Showing posts with label sup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sup. Show all posts

Mobile Expert Video Series: TPC's Tony Smith

I had the pleasure of attending a session this week led by The Principal Consulting firm's Tony Smith at the SAPinsider Mobile2012 conference.  They now have experience working on over 25 SUP (Sybase Unwired Platform) implementations.  In this Mobile Expert Video Series segment, I corner Tony and ask him some additional questions about their experiences.



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

Video Comments: What Kevin Benedict has Learned about Enterprise Mobility this Month

I have traveled around the world meeting with large companies (many were SAP customers) and speaking at mobility conferences over the past 8 weeks and wanted to take a moment today to share in this video comments some of what I have been learning about enterprise mobility and the current market.   





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


Snake is 5 meters (15 feet) long
Click Image to Enlarge
I had the privilege of speaking at a conference in Australia this week and spending time with many utilities and construction companies.  The challenges in Australia can be highlighted by this image of a snake, provided by Jeff Morgan from Electrix taken from the window of a utility vehicle in Australia.  This snake is of a very aggressive and deadly nature.  I was also intrigued by the many spider stories that were shared by the field engineers that I spent time with this week.  Seems spiders really like electrical meter boxes.

In addition to the biting and stinging variety of challenges, there are many connectivity challenges in a country as big and remote as Australia.  It doesn't take long to lose connectivity once you leave the main roads in Australia.  Companies use specialized radios and satellite phones and up-links a lot in this region. 

Any mission critical mobile application such as field services and enterprise asset management needs to be designed to work equally well connected or disconnected from the Internet in Australia.  That takes databases on the mobile client, syncing technology and back office integration.  In other words, these kinds of mobile solutions are naturals for Sybase's SUP and SQL Anywhere architecture.

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

Discussions About Sybase's Embedded Mobile Database Business, Part 2

In Part 1 of this article I shared a conversation I had with Sybase's Tom Slee on mobile embedded databases and Sybase's SQL Anywhere.  One of the questions I asked him was where SQL Anywhere fits in the SUP (Sybase Unwired Platform) picture.  Tom said SQL Anywhere databases, syncing and integration technologies are all in SUP, but they are only a small subset of what SUP offers.

SQL Anywhere is often embedded in other ISV mobile solutions.  The end customer often does not even realize that Sybase technology is embedded in their mobile solution.   ISV partners will often develop all kinds of complex business rules, logic and code that accesses the SQL Anywhere database and utilizes the syncing technology, but it is buried in the application.  That is how my team used it.

SUP in turn is meant to be a complete end-to-end mobile middleware solution that connects back office databases to mobile applications.  Is is far more than just SQL Anywhere.  SUP includes all kinds of additional features to bring it all together in a manner that can be used by an IT organization, not just C++ programmers.

I also asked Tom how mobile application developers synchronize mobile applications that are developed in HTML5 and that use the SQL Lite database with back office systems.  He said simple mobile applications with limited syncing requirements could use web services, custom scripts or other custom developed syncing schemes.  He added that some mobile applications may store data, but have no need to sync with back office systems.  An examples could be a note taking application.  You may want to write notes and save them, but perhaps there is no need to sync the notes with an enterprise system.

When would a developer want to use HTML5, but use Sybase's SQL Anywhere database and syncing technologies rather than the free SQL Lite?  Tom said many enterprise class mobile applications need to synchronize data all day long in near real-time, with multiple databases, web services and ERPs.  Some of the data sources are dynamic and must be synchronized in near real time, others are static and need to be updated only weekly.  All of these different synchronization needs must happen seamlessly in the background and the mobile application must run smoothly whether online or offline.  This situation begs for a mature mobile middleware layer like SQL Anywhere.

To develop your own custom synchronization engine and middleware from scratch to efficiently and accurately manage complex synchronization scenarios is a huge and expensive task.  These are the kinds of situations that motivated me to become an ISV/OEM partner of Sybase and to use their SQL Anywhere technology years ago.  Those same kinds of motivations exist today.

