes several new mobile apps that enable you to take a photo and add measurements and angles to the image so you can see the dimensions of objects including the girth of Uncle Charlie. It is very useful for contractors and real estate agents that need to regularly record, save and share measurements.

The only thing missing from the sensors above, is a fashion accessory. Something that you can wear. Relax! I have found that too. It is from a company called Shimmer. Shimmer's wearable sensors can collect many different kinds of sensory data such as wireless ECG, EMG, GSR, Accelerometer, Gyro, Mag, GPS, Tilt and Vibration sensors.

Wireless data collection sensors that can record all of these different kinds of data, upload it in real-time to a server, where it can be analyzed and shared with the field force in near real-time presents a near limitless amount of possibilities for enterprise mobility. It is intriguing to me how these sensors, big data, business analytics and mobile devices can all work together to augment our reality. It is now up to all of you visionaries out there to define the best use cases!

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Boeing's Encrypted Mobile Phone, Intel's Studybook

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:15:00 EDT

Making Sense of Mobile Middleware Strategies

The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies

The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access

Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

Ruggedized and Industrial Mobile Device Articles

Consumer Smartphones or Industrial Smartphones?

You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies.

I have added a feature to my blog site that supports email subscriptions. You can now receive all blog articles directly via email. If you are interested, click here.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Oh, the Places You'll Go… with Your Hosted IVR

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:00:00 EDT

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) has come a long way over the years. What started out as simple systems for banks and airlines to provide after-hours touchtone access to routine requests is expected to grow into a nearly $3 billion market by 2017, handling billions of calls across various channels and market segments each year. Yet, as frustrating as some IVR experiences are, with their menu mazes and robotic voices, they provide great value to businesses and consumers alike, allowing companies to reduce customer service costs while sparing consumers the aggravation of waiting on hold. Today we’re seeing a new generation of IVR applications, a generation of great self-service applications that are being driven by two factors: 1. An economic climate that has increased the need to grow customer loyalty 2. The availability of secure, reliable, hosted IVR technologies.

Enterprise Mobility, Re-usable Code and Private App Stores

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 03:00:00 EDT

A few years back when I was the CEO of a mobile enterprise application company, I spent a lot of time asking my PSO (professional services organization) the question, "Haven't we developed that before?" The answer was nearly always, " Yes, but it won't work on this project." That is not the answer a CEO wants to hear. The dream I had was to own a library of reusable code or objects that I could build once, and leverage on hundreds of future mobile projects. This week I read an article by my friend Gil Bouhnick, about ClickSoftware's new ClickAppStore. This is the model I had always wanted.

4G Wireless Now Faster than Wired Internet

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 04:00:00 EDT

I have been using various forms of wireless data for nearly 20 years, starting with the first Mobitex networks with the precursors of the Blackberry that were the size of small bricks. Today was a major milestone for me: the … Continue reading →

Enterprise Mobility in Asia: News Round-Up

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 03:45:00 EDT

LTE Kicks Off in Latin America

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 14:10:00 EDT

More than 450 professionals from all over Latam attended the 4th LTE Annual in Rio de Janeiro. With this number it became one of the principal SP events in the region, beside Futurecom. Cisco managed to gain visibility in the sector entering as a Badge and Lanyard Sponsor. Among the sponsoring companies were: Tekelek, Oracle, amdocs, Mavenir, gemalto, WebRadar, JDSU, O3b and some others.

SAP's Acquisition of Sybase in 2010 Revisited

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 05:00:00 EDT

I was a long time partner of Sybase and valued their mobile middleware, which I embedded in my mobile business apps for years. The cautions I shared in 2010, were that Sybase did not have a library of mobile apps or a robust SDK at that time, and businesses still needed to figure out how to get mobile apps.

Mobility News Weekly

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:47:00 EDT

The Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends. In the face of growing competition from Android tablets and the anticipated arrival of devices built on Microsoft's Windows 8, Gartner expects Apple's share of the rapidly growing market to take only a minimal hit, easing from 66.6 percent in 2011 to 61.4 percent in 2012.

Mobile Marketing News Weekly

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 07:00:00 EDT

The Mobile Marketing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile marketing that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information. A new report from mobile marketing company Velti says that at the end of 2011, iOS and Android both had a 50 percent market share, but iOS pulled ahead in March, with a 53 percent market share for the month. The report is based on data collected from 33,405 apps via the Mobclix Exchange, which Velti acquired in 2010.

Mobile Commerce News Weekly

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 07:00:00 EDT

The Mobile Commerce News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking and mobile security that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information. A new study from Juniper Research indicates NFC technology will facilitate transactions valued at $74 billion by 2015, as NFC is increasingly used to pay for goods in store, and for transport ticketing. This is over treble the estimated value of this market in 2011.

Developing Enterprise Mobility Apps and a Flashback to 2006

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:31:00 EDT

Developing a mobile solution is still a major challenge for most companies. In 2006, I was just starting to blog and I was the CEO of a mobile applications company (similar to Syclo) and a close partner of Sybase. Back then I used different terms and device names, but much of the advice I wrote then is still valid. Here is an excerpt from a blog article in 2006.

Cross-Platform Mobile Game Development – a Tool Comparison

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:15:00 EDT

Mobile game development has a world of its own. You will come across different set of programming languages which you would not have encountered elsewhere – Lua, Live Code, Unreal Script, Boo etc. Some of these tools are a derivative or an extension of what is available on other gaming platform while others have been explicitly developed for mobile. At least one of these platform may seize to become a game development platform and become an enterprise cross-platform mobile application development solution.

Succeeding in the New Mobile World Order

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:06:00 EDT

As we have seen in the three earlier articles, I believe that there are Eight Core Industry Disruptors that are driving key tipping points – The Mobile Seesaw – that are ultimately redefining the mobile ecosystem into one of two plausible New Worlds. The Mobile Segments scenario is much a continuation of the world today – large players dominate each segment of the value chain, focusing on their core strengths and capabilities and cooperating with their fellow segment giants. Conversely, Mobile Explosion is a world where most things are wireless, interoperable and cloud based, increasing competition and the blurring of the lines between the value chain segments.

Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 07:00:00 EDT

The Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to field mobility that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends. An enterprising team in Los Angeles has created Road Stoves, allowing customers to locate their favorite mobile food vendor. Mobile food vendors install GPS units in their trucks and customers can download an iPhone or Android app to locate the participating vendors.

Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EDT

Smartphones Have Flattened the Internet Curve

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:45:00 EDT

One of the sessions I attended at FOSE 2012 was titled: “What the Research Shows: The Future of Mobile.” It featured two researchers, Dr. David Metcalf of the University of Central Florida, and Aaron Smith, of the Pew Internet and American Life Project. These gentlemen focus on researching how and why we use the internet, [...]

Mobility News Weekly

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:38:00 EDT

The Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends. According to the 2012 State of the Mobile Web survey, higher education has reached the tipping point when it comes to mobile web solutions. Only 39 percent of respondents don’t have any mobile solution yet, and 59 percent plan to implement such a solution within a year.

Enterprise Mobility Software: News Round-Up

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 08:30:00 EDT

Among the top 200 grossing apps at Google Play and the Apple App Store, 60 percent of all revenue came from purchases made through apps on smartphones and tablets. The iPad and iPhone app stores brought in daily revenue of $2.1 million and $3.3 million, respectively, in January 2012.

Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

Ruggedized and Industrial Mobile Device Articles

Consumer Smartphones or Industrial Smartphones?

You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies.

I have added a feature to my blog site that supports email subscriptions. You can now receive all blog articles directly via email. If you are interested, click here.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Marketing News Weekly

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:00:00 EDT

The Mobile Marketing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile marketing that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information. In Forrester’s “Combine social and mobile to build business-to-business customer relationships” study, the research company looked at how social media and mobile can be used together to cultivate a relationship with customers. The report also looked at how business-to-business professionals expect their marketing budgets to be used in 2012.

Cloud BYOD Means Less Capex

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 05:00:00 EDT

The BYOD revolution may have an unintended multiplier effect for cloud computing – when people bring their own devices to work, the company's not paying for them and thereby reducing its capital expenditure. I gained this little insight during an interview last week with a cloud-services executive; the interview will be published later this week. This is not a transformative insight – for every 100 people who want their iPhone connected, a company would save about $50,000. And the real problem that BYOD causes is not capex, but the increased opex costs related to integrating unsecure personal devices into a secure enterprise IT infrastructure. However, there could be a significantly higher capex effect if the iPad becomes the prominent BYOD device. Personally speaking, I had a software company buy me two laptops at $1,800 each during a three-year period. The company provisioned about 1,500 people – figure about $1 million a year if one-third were provisioned each year – and had annual profits of about $30 million. Removing this would've added enough to profitability to grab the CFO's and investors' attention. The more patient among us will simply wait for their companies to make the iPad a de facto laptop – its price point should make it an attractive proposition for CFOs and IT management, even as providing it removes some of the capex advantage being wrought by BYOD. But let's not make this too complicated. Day-to-day management involves hard numbers, not grand theories. What I learned last week was that your company's management loves it when you've already paid for something that you now want to use in your business. If you bring in your own coffee, too, you're probably viewed as a model employee.

