Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

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 Video Series: ClickSoftware's Uri Pintov

Uri Pintov is the Team Leader of the Solutions Group at ClickSoftware and he shares his views on HTML5 and device agnostic MEAPs, plus his predictions for Windows Phone 7.

Upcoming Events

Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011
Mobile Tablet Trends in the Enterprise featuring Samsung Mobile - July 28, 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

You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict.
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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.

Mobile Expert Video Series: Electrix's Jeff Morgan

I got to know Jeff Morgan while speaking at the ClickConnect APAC 2011 conference last week in Australia. Jeff works for Electrix, a company that contracts with utility companies to provide field services, maintenance and asset inspections. They have a long history of working with mobile applications in the field and he discusses his experiences in this video interview.

Jeff is also the guy that shared the picture of the GIANT snake his colleague saw along the road in Australia.

Upcoming Events

Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011
Mobile Tablet Trends in the Enterprise featuring Samsung Mobile - July 28, 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.

What Can HTML5 Offer Mobile Developers?

This is the second article in my series on HTML5, the first article can be read here. I needed to personally know more about HTML5, so am researching it and sharing what I am learning with you.

HTML5 has the backing of Microsoft, Mozilla, Opera, and even Apple and Google have their own sites celebrating HTML5 (http://www.apple.com/html5/ and http://studio.html5rocks.com/ respectively). Safari (both mobile and desktop), Google Chrome and Firefox also support HTML5.

HTML5 introduces technology improvements to HTML that help mobile developers by adding geo-location, user interface tools, and access to smartphone’s cameras and sensors. HTML5 also adds media playback, offline storage, and 2D graphics capabilities. Let's look at a few of these features in more detail.

Media Playback

The days of needing Flash, Silverlight or Quicktime to play music or view a video are over. With HTML5, plug-ins are no longer needed. The HTML quotation tags can be used to directly embed media.

A recent study by EffectiveUI Software Architect Sean Christmann showed that HTML5 video even out performed Flash on mobile devices. Flash did out perform HTML5 in a number of other categories, however. (http://www.craftymind.com/guimark3/)

Google now makes Flash video on Apple devices possible via its “Swiffy” project, which converts Flash files to HTML5. The first version of Swiffy was made available on Google Labs June 30, 2011.

Offline Support

With HTML5 (and a free SQL Lite database), it’s now possible for mobile developers to store data locally on the device. Interruptions in connectivity no longer need to affect your ability to remain productive with your mobile application. Capabilities such as caching of logic and local storage of data make this possible.

2D Graphics Capabilities

The canvas element is now part of HTML5 and allows for dynamic rendering of 2D shapes and bitmap images. It is designed to make it easy to add graphics to a page without using plug-ins.

In my first article on HTML5 we received two good comments that I want to share here. The first is from mobile software guru Glenn Kletzky of Mobile Epiphany:

********
Great Intro Post to the subject Kevin. My group has been studying it at great lengths ourselves over the last few months, and your conclusions are in perfect sync with our findings. As always, you know your stuff and don't write about something until you do!

Another looming issue with HTML5 that is critical in the Enterprise is the concept of "Store and Forward". I suppose store and forward tech has been implemented in more than a few ways over the years in native apps, but the issue enterprises talk to us about almost exclusively is a store and forward capability that seems to be missing in the tech. We have heard some rumblings about “Sure it can do store and forward”, but dropping an XML file on your device is not the road enterprises seem to care about. It appears they need HTML5 to be a tech which secures and houses large amounts of highly variable data (BLOB’s, point data, etc) in a secure, encrypted and powerful database. Large stores of highly secure and encrypted data are often required to be successful in the field when connectivity is intermittent at best. And as mobile storage continues to grow (SD to 2 Gigs, then SDHC to 32 gigs, now SDXC heading toward 2 TBs over the next year or 2!) this really allows for some amazing capabilities in the field for Store and Forward requirements. And yet I don't hear much in HTML5 on that front.

I would love to know more about what you learn with regards to HTML5 and this issue.

Great writing as always Kevin.

Glenn Kletzky
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Brian Blankenship writes:

Nice post. Other limitations of HTML5, beyond APIs such as GameCenter and In-app purchase, are no access to key device features such as the camera, videocamera, accelerometer (to name a few), and future device features yet to be invented. In addition, HTML5 apps, especially via a mobile browser, just don't create the "attachment" a user has with a native app - be it due to user experience or be it due to practical matters such as having to navigate through a long list of browser bookmarks, that over time would be ignored. Finally, there is the monetization component - for browser apps, as opposed to distributing through an app store for payment, how do developers get paid?
********

I recently interviewed Tom Slee from Sybase on HTML5 and how its data storage capabilities compares and contrasts to Sybase's embedded databases. You can read the article here.

Please comment here and share your thoughts and knowledge about HTML5!

Upcoming Events

Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011
Mobile Tablet Trends in the Enterprise featuring Samsung Mobile - July 28, 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

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

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

Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

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

Mobile Marketing News Weekly - Week of July 18, 2011

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

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Charts Weekly

eMarketer has estimated that advertisers in the U.S. will spend just over $1.1 billion on mobile phone advertising this year, rising to $1.5 billion in 2012. Read Original Content

A new study by comScore has found that in the past year mobile searches on major search engines like Google have increased 34 percent. Read Original Content

A new survey conducted by the Interactive Advertising Bureau shows that despite in-app rich media opportunities, most marketers are directing advertising at traditional mobile web display ads. Read Original Content

Gartner predicts that money spent on mobile ads will soar nearly seven times from an anticipated $3.3 billion this year to $20.6 billion in 2015. Read Original Content

Groupon and Expedia have partnered to form a location-based travel discount service called Groupon Getaways. This will provide travelers with a wide range of travel discounts on hotels and airfare. Read Original Content

The Mobile Commerce News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking and mobile security that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobility Charts Weekly

The total value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, money transfers and NFC transactions will reach $670 billion by 2015, according to a new study from Juniper Research. Read Original Content

PayPal last week unveiled a new peer-to-peer payment functionality that allows Android users to pay each other by tapping two near field communication-enabled devices together. Read Original Content

According to Research and Markets the global NFC payment market is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 68 percent between 2010 and 2014. Read Original Content

Weyrich Enterprises has released a mobile app that allows smartphone owners to easily shop and browse through over 300 retail clothing brands on smartphones. Read Original Content

In the past fourteen months 2.5 million Canadians have downloaded mobile banking applications to their smartphones according Solutions Research Group. Read Original Content

A study by Mobile Entertainment Forum has found that more than nine out of ten Britons use their mobile phones to either research or make new purchases. Read Original Content

Mobile Expert Video Series: ETSA Utility's Grant Roach

In this video I interview field mobility veteran Grant Roach from the South Australian electricity distributor ETSA. They started their first mobility projects in the 1990s and have continued to evolve it. They are now adding ClickMobile to their ClickSchedule solution. He also has a lot of experience with change management in the field services space.

Whitepapers of Note

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict