Different Mobile Application GUI Designs - Mobile Epiphany

I am beginning to see more and more mobile applications that use photos and maps as GUIs (graphical user interfaces).  In the world of mobile augmented reality, the photo can be the main menu of the mobile application.

The image on the right is from an application called TouchInspect by Mobile Epiphany.  The founder of Mobile Epiphany, Glenn Kletzky, has many years of in depth experience in the electronic games industry and takes a unique and graphically rich approach to many of the GUIs in his mobile data collection applications.

This is a very interesting approach to GUIs.  It is not just a text based menu system, but images that can quickly paint a thousand words.  Glenn describes his GUI design as a finger-touch-based interface that is trainable within an hour.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility 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.

SAP's Puneet Suppal and Kevin Benedict at TechEd Las Vegas

My good friend Puneet Suppal with SAP's Premier Customer Network wrote an interesting article over the weekend on SAP enterprise mobility.  Here is an excerpt, "In June 2010, Information Week listed the top 10 reasons that will likely get CIOs fired this year. "Failure to embrace mobility" was the number 2 reason! In a recent survey done by Forrester it was found that about 48% of the organizations interviewed were going to invest in mobilizing applications in 2010, with another 37% keenly interested as well.  

SAP Mobility Roadmap in Their Own Words

Many of you have asked me for details on SAP's enterprise mobility roadmap.  I will be publishing an interview with Sybase's Sam Lakkundi later this week on that subject, but first wanted to highlight what SAP has publicly stated already.

SAP's public statements:

Within the next nine months (Sapphire 2011), the companies will bring together technologies to deliver a leading mobile platform for business that is based on open standards, runs on all major mobile operating systems, and manages and supports all major device types. With this platform, customers and partners can build new mobile experiences on top of existing applications, such as SAP® Business Suite software. In addition, SAP will showcase mobile experiences for all products, including both SAP Business Suite and SAP® Business ByDesign™, similar to what is available for mobile sales for customer relationship management (CRM) today.

SAP and Sybase Form New Mobile Business Unit in Response to Kevin's Blog Article

Last week I wrote an article, Do SAP and Sybase Recognize What is Happening?  to encourage SAP and Sybase to add resources to support the increasing demand for enterprise mobility within the SAP ecosystem.  I think Jim Hagemann Snabe and Bill McDermott (SAP's co-CEOs) must have read my blog.  At least that is what I tell myself.  This week SAP and Sybase announced a reorganization around mobility.  The stated purpose is to further support customers and facilitate the rapid adoption of enterprise mobility.

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - October 7, 2010

Kevin's 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 numbers and trends.

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According to Microsoft's annual proxy statement, CEO Steve Ballmer received $670,000 in bonus for the last financial year, half what he could have earned in rewards.

Kevin's M2M News Weekly - October 6, 2010

Welcome to Kevin's M2M News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices that I read each week. 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.

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This “Internet of Things” or M2M network adds another dimension to the existing notions of networks. It envisages an anytime, anywhere, anyone, anything network bringing about a complete ubiquity to computing.

New Trend - Carry More Mobile Devices Til You Can't Walk No More

iPhone, iPad, Netbook, Blackberry

OK, I don't want to report this trend.  I am all about convergence and combining more and better features into small pocket size devices called smartphones, but my journalistic side beckons.  I have conducted quite a few interviews with leading minds in the enterprise mobility space (read the series here).  In these interviews one of my favorite questions is, "What mobile device do you carry?"

Here are some recent answers to my interview question:

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Syclo's CEO Rich Padula

October is traditionally a very busy time for high tech companies, and this year there is no busier category than enterprise mobility.  For that reason, I was especially pleased that Syclo's CEO Rich Padula made himself available for a brief interview last week.

Kevin:  Rich, what mobile device(s) do you carry?
Rich:  I carry a Blackberry, iPad, Netbook and iPod.  I have a desktop in the office.

Watch SAP CIO Oliver Bussman Interview at TechEd 2010

SAP CIO Oliver Bussman

I am excited to report that I will be conducting the SAP TechEd Live interview (see sample) with SAP CIO Oliver Bussman later this month at TechEd in Las Vegas.  Oliver Bussman is involved in all the major mobility projects that are rolled out within the SAP organization.  

 Oliver spoke about some of his recent mobility projects in this article:

• SAP has rolled out almost 1,500 iPads for users across its business
• The iPads were configured with email access, access to a virtual private network (VPN), Citrix software to enable access to server-based applications and business intelligence tools via BusinessObjects.
• The company currently has 17,000 BlackBerrys rolled out across the organisation and Bussmann said that within 12 months, there will be as many iPads in use by SAP employees.

If you have questions that you want me to ask Oliver, please comment below and I will add them to the list.

I hope to see you in Vegas!

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
 Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility 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.

What are Machines Talking About?

M2M and Kevin Benedict

In the article M2M: Driving Expoential Growth in Connections, author Perry LaFarge writes, "The number of machines communicating with each other wirelessly will soon dwarf the number of people connected via mobile devices."

What kind of machines are communicating with each other?  Machines like Redbox movie kiosks communicating DVD inventories to iPhone users; tractors and other heavy equipment reporting their maintenance status to the central office; and all kinds of high value assets reporting their location, status and numerous other details monitored by remote sensors.  Homes are also reporting minute by minute energy consumption to both the homeowner and the utility through smart meters and smart grids.  The use cases are endless.