SAP Acquires Syclo - A First Analysis Over Coffee

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 04:00:00 EDT

My first thought when I received the news that SAP is acquiring Syclo, was, "Smart move SAP!" I respect the fact that SAP is willing to double down on enterprise mobility. I also respect the fact that SAP is willing to brave the inevitable criticism for having bought the same solution twice. SAP has smart leaders. They have made an aggressive and brave decision with this acquisition. I think they recognized an unmet need, estimated the impact, valued the market and fixed it. I am sure this was not an easy decision. It will raise many questions, but I am sure it will make Sapphire 2012 even more interesting (perhaps even more than Van Halen in concert).

Mobile and Connected Health: Recent Trends

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:00:00 EDT

The Mobile Health News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to mobile health that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

With the cost of healthcare data breaches continuing rise year after year, it shouldn't come as a surprise that spending on the security of that information is estimated to hit $40 billion this year, and balloon to $70 billion three years from now, according to a recently published report from The Boyd Company. Read Original Content

With smartphones changing the culture in so many ways, more and more young people are using their mobile devices to keep track of their health, and the trend is not going unnoticed by advertisers. Read Original Content

International management consulting firm Accenture released findings about different attitudes around the world regarding mobile and connected health. Doctors in the United States were found to be the least enthusiastic among eight countries surveyed and U.S. preparedness for a future of connected health received a mixed review. Read Original Content

Webalo technology eliminates the need for traditional mobile application development tools and custom programming to provide in hours, instead of weeks or months, mobile access to the specific enterprise data and functions that smartphone and tablet users rely on to do their jobs. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Webalo, www.webalo.com.

About 33 percent of people with smartphones in the U.S. have tracked their diet or their exercises with their mobile devices, a comScore representative told The New York Times this week. Read Original Content

Recently, the Community Preventive Services Task Force made a positive recommendation for using mobile phone-based tobacco cessation interventions. The committee indicated that there was sufficient evidence for effectiveness of these interventions in increasing tobacco abstinence among people interested in quitting smoking. Read Original Content

According to a survey by QuantiaMD 80 percent of physicians surveyed owned a smartphone or tablet and 30 percent owned a tablet device. From this individual adoption, physicians are increasingly using their mobile devices in their clinical duties, creating headaches for many IT managers. Read Original Content

EHR vendor Allscripts has launched a native iPad application, called Allscripts Wand, which adds a handful of new features. Allscripts was one of the first EHR vendors to offer an iPhone-accessible EHR when it introduced Allscripts Remote at the HIMSS conference in 2009. Read Original Content

In the past two years, there has been a great leap forward in mobile medical technology, primarily catalyzed by the introduction of iPads. About 75 percent of U.S. physicians now own an iOS device, according to a Manhattan Research study released last year, and they are increasingly using them professionally. Read Original Content

Healthcare took the largest percentage share of angel funding last year with 33.8 percent of funding dollars, according to a new report by Silicon Valley Bank. Read Original Content

Researchers at the University of California at San Diego are testing out how well smartphone-enabled video recordings of medication intake helps tuberculosis (TB) patients living in San Diego and nearby Tijuana, Mexico, according to a post from The California Health Report. Read Original Content

The range of medical peripherals available for the iPhone is growing rapidly. ThermoDock, developed by German device maker Medisana, measures body temperature without even touching the patient. Using a small peripheral for the iPhone or iPad, ThermoDock uses similar infrared technology to the temporal artery probe to calculate body temperature. Read Original Content

Recent Articles by Kevin Benedict

What's New in HTML5 - Week of April 1, 2012

The Future is Here - M2M, Robotics and Mobile Devices

Mobile Strategies and Consumer Products Companies

Development Models for Enterprise Mobility

The Black Hole of Enterprise Mobility Apps

Mobile Middleware Strategies

Mobile Expert Video Series: The Sybase 365 Team

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP

ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution

The Evolution of Enterprise Mobility

Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities

Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences

Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas

Mobility Innovations for the Next Generation Utility

Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM

5 Lessons for Enterprise Mobility Success in the Cloud

Healthrageous Mobility Case Study

Making Sense of Mobile Middleware Strategies

The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies

The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access

Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

Ruggedized and Industrial Mobile Device Articles

Consumer Smartphones or Industrial Smartphones?

You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies.

