Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future: pocket pc

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SAP’s Mobility Challenge, Part 1

I am very interested in watching SAP's emerging mobility strategy as it matures, evolves and morphs yet again. I am not critical; this is how all of mobility is these days. Four years ago we were all using the term Palm, Pocket PC and PDA. Now we are speaking of iPhone, Android, RIM and iPads. Within these different technologies are literally hundreds of different mobile applications and mobile extensions that can add value to SAP's ecosystem. I have been seeing a lot of activity in this space. I have seen SAP partnership announcements with RIM (Blackberry folks), Sybase, Sky Technologies, Syclo and ClickSoftware. I have seen SAP comments from many different industry and solution groups within SAP related to mobility.

What I believe is particularly challenging to SAP is trying to determine if mobility is an extension of an industry business process, or an integrated technology platform. Let me provide three examples of the challenge – work order management is both a back office solution and a mobile client (work orders are dispatched to mobile handheld computers in the field that are carried by the service technicians). Likewise, asset management involves both back office solutions and a mobile client (inspectors, facilities managers, plant maintenance teams and service technicians use mobile clients). Route/Sales management also involves back office solutions and mobile clients (route sales people track sales, inventory, delivery and promotions on mobile devices). So are the mobile applications/clients part of the work order management, asset management or route management categories or do they justify an integrated SAP mobility platform? What do you think?

I image this is a very complex and difficult discussion within SAP. SAP has selected specific partnerships within different industry verticals. These partners are often producing their own mobile applications to extend the capabilities of their solutions; however, these mobile solutions may in fact not align with SAP's overall mobile platform strategy.

From a purely technology perspective, it may make more sense for SAP to develop or select a MEAP (mobile enterprise application platform) that best integrates and supports SAP's underlying architecture and product roadmap, however, their vertical industry partners would not like this strategy at all as they see mobility as a major growth area for them. Very interesting times indeed!

Read SAP's Mobility Challenge, Part 2 here.

Ericsson Turns to Navigation for Mobile Handheld PDAs and Smartphones

In an article in today's Wall Street Journal called Ericsson Turns to Navigation it is reported that Ericsson is looking at navigation applications with voice commands as an revenue stream for their carrier partners. Everyone is getting into the act because the bigger screens on smartphones and mobile handheld PDAs like some lines from Ericsson, Blackberrys and iPhones make it easier to see maps and read directions while on the move.

Navigation applications and data for consumers will be quickly followed by applications designed for businesses. Navigation and voice directions can be integrated into delivery, work order and inspection applications on mobile handheld PDAs.

Google has already created consumer oriented applications for iPhones that let friends know where friends are on a map. It won't be long until businesses can also see the location of their employees, job sites and company vehicles via PDAs, handhelds and Smartphones. Google makes this application free. I believe applications like this will quickly become available as widgets or gadgets that any software developer can quickly add to their mobile application.

It is a fun and exciting time in the mobile handheld PDA technology world.

Ethiopia & Mobile Handheld PDA Solutions

I was very excited last night to view photos from one of our mobile application consultants (Will H.) who is in Ethiopia for the next few weeks. He is working on a very interesting mobile software project to help with a medical supply chain and logisitics solution that uses mobile handheld computers, Windows Mobile and software from MobileDataforce. The proof of concept utilized Palm Treos running Windows Mobile OS.

His photos included exotic foods, landscapes, cityscapes and his temporary office. Mobile applications have great appeal in locations where the traditional landline infrastructures are less developed. Wireless networks and connected/disconnected mobile software applications are very well suited for these environments and can accurately collect and synchronize data from very remote locations to centralized databases anywhere in the world.

First the Dell Axim PDA Dies & Now the iPAQ Pocket PC???

Rumor on the street, at least in the mobile handheld industry world, is that HP may be discontinuing their line of stand alone PDAs. The rumor originated from a recent refusal by HP corporate to sell 1,000 current and supported iPAQs to a customer. No company rejects an order for 1,000 devices if they mean to continue them. This same customer was not able to source this iPAQ in any significant quantities from distributors either.

Keep in mind this is a blogged rumor...that means it is many times less reliable than the one from the cubicle next to you.

Even if true, HP may just be consolidating their iPAQs around iPAQ Phones.

LXE Using Animation to Market the HX2 Wearable Computer

LXE is using a cartoon character called the "Scan Man" to market their new wearable, rugged computer called the HX2. The HX2 has a screen made from the same material as a fighter-jet's cockpit windshield and is strapped to your arm.

I haven't spent much time thinking about wearable computers as I focus most of my time on mobile handheld PDAs, smartphones and industrial barcode scanners that run on Windows Mobile OS. Maybe it's time. Here are two interesting descriptions on LXE's website:

Breakaway ring scanner improves operator safety by preventing snags. (Snags is another word for ripping your finger off)
Voice enabled with ToughTalk technology. (I wonder if this was tested on sailors?)

This computer enables you to point at a distant object and voice order it to be scanned. The voice enabled computer is strapped to your arm and connected to a scanner ring that fits on your finger. Very clever! I wonder if there are any restrictions on which finger you can use to point?

Casio Enterprise Handheld PDA

It looks like the term "Enterprise PDA" is catching on, at least within the marketing organizations of both Casio and Motorola. Casio has the new IT-10 (the name doesn't exactly roll off the tongue does it?) Pocket PC. You can use it in the shower and drop it from 3 feet to the soap covered tile floor. It is also shock resistant. Now that is thinking ahead! No one likes getting shocked in the shower, dropping their handheld Pocket PC and having it break all in the same morning. Now that is a unique marketing angle! If you don't take showers, the IT-10 is also dust resistant and doesn't have a nose.

Casio describes the IT-10 as a "new rugged PDA designed and built to be used for vertical applications in severe business environments." If I read that right, it is not intended for horizontal applications in good business environments. Hummm...Seems like you could make more sales if you sold products to companies in good business environments.

The Juno Rugged Handheld Pocket PC

Trimble has just released, or at least I have just found out about, a new not-rugged Pocket PC (now Windows Mobile) called Juno, pronounced like but not to be confused with Juneau, Alaska. It looks rugged, but Trimble seems to want everyone to know it is not - The Juno™ ST handheld is a highly productive yet affordable, non-rugged GPS receiver for field data collection and mobile GIS. The Juno ST handheld is Trimble's most compact, lightweight, fully-integrated field computer, providing 2 to 5 meter GPS positioning in real time or after postprocessing.

The Juno ST handheld is ideal for utility companies, government organizations, and agencies that are managing large deployments and tight budgets....but don't mind breaking their handhelds and buying replacements that cost more than buying a rugged one in the first place (sorry I added that).

Garmin and Navman have long had PDAs with integrated GPS, but this seems to be Trimbles first efforts to provide low end, field data collection devices. I like the idea, but Trimble's marketers seem almost apologetic.

Tools, Parts & Mobile Work Order Solutions on Handheld PDAs

We have had several requests recently to combine mobile work order solutions with inventory and asset tracking applications for use on mobile handheld PDAs. This is not unusual, it just points out the fact that companies are recognizing a great deal of value from mobilizing business processes. Here is an example:

The company wants to track any employees that enter the stockroom where both inventory and tools are kept, and track anything that is removed by them. They would do this by matching the employee's ID cards, with the customer's work order and any inventory or tools that are used on the work order.

This solution would better control the use of tools and inventory, and ensure they are appropriately billed to the customer's work order. This system would provide the following ROI:

Reduce missing inventory
Bill the customer appropriately for inventory usage
Bill the customer appropriately for the use of tools
Track the tools and who has them (asset tracking)
Assign inventory and tools to an employee for accountability
Reduce the labor needed to manage inventory, billing, and assets

Thoughts on the Business of Mobile Handheld PDA Software Development

Software and IT Consultants that wish to offer general mobile software development services and mobile handheld PDA solutions to a broad market have the following important business management questions to consider:

how do you achieve economies of scale (get better and faster over time to increase profitability)
how do you manage risks (from many new and custom development projects)
how do you develop in-house expertise in a broad windows mobile market with a large number of different mobile business processes
how do you develop all the appropriate technology skills necessary to deliver a wide variety of applications using different synchronization, security, integration, database, business process and connectivity options in your mobile software
how do you develop a complete quality assurance plan for every new custom mobile software application (make sure you include this time in your proposal)
how do you efficiently test and de-bug a large number of custom mobile applications
how do you document how each customized software application works (make sure you include this time in your proposal)
how do you maintain and support a wide variety of custom mobile software applications
how do you keep your customer’s mobile software applications current with new versions of mobile operating systems and new handheld device technologies
how do you integrate your custom mobile software applications with a large variety of different backend databases and database applications
how do you do this all profitably

I have had many software and IT consultants contact me and say they have tried to develop a business targeting mobile software applications using Microsoft’s .NET development environment or other coding environments like Appforge, but it simply takes too long, and the cost is too high for the majority of their small to medium sized customers. They contacted me to ask if MobileDataforce has a solution that can address their business needs. The short answer is yes.

In order to profitably develop customized mobile software solutions for use on smartphones and handheld PDAs a large variety of business processes and/or industries, one must standardize as many of the design, development, deployment and support processes as possible. This goal is most easily accomplished by using a mobile software platform that provides these features in a configurable environment.

A mobile software platform enables your professional services organization to train on a standardized platform and to use a standardized methodology for rapidly developing and delivering custom solutions. With a common platform in use, the following benefits can be recognized:

Many of the requirements that mobile projects have are already pre-built in the mobile software platform
project estimates become increasingly accurate
software developers can easily support each other's projects and mobile applications
synchronization does not have to be developed, rather it is configured
mobile application screens don't have to be developed, rather they are configured
connectivity options don't have to be developed, rather they are configured
handheld device support is configured, rather than developed
mobile databases don't have to be developed, rather they are already included and only need configured
common templates and functions can be re-used on many different applications
technical support staff can easily de-bug and support new custom applications using visual de-buggers and management tools
design standards and functions make screen creation quick and efficient
application "clips" are reusable configurations and features that can be re-used on many different projects
the function library has over 220 pre-built functions that save design and development time
existing application templates can used and customized for multiple customer projects
new versions of mobile solutions can be published to the mobile user from the server
one set of code can work on Windows XP, Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Tablet PC and multiple screen sizes

The bottom-line - a large variety of mobile applications can be rapidly designed, developed, deployed and supported profitably if they are produced using a mobile software platform like the PointSync Mobility Platform. To program or code a large variety of different and customized mobile applications using .NET or Appforge is simply too expensive and takes too much development time for the average small to medium sized business. Speed and efficiency is required to serve this market. Mobile applications should be configured for these clients, rather than programmed.

Here are a few articles that address these issues in more detail:

Ultra-Rugged Portable Printers - O'Niel Printers for Handheld PDA Solutions

Have you ever thought what a challenge it would be to produce a ruggedized printer for use with a mobile handheld PDA? Think about the environment they are used in; rain, snow, dust, spilled coffee, climbing in-and-out of vehicles all day, dropping it on the bathroom floor when your belt is loose. I am sure the folks at O'Niel have a million stories they laugh about or cry about when customers are not around.

For those who feel "rugged" is not good enough for them, O'Niel Portable Printers offer the "Ultra-Rugged" line of microFlash printers.

These printers are also called "wearable" printers and they can be clipped to your belt. Hummm...what if you don't wear a belt? Where would you clip it? Perhaps you also need ruggedized clothing to support your ruggedized printer? These are popular with the route delivery folks who are leaving proof-of-delivery receipts with digital signatures. They can also be used for sales receipts, service requests and letters to your mother. That's an idea, a very short curled letter to mom.

Since these printers are "wearable" I wonder if you need to accessorize them? Do they come with matching handheld computers, styluses? Are there different colors, patterns and textures....I guess black goes with everything.

MobileDataforce develops customized mobile software solutions for companies, and these kinds of rugged, or ultra-rugged printers are often part of the solution. In this article I discuss a project we did for a company that manages parking garages and city parking meters.

In an earlier article I wrote about PrinTekMobile's FieldPro Printer.

Zebra also offers rugged and wearable printers.

Appforge Strategy vs Mobile Software Platform for PDAs, Smartphones and Handhelds

Appforge provided software developers with pre-built code scripts, code libraries, and developer tools for developing applications for PDAs, handhelds and Smartphones as opposed to MobileDataforce's PointSync Mobility Platform which is a "mobile software platform" for designing, developing and deploying data-centric mobile applications. What is the difference? The PointSync Mobility Platform comes with the following:

Graphical development environment for designing and configuring mobile applications
Embedded mobile databases
Embedded synchronization database server
Embedded synchronization technology
Database integration manager
Deployment manager
User manager
Application manager

With the PointSync Mobility Platform, you do not need additional third-party mobile databases, third-party development environments, third-party integration tools, third-party synchronization tools. All of these are included in the software platform.

I recognize that some Appforge developers prefer programming mobile solutions from scratch, but many companies simply want to get a powerful, proven mobile solution running in the field as fast as they can. So if getting a powerful, proven mobile application deployed in the field is your priority, I would encourage you to consider using an existing mobile software platform.

Here are a few additional articles that further discuss mobile software platforms:

http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2007/01/mobile-platforms-for-enterprise.html

http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2006/11/mobile-software-platform-thoughts.html

http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2006/11/managing-mobile-software-deployments.html

http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2006/10/mobile-software-platforms-and.html

Re-engineering Business Processes with Handheld PDA Solutions

MobileDataforce's professional services teams are working on dozens of mobile software projects globally at any given time. As a result, we have gained through experience in-depth knowledge about how mobile solutions can change companies, their business processes and the way they think. Let's discuss a few of the things we have seen and learned:

Companies rarely understand the full extent of the changes mobile software solutions will bring to their organization
Most mobile software projects start small and have a very limited user base and business focus
As the users begin to test and adopt the new mobile software solutions, they most often expand the project as they quickly recognize the efficiencies that can be gained by using mobile software solutions that are tied into corporate database applications
There is usually some point about 80% through the mobile software development project when there is a loud "AHA!" that echos the halls of our clients' offices - they get it. They can see beyond their immediate project to the potential of mobility
Mobility is a process - a company may start with mobile phones, then move on to email syncing & SMS, then full bi-directional synchronization of corporate data to mobile handheld computers and specialized mobile software applications
Companies may start with mobilizing their field service technicians, but rapidly expand to mobile CRM, mobile shipping and inventory status, mobile asset management, quality assurance inspections and reporting, real-time mobile business analytics for the management team, route accounting and proof of delivery for the truck (or lorry) drivers. The more the company learns, the more they realize the benefits of mobile data solutions
If a company has started down the path to mobilizing their operations and business processes, but have chosen to hardcode or custom program each of these processes as separate projects - they will quickly realize their error in not starting with a full mobile software platform
The mobile software platform - is a server based product that supports a standardized way of designing, developing and deploying multiple mobile software projects in a manner that is easily learned and supported by IT
Once the mobile software platform (the PointSync Mobility Platform is one option) is in place, all IT developers, consultants and technical support personnel can be trained on the same platform and method for efficiencies and speed of development
The mobile software platform supports the design, development, deployment, support, version control of applications, publishing of applications to mobile devices, data security configurations, database integrations and much more

The key concept in this process is to start with a mobile software platform - this enables you to build up and support large numbers of mobilized business processes and projects in the same efficient manner. If a company chooses to custom build every project from scratch, the efficiencies of development and support will never be realized.

Symbol MC35 - More Smartphones and Handheld PDAs

Ninety-one people looked up Symbol Technologies' MC35 yesterday on Google. That is quite impressive for a new handheld PDA from Symbol. This device includes a phone, Windows Mobile OS, GPS, keypad and much more in a semi-rugged form. It is larger than most consumer devices running pocket pc, but a perfect size for industrial use.

Symbol/Motorola has been rapidly releasing new mobile handheld devices intended for the "mobile" category of workers. The true field services worker who does not want to pack around a large and heavy industrial handheld computer.