The way I understand it is that software companies that want to develop mobile applications with embedded databases and syncing technology may prefer SQL Anywhere, but an IT organization looking to support all of their enterprise's mobility solutions and needs would look to SUP as their comprehensive mobile middleware solution.

Do you agree or disagree?  Is my understanding correct?  Please comment below if my understanding in incorrect.  THANKS!

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011
Mobile Case Study: Healthrageous Accelerates Time to Market through Mobile Development Strategy, July 13, 2011
Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development:  Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
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

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

Discussions About Sybase's Embedded Mobile Database Business, Part 1

SQL Anywhere
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking with Tom Slee at Sybase.  Tom works out of the Sybase office in Waterloo, Ontario.  We have known of each other professionally for many years, as I was the CEO of a mobile application company that partnered with Sybase.  Yesterday we discussed many different subjects including, HTML5, SQL Anywhere, SQL Lite, SUP, mobile application development strategies, data synchronization and the most interesting developments in the embedded mobile database areas at Sybase. 

Tom had commented on an article I wrote several weeks back questioning the role of embedded mobile databases in a future with HTML5 and SQL Lite.  He had corrected me by saying SQL Lite is very often used with HTML5, but that it was not an "official" part of the HTML5 standard.  I stand corrected.  However, yesterday he added that SQL Lite is an unofficial part of HTML5 for many developers.

My questions several weeks ago were directed at learning if developers would continue to need and to purchase Sybase's SQL Anywhere embedded mobile databases (RDBMS) if there was a free option that works with HTML5 called SQL Lite.  Tom provided me with a much greater understanding of this issue which I will share to the best of my abilities.

SQL Lite working with HTML5 enables developers to store data on mobile devices.  This is very useful when developers want to save data entered into a mobile application, record the state of a mobile application, or record where the user is in an application.  Developers can also store product catalogs and all kinds of other data in this database.  It is a very good solution when there is no need, or limited need to synchronize the mobile application data back to an enteprise database.

Response to My Article on Sybase's Embedded Mobile Databases and HTML5

I received feedback on my article, "What Does HTML5 Mean for Sybase's Embedded Mobile Database Business?"  from Sybase's Tom Lee this week.  Comments don't show up well on this blogging platform so I wanted to publish it here so you could be sure to read it.  Please add your comments as well!

Tom Slee:  Kevin - interesting comments, but I have a few disagreements. I'm speaking as part of the Sybase mobile and embedded database team, but opinions are my own.

HTML5 is now, as you know, a much bigger spec than just the local database. It includes a lot of video and other UI enhancements (canvas and so on). What's more, the Web SQL Database that you are referring to is no longer part of the HTML5 spec (although it is still present in mobile browsers, still supported, and has a bright future - just not as part of a formal spec.) See http://www.w3.org/TR/webdatabase/

So I think the changing face of HTML5 leads to a couple of confusions in your article. Sybase SUP 2.0, which I think is what you are referring to when you say "September is when SAP estimates they will be releasing their HTML5 container" [Kevin's comment - No, I am referring to SUP 2.1) does not have offline database capability. The container model stores some data offline, but not rich or structured data.

Also, the Web SQL Database has no synchronization component. That means that while it is fine for storing app-specific data, any attempt to keep that data up to date with what's in an enterprise store must be done by a developer. As you know, the data sync/enterprise integration issue is -- like all data consistency problems -- complex, especially in enterprise applications. Sybase products solve that problem for developers.

Who knows where pricing and licensing will go? That depends on many developments in the mobile enterprise space and I have no crystal ball. But I am confident that there is still a future for the offline data model in mobile enterprise applications, and for software that tackles the complex issues around enterprise integration.

Thanks Tom!!!!

Any comments to add?

Upcoming Events

Webinar: Enabling the Agile Business through Mobile Strategy June 21, 2011
Live Webinar - Learn how Carefusion mobilized SAP CRM Field Service with Syclo, June 22, 2011
Eggs with Benedict - European Tour - Mobility Strategies and More, June 27 – July 1, 2011
ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
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



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

Where Should Mobile Intelligence Reside?

