Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of April 11, 2011

The Field Mobility 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.

Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

The global printed electronics market including RFID technology is expected to grow from $2.8 billion in 2008 to $24.25 billion in 2015.

http://pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=686294&Itemid=29

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NASCAR pit crews are now using sensor technology and tablet PC’s to track the performance of racecars.

http://www.ruggedtabletpc.com/blog/bid/56443/NASCAR-Driver-Safety-Improved-by-Real-time-Data-and-Tablet-PCs?source=BlogTwitter_%5BNASCAR Driver Safety%5D

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The FDA has recently cleared the use of a handheld device that analyzes blood in real time. This is the fourth medical handheld device that the FDA has cleared since January.

http://mobihealthnews.com/10629/fda-clears-abbotts-mobile-blood-analyzer/

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DAILY RFID has released UHF RFID Wristband for patient identification and management. With an RFID chip sealed inside the wristband, the RFID Wristband can be used to automatically record and transfer the real-time data for hospital management.

Mobile Expert Podcast Series: Philippe Winthrop, Part 1

I am excited to be able to provide you with the following two part interview with The Enterprise Mobility Foundation's Philippe Winthrop. He is an experienced mobility expert, veteran mobility analyst and all around good guy. We have done several webinars and events together in the past, and I appreciate his expertise and enthusiasm for mobility. In this interview we talk about the complexities inherent in enterprise mobility with special emphasis around enterprise mobility management and mobile device management.

You can listen to Part 2 here.

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

Webinar of Note

Redstone Arsenal's 3 Maintenace Challenges Solved by Mobile

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin
Read The Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Read The Field Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Money News Weekly
Read The M2M News Monthly
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 Expert Podcast Series: K2 Partnering's Paul Andrew, Part 2

This is Part 2 of this podcast with K2 Partnering's Paul Andrew. In this 8 minute segment we discuss the challenges for companies wanting to implement enterprise mobility. You can listen to Part 1 here.

Whitepapers of Note
The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

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

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin

Read The Mobility News Weekly

Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly

Read The Field Mobility News Weekly

Read The Mobile Money News Weekly

Read The M2M News Monthly

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 Expert Podcast Series: K2 Partnering's Paul Andrew, Part 1

I am particularly excited about this 2 part interview with Paul Andrew because he is with K2 Partnering, a global provider of enterprise software consultants, and he is talking with his large clients nearly every day. This gives him unique insights into what companies are needing and thinking around enterprise mobility today.

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

Mobility News Weekly - Week of April 4, 2011

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.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

Boise State University has introduced a mobile version of the university website for iPhone, Blackberry, Android and other smartphone users. The mobile site provides a usable interface as more people seek access to the website through portable and wireless devices.

http://news.boisestate.edu/update/2011/04/04/university-website-goes-mobile-at-m-boisestate-edu/

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Led by the continuing success of Google's Android mobile operating system, sales of smartphones across the globe are set to double during the next six years, according to the Smartphone Forecast 2011-16 report recently released by Ovum.

http://www.creativedepartment.com/news/mobile/android-led-smartphone-market-set-double-sales-184500

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Recent statistics from comScore show the company’s smartphone platform market share jumped 7 percent from November to February - a period in which nearly all of its competitors declined.

http://www.spetnik.com/a/news-story/id:800478831,story:google_thrives_as_competitors_dwindle_in_2011_smartphone_race

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LG India on Tuesday made a move in the top-end smartphone market in India, announcing its flagship Android phone Optimus X2.

The Mobile Money 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.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

The number of Americans using mobile devices to access financial services is growing fast. In the fourth quarter of 2010, almost 30 million Americans accessed their bank, credit card or brokerage accounts from a cell phone or tablet, up 54 percent from the same quarter a year earlier.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-29/tech/mobile.banking.gahran_1_mobile-banking-mobile-financial-services-feature-phones?_s=PM:TECH

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The decreased swipe fees for debit and credit use may help promote the wide use of mobile wallets.

http://finance-commerce.com/2011/04/reduced-debit-swipe-fees-may-hasten-shift-to-phone-payments/

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A Sprint official has said that the company is moving to eventually have NFC chips inside its phones so they can be waved at the cash register for purchases, with the bill showing up on the customer's credit card statement and not on their cell phone bill.

http://www.walletpop.com/2011/04/05/mobile-payment-apps-increasing-and-so-may-your-debt/

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Isis will pilot its mobile commerce program based on NFC technology in Salt Lake City in early to mid 2012, the joint venture said recently. This venture includes AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.

The Table of Contents in Your Enterprise Mobility Book

If you were to write a book on enterprise mobility, what would you include in the Table of Contents? I ponder this topic in this 11 minute video comments.

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

Mobile End Points Not Just Mobile Device or Mobile App Management

Mobile Data End Points

I was researching consumer mobility trends this morning. It turns out that for the first time people are accessing their mobile devices for news more often than television, radio, magazines and newspapers. They expect mobile devices to be their trusted source of information. What does this new development mean for businesses? I believe it means that customers will begin, if they don't already, to expect businesses to supply more account and products information on mobile devices because that is where they turn to for information.

I believe that in many cases the information that customers want to access on a mobile device is nearly the same information that the field service engineer needs. The customer wants to know when the field service engineer will arrive on location. They want to know their account, product and service history. They want to know the status of their service ticket and the invoice amount.

As more of these kinds of mobile applications are developed, it will become increasingly important for IT departments to keep track of what data they are sharing with employees, customers and the general public via mobile apps.

It is not sufficient for companies to monitor and manage the mobile devices and mobile apps of their employees. It is the corporate data that must be managed. The data that leaves the enterprise database must be managed and tracked to the end point. The end point is any device that may access and store your corporate data.

I realize that I may be stating the obvious, but all of us in enterprise mobility like to talk about MDM (mobile device management) and security as being important, but it is more than that. It is really about managing the data correctly in mobile environments.

Do you agree?

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin

Read The Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Read The Field Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Money News Weekly
Read The M2M News Monthly

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 Retailing News Weekly - Week of April 4, 2011

The Mobile Retailing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile retailing applications and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

Mobile marketing is expected to continue to grow in the U.S. this year, with brands expected to invest more than $1 billion on mobile marketing in the U.S. alone in 2011.

http://moconews.net/article/419-dont-shoot-the-messenger-users-warm-up-a-bit-to-mobile-marketing/

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A recent report from Forrester Research predicted that by 2014 over 40 percent of consumers will be accessing the web via a mobile device.

http://www.utalkmarketing.com/pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=20782&Title=Why_the_mobile_ad_industry_must_show_greater_transparency

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By 2015 digital strategies, such as social and mobile marketing, will influence at least 80 percent of consumers' discretionary spending.

http://www.echannelline.com/usa/story.cfm?item=26701

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Mobile advertising networks delivered 340 billion filled and billed impressions across the globe in 2010, generating $794 million in media spend and earning $254.3 million in net platform and media services-related revenue.

Gartner Awards Vivint with Enterprise Efficiency Award for Enterprise Mobility Solution

I read an interesting article today that documented significant efficiencies gained through field service automation, scheduling and the addition of an enterprise mobility solution. The company is Vivint, a company that helps with residential home security and automated home management. Here are some of the improvements they experienced with their solutions:

33 percent engineer utilization improvement (one additional work order daily per technician)
60 percent decrease in inbound call traffic to scheduling department
ROI of $20.13 per ticket
Total estimated ROI engineer utilization of $2,831,009.70
32 percent increase in fuel efficiency (equal to 1.2 gallon decrease per average on work orders completed)

Gartner presented the Gold Level Gartner and 1‐to‐1 Media CRM Excellence Award to Vivint last week at the Gartner Customer 360 Summit in Los Angeles. The criteria they were using to judge this award were:

Reducing operational and interaction costs
Improving sales
Improving service
Improving marketing
Improving customer service
Improving customer value - such as revenue growth, wallet share, products per person and frequency of purchase

Vivint created a real‐time mobile enterprise, that links every stakeholder in the service chain. They created this real-time enterprise using an automated scheduling and dispatch solution, enterprise mobility and customer interaction management solutions to give its team of dispatchers and 400 field service technicians real‐time information and dynamic routing ability. As a result, technicians are able to field nearly 50 percent more service calls every day while customers consistently report outstanding service quality and responsiveness.

The solutions used were from ClickSoftware, an SAP mobility partner, the developer of the SAP Workforce Optimization and Scheduling solution.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin
Read The Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Read The Field Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Money News Weekly
Read The M2M News Monthly
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.

Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of April 4, 2011

The Field Mobility 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.

Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

The Austin Police Department is now using handheld devices to scan fingerprints and instantly connect to police databases and reveal true identities.

http://www.kvue.com/news/APD-fingerprint-scanner-proving-sucessful-database-expanding-118802024.html

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Rugged mobile handhelds and notebooks increase efficiency and competitiveness.
Consumers are having a heyday enjoying the benefits of mobile computing through a host of handheld devices such as netbooks, slates and smartphones.

http://technology.inquirer.net/infotech/infotech/view/20110403-329212/Rugged-mobile-PCs-for-business-use

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As mobile penetration rates level off, the wireless industry is setting its sights on vertical markets such as M2M and mobile healthcare products for the next wave of growth.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/special-reports/ctia-2011-preview-what-expect-show/m2m-wireless-healthcare-tap-ctia-2011-preview

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DAILY RFID has released the palm-sized portable RFID scanner DL710 for transportation, especially in airports. This PDA-based portable RFID scanner enables passengers and drivers to check-in and identify themselves by simply waving their contact less RFID embedded card.

Welcome to Kevin's M2M News Monthly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices. I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article. I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly

Analysys Mason research projects that there will be 2.1 billion M2M devices by 2020, up from 62 million last year.

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=206045&f_src=lightreading_gnews

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Cellular M2M connections are forecast to more than double from their 2011 level of 19.6 million to 50.2 million in 2015.

http://urgentcomm.com/networks_and_systems/commentary/m2m-cellular-interest-20110330/

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Forecasts shows mobile data services, including messaging, Internet, apps, entertainment services, and M2M, will generate $500 billion in global revenues for mobile carriers in 2015.

http://www.prlog.org/11362636-mobile-data-services-will-generate-500-billion-in-global-revenues-for-mobile-carriers-in-2015.html

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Sprint has further expanded its M2M ecosystem with solution partner relationships that bring specialized expertise in connected transportation, fixed and portable solutions, SmartGrid and utilities and health care.

FierceMobileIT: Crowd Sourcing to Become More Relevant in Enterprise Mobility

I want to highlight an article that I recently wrote that was published in FierceMobileIT today called, "Crowd Sourcing to Become More Relevant in Enterprise Mobility." I am intrigued by the idea of connecting geographically disperse minds together to help accomplish the greater good. Mobile technologies and crowd sourcing concepts can help in all kinds of interesting ways.

In this article I write about SAP's Streamwork, Salesforce.com's Chatter, online forums and using tweets to understand traffic conditions.

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services
Mobile, The Next Big Thing for Business

Webinars of Note

Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility - 10 Lessons Learned
Barcode Scanning in Mobile Apps
Five Ways to Optimize the ROI of your Mobile Solution

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin
Read The Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Read The Field Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Money News Weekly
Read The M2M News Monthly

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.

Sybase Afaria Mobile Device Management Finally Needed

I read an article by Todd Morrison, News and Features Editor at SearchSAP this morning on mobile device management and specifically Sybase's Afaria. I knew it was coming as he had interviewed me for it. In this article I share my perspective on Afaria and the MDM market. In summary, MDM (mobile device management) was a nice to have in the past, but is now required by large enterprises. Read the complete article here to find out why.