Warnings for Companies Considering Mobile Handheld PDA Business Solutions

MobileDataforce is very busy these days helping companies replace old mobile software solutions for handheld PDAs that were based on out-dated Palm or Pocket PC operating systems. Although we appreciate the business, it is worth highlighting this issue for companies considering whether to program/code their own mobile software solution, or use a supported mobile middleware platform like the PointSync Mobility Platform.

Here are some issues to consider:

Is your mobile solution going to be upgraded every year as mobile operating systems and handheld computers are upgraded?

Who is going to be your in-house expert on the latest mobile operating systems and how to support them? It will take an investment of resources to stay current.

When you buy new handheld computers or PDAs, they are generally sold with only the latest most current operating system on them. So how can you buy new handheld computers, unless your mobile solution can run on the latest operating system. Over the life of your mobile software application you may need to upgrade the OS many times.

Often a business unit funded the original mobile software application development project. Are they willing to continue funding your mobile operating system upgrades each year. The answer is most often NO! So how can IT support it after the first year?

One solution to prolonging the life of a mobile software application is to pre-purchase all the handheld computers or PDAs you will ever need. This will ensure that you have the supported hardware and supported operating system available to you over the life of your mobile software application. But let's be real....who is going to fund a pre-purchase of all the hardware you will ever need? No business unit I have ever met. If you find one, let me know...I would like to sell them all the mobile software they will ever need in the future as well.

The most reasonable approach to keeping current with mobile operating systems and the latest handheld computers and PDAs is to develop your mobile handheld application on a supported mobile software platform like MobileDataforce's PointSync Mobility Platform. Why? MobileDataforce and other companies that author mobile middleware and mobile development platforms committ to keeping them current on the latest supported operating systems - so you don't have to. The cost of the operating system updates/upgrades are generally covered in your annual support contract. Companies like MobileDataforce employ legions of software developers who are paid to be experts on mobile operating systems and how to keep mobile middleware and mobile software platforms current and updated.

More Business for Mobile Software and Handheld PDAs in Australia & New Zealand

MobileDataforce is growing rapidly in Australia and in New Zealand. We have just kicked off a number of very interesting mobility projects. One project in New Zealand is with a prominent engineering and construction company that involves mobile service requests. They are utilizing GPS, photo capture and the ability to create new service requests and job estimates on the handheld PDA from the field.

Our customer has the following business units; trucking, engineering, asset management, facility management, road and bridge building and construction and many more. Each of these business units have a need for mobile software on rugged handhelds to communicate with their management team and software in the office.

Clinical Research & Mobile Handheld PDA Solutions

MobileDataforce was fortunate enough to have been selected to provide mobile software and consulting services for a very interesting clinical research project that utilized handheld PDAs and synchronization technology recently.

This project involves 6 hospitals that are participating in a data collection and research project on treatments of spinal injuries. The hospitals using our mobile data collection software are:

Craig Hospital
Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York
The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago
National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington DC
Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia
Carolinas Rehabilitation in Charlotte, North Carolina

This research projects involves 250 Clinicians in 6 different disciplines including:

Social Workers
Physical Therapists
Speech Therapists
Occupational Therapists
Psychologists
Recreational Therapists

This study is designed for "Improving Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Outcomes" by:

Identifying individual patient characteristics, including demographic data, severity of spinal cord injury, and severity of illness (complications and comorbidities), that explain significant variation in the outcomes of acute rehabilitation for SCI.

Identifying specific medical/nursing procedures and therapy interventions, or combinations of procedures and interventions that are associated with better outcomes, controlling for patient characteristics.

Determining whether specific impairment-by-treatment interactions are associated with better outcomes. Participants for this study include individuals who sustained a traumatic spinal cord injury and are receiving inpatient rehabilitation at one of the participating facilities (Craig Hospital, Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York, The Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington DC, Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia, and Carolinas Rehabilitation in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Solution:

The solution consists of mobile data collection software called PointSync Mobility Platform from MobileDataforce and consumer grade handheld PDAs.

Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future