I continue to ponder the implications of Microsoft’s recent announcement of their next smartphone operating system version that is code named Mango, specifically, the issue of blurring the lines between search and mobile applications. They want searches to include intelligence that can access and integrate multiple applications on the same phone at the same time for relevant information.

Microsoft used the example of a search for a movie. The Mango operating system would automatically “predict” your interest in related information including movie times, reviews, locations and how to purchase tickets. These different views and data sources would all be brought to you in a simple view.

The concept is exceptional! My question is where should the intelligence for mobile applications really be located? It seems from Microsoft’s announcement that these “predictive” and intelligent features would be developed and supported in the mobile OS (Microsoft Phone). I would guess that SAP might have a different opinion. Perhaps SAP would advocate that mobile applications should be integrated with Business Objects in the back office. I, however, am leaning toward the concept of a new category of solution which would be a cloud based intelligence platform that could integrate with all the various back office systems, ERPs and third party web services and location based services.

It seems that there should be a powerful cloud based intelligence platform that can aggregate all of the required analytics, geo-spatially aware data and real-time intelligence into one feed for a mobile application. The intelligence should be able to be quickly customized for each user.

What do you think? Where do you think the intelligence for a mobile application should be located?

Upcoming Events of Note
ClickConnect Europe Customer User Forum, June 8th-10th in Cannes,France
Live Webinar - Syclo and SAP have scheduled a webcast for June 8th at 11 AM EDST to provide information on Syclo's SUP integration.
Live Webinar - Learn how Carefusion mobilized SAP CRM Field Service with Syclo, June 22, 2011

Whitepapers of Note
The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note
3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
Exclusive SAP Mentor and Blogger Briefing:  Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
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
Redstone Arsenal's (DOD/Chugach) 3 Maintenance Challenges Solved by Mobile

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

SAP, Sybase and Syclo Enterprise Mobility Update

I had the opportunity to participate in a pre-SAPPHIRE briefing by SAP's Daniel Faulk and Syclo's Jon Schmidt yesterday on the topic of enterprise mobility.  I joined a handful of SAP Mentors and bloggers to learn more about their strategies and plans.  It was recorded and you can listen to it here

In this briefing Syclo's Jon Schmidt discusses their co-innovation partnership with SAP around SAP EAM and CRM, and SAP's Daniel Faulk talks about SAP's partnership strategies with Syclo, and product roadmaps for SUP and Afaria.

SAP Mentors John Appleby, Bluefin, Jon Reed with http://www.jonerp.com/, and myself ask a series of questions about SAP's, Sybase's and Syclo's mobility strategies.

Whitepapers of Note

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

Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Redstone Arsenal’s (DOD/Chugach) 3 Maintenance Challenges Solved by Mobile


*************************************************************
Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
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 Interview Series: Sybase's Mike Oliver, Part 2

Mike Oliver
This is Part 2 in this Mobile Expert Interview Series with Sybase's Mike Oliver.  Read Part 1.

Kevin: What are some of the most surprising trends you saw in mobility in 2010?
Mike: It has to be the iPad. Tablets have been around forever! All of a sudden Apple makes one with the great interface and everyone wants it? I have one but am personally frustrated with some of the limitations of the current iPad, but you can’t deny that it has been a big success and I’ll definitely buy the next version. I also love the new Samsung Galaxy, it fits into my jacket pocket. Overall though, I would rather use my NetBook. It has a keyboard, long battery life, prints and boots up fast without the tablet limitations.

Kevin: What are some of the biggest challenges you see in mobility today?
Mike: Simple connectivity is still a big challenge in the UK. We couldn’t get connectivity in our own office today. Every day when I drive home from the office I lose connectivity in three different locations. This is the middle of the UK! There are so many places where signals are just not good enough to support a mobile worker using an always connected mobile application. We have developed all kinds of features into Afaria just to help mobile workers in areas where there is intermittent connectivity.

