Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

Enterprise Mobility, Re-usable Code and Private App Stores

Gil Bouhnick

A few years back when I was the CEO of a mobile enterprise application company, I spent a lot of time asking my PSO (professional services organization) the question, "Haven't we developed that before?" The answer was nearly always, " Yes, but it won't work on this project." That is not the answer a CEO wants to hear.

The dream I had was to own a library of reusable code or objects that I could build once, and leverage on hundreds of future mobile projects. This week I read an article by my friend Gil Bouhnick, about ClickSoftware's new ClickAppStore. This is the model I had always wanted.

It is not an app store for the public, it is a private app store for your internal developers and consultants. Here is how ClickSoftware describes it, "The ClickAppStore is designed to allow IT people, system implementers and administrators do more with their ClickMobile product by downloading and embedding business apps inside one powerful mobile foundation called ClickMobile, and run them on any popular device out there from iPhones and Android smartphones to tablets, rugged PDA’s and laptops."

This isn't going to help IT departments that don't use ClickMobile, but it offers a huge efficiency for those that do. ClickMobile is integrated with SUP (Sybase Unwired Platform) and plays nice with SAP. The ClickAppStore solution that Gil is writing about and promoting in his article is designed to help companies develop the majority of their mobile apps by using visual configuration tools, wizards, drag & drop style editors etc, and downloading pre-build business apps front he ClickAppStore.

I am thinking through the requirements here... This must have taken a lot of strategy sessions before this was built. I love the notion!

The concept of a mobile app store for use internally is another important part of a complete mobile strategy. Again, from a former technology CEO, it will drive you crazy if you have to rebuild and re-invest in the same tools over and over again across your global company. It makes so much more sense to use a standard IDE (integrated development environment) and MEAP (mobile enterprise application platform) for your custom mobile applications, and then save the mobile business applications into a mobile app store so other internal parties can use them.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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 News Weekly – Week of April 15, 2012

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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly

In the face of growing competition from Android tablets and the anticipated arrival of devices built on Microsoft's Windows 8, Gartner expects Apple's share of the rapidly growing market to take only a minimal hit, easing from 66.6 percent in 2011 to 61.4 percent in 2012. Read Original Content

According to a new report from marketing agency Knotice, more than 27 percent of emails were opened on a mobile device during the second half of 2011. Read Original Content

Shares of HTC Corp fell as much as 6 percent on Tuesday after a change in its chief financial officer and the imminent launch of a new phone by arch rival Samsung Electronics raised concerns over the Taiwanese firm's recovery. Read Original Content

ClickSoftware is an SAP mobility partner and the leading provider of automated workforce management and optimization solutions for every size of service business. This newsletter is sponsored in part by ClickSoftware - http://www.clicksoftware.com/.

Korean consumer electronics giant, Samsung, is eyeing to capture a 60 percent share of the smartphone market in India in 2012, as against its current share of 44.7 percent, according to Ranjit Yadav, country head (mobile and IT – India). Read Original Content

Four major telecom operators in Europe, where Nokia’s Lumia phones have been on sale since before Christmas, told Reuters the new smartphones were not good enough to compete with Apple's iPhone or Samsung's Galaxy phones. Read Original Content

Mobile handset semiconductors grew to more than $30 billion in 2011. The worldwide market generated more than $120 billion in revenue over the last five years and will generate more than $170 billion during the next five years. Read Original Content

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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

A new report from mobile marketing company Velti says that at the end of 2011, iOS and Android both had a 50 percent market share, but iOS pulled ahead in March, with a 53 percent market share for the month. The report is based on data collected from 33,405 apps via the Mobclix Exchange, which Velti acquired in 2010. Read Original Content

A new report from Juniper Research reveals the mobile ticketing market will more than quadruple to 23 billion tickets sent by 2016. The report estimates that four billion tickets were delivered during 2011 for airline, transport and entertainment events. Read Original Content

Pinterest is taking over the mobile and online space with brands and retailers such as eBay, Amazon and Sephora adding “Pin It” buttons to their product pages, thus encouraging m-commerce and e-commerce sales. Read Original Content