I have added a feature to my blog site that supports email subscriptions. You can now receive all blog articles directly via email. If you are interested, click here.

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Social Games in China and Japan

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:00:00 EDT

Welcome to Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility in Asia. Asia is predicted to be the fastest area of growth for enterprise mobility between now and 2016.

Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

DeNA, a mobile platform operator in Japan, has signed agreements with China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom to use their official app stores to offer mobile games. The agreements give DeNA access to almost 3 billion subscribers of the three carriers. Read Original Content

Tokyo-based DeNA has partnered with the Walt Disney Company to develop mobile social games. “Disney Party” was launched on March 28, 2012 for the Mobage network in Japan. “Disney Fantasy Quest” will follow in April, with a third game available this summer. Future plans are to release the games worldwide. Read Original Content

With low mobile Internet startup costs and 356 million mobile Internet users at the end of 2011, investors are urged to look into China’s mobile Internet industry. Read Original Content

ClickSoftware is an SAP mobility partner and the leading provider of automated workforce management and optimization solutions for every size of service business. This newsletter is sponsored in part by ClickSoftware - http://www.clicksoftware.com/.

Accumulate and Potevio have partnered to develop mobile financial and mobile authentication services for the Chinese market. Projects include an NFC solution, mobile payments, and secure utility bills payments. Read Original Content

China has introduced a new $100 smartphone with the Shuidi handset, developed by Chongqing Guohong Technology Development. Read Original Content

Asian travel service provider Abacus International has launched its first customized mobile point-of-sale app for travel agencies. The app development was a collaboration between Abacus, Kuoni India, and Excellent Management Limited. Read Original Content

With India’s cellular market estimated at $22.3 million at the end of 2011 and growing at the rate of 16.6 percent, mobile value added services may be the next target for telecom operators in the country. Read Original Content

Mobile apps are a major force in India’s mobile value added services market. Revenue from mobile VAS is predicted to reach INR 482 billion by 2015, and interest in in-app advertising is soaring. Read Original Content

Nokia has announced it will begin selling its new Lumia phones in China through China Telecom. Windows smartphone Lumia 800C will be available in April, and the Lumia 610 will go on sale in June. Read Original Content and More Original Content

China has 976 million mobile phone subscribers, more than the United States and the European Union combined. Two charts are available that illustrate the market penetration: One by Strategy Analytics illustrating mobile phone sales throughout 2011 and the other from ZOL showing usage from 2010 to 2011. Read Original Content

The Mobile Asia Expo, organized by the GMSA, will be held in Shanghai, China from June 20 to 22, 2012. Keynote presentations will be given by executives from China Mobile, Huawei, Nokia, Smart Communications and ZTE. Read Original Content

Issues with the new iPad and Australian LTE networks have forced Apple to offer refunds to Australian iPad 3 owners. Promoted as a 4G device, the iPad 3 is incompatible with the Australian LTE networks. Read Original Content

India’s ZNet Technologies has partnered with dotMobi to offer the goMobi mobile website building solution for the Indian market. “The need for businesses to provide a made-for-mobile website has increased in line with the growth of mobile web use.” Read Original Content

Apple may be opening its largest retail store in China, amid some controversy surrounding the barricades around the store’s construction area in the Century City shopping district of Dalian. Read Original Content

Apple’s popularity in Japan has earned it the “top consumer brand” according to a Nikkei survey of 52,000 consumers. The company beat Google, Uniqlo, YouTube and Disney with an overall “brand power” score of 90.5. Read Original Content

Indian telecommunications operator Bharti Airtel has launched a large advertising drive to promote its mobile money services. The company says the opportunity for mobile payment operators in India is huge, with an estimated 900 million mobile phones in the country. Read Original Content

VAS solutions provider Handygo has partnered with the non-profit organization CABI to provide agricultural information to rural mobile subscribers in India. Read Original Content

Beijing has launched a new “I Love Beijing” app for iPhone and Android devices to allow the city’s residents to “locate nearby city administration agencies and law enforcers, correct errors in GIS maps, make complaints and reports, as well as provide advices and suggestions”. Read Original Content

Facebook is courting the Indian market by adding eight Indian languages to its mobile app over the next several weeks. Read Original Content

*************************************************************

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Working with Tiggzi Mobile App Builder

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 21:09:00 EDT

Tiggzi is a cloud-based HTML5, jQuery Mobile and PhoneGap mobile app builder. It comes with a very powerful and easy to use visual, drag-and-drop builder for HTML5 and jQuery Mobile. The mobile UI is built by simply dragging and dropping components from the palette on the left into the mobile device frame.