Kevin: How are enterprise mobility implementations different from other typical IT projects?
Mike: IT folks have a difficult time truly understanding mobility. Many don’t even understand the differences between the mobile operating systems and mobile devices. It is a whole new world for them.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase's Mike Oliver, Part 1

Mike Oliver
I first learned about Mike Oliver, European Mobility Marketing Manager for Sybase, because we are both on the agenda for the upcoming conference in Brussels entitled The Enterprise Mobility Exchange.  Mike was kind enough to schedule some time to share with us.

Note: These are not Mike Oliver's exact words, rather my notes from our interview.  However, Mike did review these notes for accuracy prior to publishing.

Kevin: Why are you going to the Enterprise Mobility Exchange in May? What is the value?

Mike: I spoke at this event last year and found that the quality of the delegates is unmatched. People must pay to attend. The focus has been on utilities and field services and this is a great market for Sybase and our partners. We have found great opportunities from this event every time we have attended. We always get more meetings than we have on our schedule.

Kevin: What are your current roles and responsibilities?

Mike: I am the European Mobility Marketing Manager for Sybase. Before SAP acquired us, I was responsible for marketing our mobility solutions across all of Europe. Now I cover a subset of our products including Afaria and SQL Anywhere.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase's James Naftel, Part 2

This is Part 2 in this interview with Sybase's James Naftel, Staff Product Manager for Afaria.  Read Part 1 here.

Kevin: What are some of the biggest challenges you see in mobility today?
James: The number one goal is not to give us all toys (fun mobile devices), but rather to make us more productive. Companies must look at their business and understand how they can really get productivity gains from implementing enterprise mobility solutions. Does it make sense? How will they scale from tens of users to thousands? It is easy to deploy a handful of devices, but what about thousands. How do you secure all of these devices? There are legal obligations to protect personal and corporate data on devices. If social security numbers are on devices, companies must protect this data. All the data in the company is probably accessible by different mobile devices and applications in the company.

Kevin: How are enterprise mobility implementations different from other typical IT projects?
James: Mobile devices are in unsecured locations (homes, cars, restaurants, hotels, beaches, park benches, bars, etc.). Security is a big concern. These devices are mobile and remote. All of this infrastructure outside the firewall is accessing data inside the firewall. You need to think of all the different risk scenarios. You want your developers to be able to develop mobile apps without worrying about security. It should already be solved by the company.

Kevin: What do companies fail to plan for when implementing mobility?
James: 1) How do I scale from ten to thousands of devices? 2) How do I move data back and forth through corporate security? Security folks were often difficult to work with in the past and caused many long delays in mobility projects. They were uncomfortable with mobile data access. It is better now. More IT security teams understand the mobile security issues and how to solve them.

Kevin: What advice do you have for companies just starting down an enterprise mobility path?
James: Plan and have a good idea of your goals. Pick carefully the first apps to mobilize. Have a reason to mobilize. Is it CRM? Understand your goals so you can plan. Think about how you provision devices? Think about device roll-outs. Think about the impact on the help desk.

Kevin: How important is mobile device management and security? [What a set-up!]
James: Critical. People need to protect private and enterprise data. Device management and security is key to succeeding with a project. If you leak information, you are in big trouble and it jeopardizes your entire mobility initiative. You need MDM to run any enterprise project. You cannot scale unless you have MDM.


Kevin: What should people know about Sybase’s Afaria?
James: We try to support all the new devices. We look to support all the devices and platforms that our enterprise customers request. Five years ago, there was a long sales cycle involved in educating companies on the value of mobile security and MDM. However, today companies recognize the need. We are now a core component, rather than an afterthought. App developers should not have to be concerned with security, Afaria will handle that.

Kevin: Where do you see mobility going in 2011?
James: There are a lot of discussions and strategizing going on around tablets. We see a lot of enterprise customers buying tablets now. Companies want to lock down tablets more than smartphones. If fact, companies might have different security requirements for tablets than smartphones. Tablets may be viewed more as a corporate asset than smartphones and have stricter security requirements.

I want to thank James for sharing his thoughts, views and observations with all of us.

Click here to read more in the Mobile Expert Interview Series.