Aberdeen Group and Friends Webinar on Enterprise Mobility

Andrew Borg

I have the unique opportunity of joining Andrew Borg, Senior Research Analyst, Wireless and Mobility with the Aberdeen Group to present a webinar next week. I invite you all to attend as Andrew will be giving a full report on the current state of enterprise mobility.

Register Here

Webinar Description:

The competitive pressures of the increasingly global market reward the Real-Time Enterprise (RTE), defined as the organization focused on market and customer responsiveness, swift and agile decision-making, and transparency and immediacy of information shared among internal groups. Enterprise mobile applications have evolved as an essential enabler of the RTE, delivering business-critical information when and where it’s needed.
The basic framework is now in place for a virtual renaissance in enterprise mobile applications. New application development frameworks optimized for enterprise data integration have emerged that offer rapid and cost-effective prototyping, development, and deployment of custom or purpose-built mobile applications.

This webinar will cover topics that include:

•The new generation of lightweight task-driven applications that leverage the mobile device UI
•The power of mobility to redesign communications, collaboration, and workflow to deliver actionable information on-demand
•The business value of increased operational efficiency
•The time-to-productivity advantages of a new application approach
•Meeting IT's demands for mobile security, management, and compliance
•Driving unnecessary cost out of the operation

Register Here!

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin
Read The Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Read The Field Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Money News Weekly
Read The M2M News Monthly
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 Expert Podcast Series: Webalo's Peter Price, Part 2

This is Part 2 of my podcast interview with Webalo's Founder/CEO Peter Price. We talk about the different mobility models and architectures for implementing enterprise mobility solutions. Part 1 is here.

If you have an interesting mobile implementation story, mobile solution or would simply like to contact me to discuss your mobility project please email me here.

Mobile Money News Weekly - Week of March 28, 2011

The Mobile Money 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.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

Google Inc. is teaming up with MasterCard Inc. and Citigroup Inc. to embed technology in Android mobile devices that would allow consumers to make purchases by waving their smartphones in front of a small reader at the checkout counter.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703576204576226722412152678.html

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Mobile commerce, in all its forms, is growing exponentially. U.S. consumers of all ages are using their mobile devices for shopping on the go, making more frequent mobile payments, and using their mobile devices as a connector of other sales channels.

http://www.retailsolutionsonline.com/article.mvc/Mobile-Trends-Consumer-Views-Of-Mobile-0002

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The New York Times has confirmed that Apple has indeed been working on including Near Field Communication on future iPhones, though how soon it may debut is still up for speculation.

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20045549-233.html

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Google is working with MasterCard and Citigroup to add Near Field Communication to Android. Google reportedly wants NFC to boost advertising on Android devices and may even give away NFC readers from VeriFone Systems.

I read some interesting news today that Smartsoft Mobile has released a mobile application on the Windows Phone operating system that provides access to real-time Inventory Inquiry and Purchase Order Approvals in both Oracle and SAP. In addition, the user receives alerts about pending Purchase Orders to be approved. The mobile application is now available for download on the Microsoft Marketplace.

Not many enterprise mobility vendors have released mobile solutions for the Windows Phone operating system to date, but I know from past interviews with Ed Krufka at Smartsoft Mobile that he is a fan of the Windows Phone operating system.

You can read more about this application on the Smartsoft Mobile blog.

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin
Read The Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Read The Field Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Money News Weekly
Read The M2M News Monthly

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.

ClickSoftware Closes Historic Deal with DIRECTV

ClickSoftware, the developer of the SAP Workforce Scheduling and Optimization solution, announced today that they have closed one of their largest contracts ever. It is with DIRECTV, the world's most popular video service.

DIRECTV selected ClickSoftware's workforce management and optimization solutions to help it improve the management and efficiency of its field service technicians and customer service. Here is a quote from DIRECTV's senior vice president, IT Strategy and Innovation, "We are trying to match the business value proposition of providing exceptional service to our customers for installation and service calls with a technology solution. We feel ClickSoftware is the technology choice to deliver this value to our customers."

ClickSoftware has nearly 25 years of experience developing sophisticated workforce scheduling solutions that were first deployed in the military. Today all of these solutions are supported by ClickSoftware's ClickMobile solution for enterprise mobility.

I have recorded a number of interviews with the executives from ClickSoftware over the past year and you can watch these interviews here:

Dr. Moshe BenBassat, Founder ClickSoftware
ClickSoftware's SVP of Alliances Nigel Clark
ClickSoftware's Simon Morris, VP Marketing

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Networked Field Services
Mobile, The Next Big Thing for Business

Webinars of Note

Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility - 10 Lessons Learned
Barcode Scanning in Mobile Apps
Five Ways to Optimize the ROI of your Mobile Solution

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin

Read The Mobility News Weekly

Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly

Read The Field Mobility News Weekly

Read The Mobile Money News Weekly

Read The M2M News Monthly

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 Expert Podcast Series: Webalo's Peter Price, Part 1

In Part 1 of this audio podcast I interview Webalo's Founder and CEO Peter Price about different business models for delivering enterprise mobility solutions and the pros and cons of each. Webalo has a unique, cloud based approach to enterprise mobility that you may find interesting. You can listen to Part 2 here.

Mobile Retailing News Weekly - Week of March 28, 2011

The Mobile Retailing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile retailing applications and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile NFC News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

While Apple's iPhone has traditionally been the target for brands running mobile marketing campaigns, more and more research is suggesting that Android's share of the market is set to increase substantially.

http://www.dma.org.uk/news/nws-dmitem.asp?id=6512&t=Mobile+marketing%3A+Android+to+boost+smartphone+market

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Professional sporting events and concert promoters are pushing mobile marketing to new levels with iVisionMobile.com’s real time text to screen at live events. Sports teams are now embracing mobile advertising when reaching out to fans through this new technology.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/mobile-marketing-drives-participation-and-revenues-with-text-to-screen-118494609.html

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Research shows 2010 was a year of phenomenal growth for mobile advertising with the U.K. market growing 116 percent to £83 million in 2010.

http://www.utalkmarketing.com/pages/Article.aspx?ArticleID=20726&Title=Why_mobile_advertising_is_finally_coming_of_age

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The U.S. and India-based Vdopia Inc, which runs online and mobile video advertising network iVdopia, claims to be delivering $500,000 in profits every quarter. The Asian mobile video advertising market is expected to reach $1.5 billion this year compared to $1.2 billion in the U.S. and $200 million in Europe.

The Field Mobility 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.

Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile NFC News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

As companies continue to make businesses more fuel-efficient, European and North American markets for fleet telematics could jump to $700 million in 2015 from $80 million in 2008.

http://sdbj.com/news/2011/mar/21/rising-fuel-prices-pump-fleet-management-businesse/

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A Norwegian organization that manages nationwide pallet leasing for retailers and manufacturers, is trying out RFID technology in a pilot project to see how effective the tags are for tracking plastic pallets.

http://www.rfidworld.ca/pilot-project-rfid-pallet-tracking-for-food-industry/301

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Stockholm is becoming an m-health hotspot as smartphones and mobile applications are poised to play a greater role in healthcare as doctors and patients embrace the mobile Internet to treat chronic illnesses and improve quality of life.

http://www.swedishwire.com/business/9098-stockholm-a-frontrunner-in-m-health

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The RFID market is expected to grow around 17 percent during 2011-2013. The reason for this phenomenal growth is that various applications across different verticals have emerged around this technology.