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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on Linkedin:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Syclo's Jon Schmidt


Syclo's
Jon Schmidt
Between flights around the world (172,000 United air miles in 2010), 4 children ranging from 2 months (baby Finn) to 23 years, and a record breaking sales year at Syclo, it has been hard to catch up with Jon for an interview.  However, where there is a will there is a way and we got it done earlier this week.

For inclusion in this article, I asked Jon for a photo and I think he sent me one from 1993.  This photo does not appear to be from a person with a 23 year old child and 2.7 million total United air miles.

Note:  These are not Jon's exact words, rather my notes from our interview.

Kevin: What mobile device(s) do you regularly carry?
Jon: iPhone (work), BlackBerry Pearl (personal), laptop for power points, iPad for mobile everything.  I like the iPad because it can be up in 2 seconds.  Immediacy is critical. 

Kevin: What industries do you see adopting mobility today?
Jon: Two years ago it was mostly utilities and oil and gas companies.  Today, all industries seem to be buying including; Telco, CPG (consumer packaged goods), electronics, shipping companies, mining, etc.  New and young employees will expect to have company supported smartphones and connectivity with business applications.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Sybase's Tony Kueh

Sybase's Tony Kueh
I met Tony Kueh (pronounced Koo-ay) from Sybase's product management team at TechEd in Las Vegas this year.  He is a long time Seattle native, now residing in California.  This week he accepted my invitation to be interviewed.

Note:  These are not Tony's exact words, rather my notes from the interview.

Kevin: Tony, what is your role and areas of responsibilities at Sybase?
Tony: I am the product manager for enterprise mobility which includes SUP and Afaria.  I report to Raj Nathan, who is the interim head of the mobile applications group and EVP and CMO at Sybase.

Kevin: What mobile device(s) do you have and carry?
Tony: An iPhone, an iPad, a Droid and a MacBook Pro.

Kevin:  A Droid?
Tony:  Yes, for those occasions when I really don't want to be disconnected.

Kevin: Is that all?

Mobile Expert Interview Series: ClickSoftware's Founder Dr. Moshe BenBassat

I had the opportunity to speak to Dr. Moshe BenBassat, Founder of ClickSoftware yesterday about the release of their lastest version of ClickMobile called ClickMobile Professional.  He was calling from Israel where they have been having some very stormy winter weather over the past week. 

Let me first give you some background on Dr. BenBassat.  Following a long and successful academic career with positions at USC, Tel Aviv University and UCLA, he established himself as one of the world's leaders in the area of optimization and decision support software for a wide variety of applications. His research work was supported by DARPA (the U.S.’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency); NIH (National Institute of Health); Ballistic Missile Defense Agency (via TRW); ARI (U.S. Army Research Institute); NASA; and NSF (National Science Foundation).  Now that is credibility!

*Important Note:  These are not Dr. BenBassat's exact words, rather a compilation of my notes taken during our discussion.

Kevin:  Tell me about the new version of ClickMobile Professional that you announced today.
Dr. BenBassat:   What makes this version unique is that it uses HTML5 to become device agnostic.  It has what I call a universal mobile client that can run on and support all the major mobile operating systems, plus device specific features, offline/online and data syncing capabilities.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: SAP's Nick Brown

SAP's Nick Brown on the right
I had the opportunity to catch up with SAP's Nick Brown with the Mobile Business Unit on the phone this morning.  He was calling from dark and snowy Waldorf, Germany.  This call was scheduled to help cover some of the questions that did not get answered at last week's SAP Infuencer Summit (see my full report from this event here).

Here are the questions that were asked by you the readers of this blog that were not answered in full at the event.

*Important Note:  These are not the exact words of Nick Brown.  I have often shortened the answers and revised them to be more concise for the purpose of this article.  I have tried my best to keep the original meaning.  Blame me for any misinterpretations.

Kevin:  Will there be Android support in SUP (SAP unwired platform)? 
Nick:  Yes, full support will be released in the second half of 2011.  However, partial support for lightweight applications will be sooner.

Interviews with Kevin Benedict