Reducing Options

One of my criticisms of Sybase in the past was that they gave customers too many options for designing, developing and deploying enterprise mobility solutions. What is wrong with a plethora of options? It can lead to indecision and paralysis. That does not benefit Sybase or the customer.

In my opinion, much of Apple's success can be attributed to their lack of options. They tell developers how they should develop mobile applications, what devices they can use, they then review them for compliance to their standards, and tell them how they can be uploaded and sold on the one Apple App Store. Limiting options may frustrate some, but it provides a very well defined path for their customers and development partners.

Over the past 9 years I have spoken often to Sybase and iAnywhere staff about mobile development projects, and nearly always left these conversations with more questions than answers. That was rarely useful. I think that the faster customers and development partners can be directed to the appropriate path and have their options reduced, the better. This reduction in options will enable decisions to be made and actions to occur.

Since there are literally thousands of different ways mobile solutions can be designed, developed and deployed, the best thing we can do is to learn from mobile experts who have tried many different models and methodologies and can help direct us down the right path or paths.

What do you think? Is it better to be provided with a limited number of options based upon a quick decision tree, or to provide you with an unlimited number of options? I would love to read your comments!

In an upcoming webinar on April 7th at 12:00 PM EDST, myself, mobile solutions guru Steffen Schwark and Sybase mobility consultant Sam Lakkundi will be sharing our experiences and advice to help you reduce your options :-). The panel will explore current trends in enterprise mobility through analysis of the business processes and strategies used by successful companies to mobilize their workforce, with an emphasis on SAP environments and ecosystem. Kevin and Steffen will share their research on the future of enterprise mobility and outline customer best practices; Sam will elaborate on the specific role that SAP/Sybase plays in supporting mobility for the enterprise. The presentation will be followed by a real-time Q & A session.

Register Here!

***************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility Group on Linkedin
Read The Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Read The Field Mobility News Weekly
Read The Mobile Money News Weekly
Read The M2M News Monthly

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 Retailing News Weekly - Week of March 21, 2011

The Mobile Retailing News Weekly is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile retailing applications and mobile marketing applications that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Money News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile NFC News Weekly
Also read M2M News Monthly

The mobile retail market will exceed $12 billion by 2014 due to one-to-one marketing and smartphone adoption, Juniper Research reports.

http://www.business2community.com/mobile-apps/the-diversification-of-mobile-media-into-product-media-019270

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Brands significantly increased their UK mobile marketing spend last year, as part of their efforts to capitalize on the growth of smartphone use.

http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/news/1061104/Brands-ramp-spend-mobile-ad-platforms/

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Mobile penetration in the Czech Republic is among the highest in Central European nations and is high even by western European levels.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110316005789/en/Research-Markets-Czech-Republic---Mobile-Market

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Advances in smart phone technology and accelerating consumer adoption of tablets and other mobile devices have spurred an opportunity for marketers looking to make good on the long sought promise of mobile marketing.

Mobile Expert Video Series: Australian Post's John Moy

John Moy works for the Australian Post, an SAP customer, and he is an enthusiastic student of mobility. He was kind enough to grant me a video interview this week in Sydney. The Australian Post currently has a handful of customer facing mobile applications, and they are looking to expand. Here is a current list of what they have available on mobile applications:

calculate postage costs via the postage assessment calculator tool
search for a postcode
view and track parcel items
locate any Australia Post retail outlet
find a nearby street posting box
pay a variety of bills online.

I spoke to one of the mobility guys at SAP recently, and he shared that there are potentially thousands of valuable mobile applications that can and should be integrated with SAP systems. I believe there are many uses for mobile applications, but I may want to argue about whether they all deserve stand alone mobile applications. It seems to me that many of these mobile "apps" could really be one application with capabilities to support many business processes from the same mobile application or client.

Here is my interview with John that I recorded in Sydney, Australia at the Mastering SAP Technologies conference.

I want to thank John for sharing both in person and on his tweets. You can follow his tweets on Twitter @jhmoy.