Verivo is a leading provider of enterprise mobility software. Verivo helps companies accelerate their business results. Its unique technology empowers teams to build, deploy, manage and update their mobile apps -- rapidly and securely. Verivo’s mobility platform is used by hundreds of companies in numerous industries, worldwide. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Verivo. To learn more, visit www.verivo.com

According to a new study by eMarketer, by 2013 the majority of mobile phone subscribers will have a smartphone, making it important to consider the role mobile may play for the future of your business. To help you stay up-to-speed on the latest trends in mobile and how they affect your business, check out this roundup of stats. Read Original Content

2012 may be the year mobile marketing finally starts to pay off. The buzz phrase driving mobile ad spending is “hyperlocal mobile,” or ads targeted to individuals in specific, relatively. Read Original Content

With the current rate of growth, mobile marketing has been one of the most exciting to monitor. The data on user adoption is changing almost daily, with consumers actively changing the way they consume, share and publish. Check out the top four current trends in mobile marketing. Read Original Content

Cup #1

A third cup of Java's "bowl of soul" coffee, and now I am having flashbacks to May 2010. I was and am a big fan of SAP's acquisition of Sybase. I was a long time partner of Sybase and valued their mobile middleware, which I embedded in my mobile business apps for years. The cautions I shared in 2010, were that Sybase did not have a library of mobile apps or a robust SDK at that time, and businesses still needed to figure out how to get mobile apps.

[Kevin Benedict, May 12, 2010] … none of [Sybase’s] solutions provide a company with mobile applications that solves their [business] problems. A database is not an application. Synchronization is not an application. Mobile device management is not an application. All of these solutions are just pieces that offer no value unless somebody builds something with them.

[Kevin Benedict, May 12, 2010] Sybase is not a mobile application company. They have great mobile middleware, mobile databases, synchronization and integration technology and mobile device management. However, none of these products provide a company with a mobile applications that solves their problems.

Cup #2

[Kevin Benedict, May 13, 2010] Sybase is not known for their mobile applications. They primarily license mobile middleware and mobile databases to companies that develop mobile software applications. SAP users need mobile applications. Mobile applications, not mobile middleware, provide the ROIs customers seek.

[Kevin Benedict, May 12, 2010] Sybase does not have an SDK. How can a large enterprise with custom mobility needs build an application?

OK, I am back to 2012!

SAP's announced intent to acquire Syclo last week will provide SAP with a proven SDK, a library of valuable mobile applications and a mobile app customer base. These are good. These were the missing pieces of the puzzle. With this acquisition, however, there will be some overlap in capabilities between Sybase and Syclo as this 2010 interview with Syclo's EVP Jeff Kleban reveals (oh no! Another 2010 flashback!!!!).

Cup #3

[Kevin] Who is Syclo's biggest competitor? [Jeff] It varies since there are so many point solutions in the market, but if a customer were looking for a MEAP, they will tend to look at Syclo and Sybase who are the leaders.

Soon both MEAP vendors will be owned by SAP. SAP will, I expect, continue to port the Syclo solutions onto SUP to unify the solutions. I am scheduling a call with the SAP mobility team next week to learn more.

The new partnerships with Adobe's PhoneGap, Sencha Touch and Titanium SDK from Appcelerator will give mobile app developers even more tools and options for rapid application development. In addition, long term SAP partners Open Text, Sky Technologies and ClickSoftware also have mobile solutions and SDKs that are tightly integrated with SAP solutions. Again, this is good for the SAP ecosystem, although a plethora of choices does not always make for speedy decision making and lower TCOs (total cost of ownership).

It now seems the pieces to the enterprise mobility puzzle are on the table, however, the puzzle picture to be solved is unknown in many cases. The problem for many companies, is the lack of strategy. Now that developers have the technologies and tools - what are they to develop? This is most often a decision that the business must make. The business must paint the puzzle picture. They must understand how enterprise mobility and mobile apps can and will change the competitive landscape of their industries. The business must understand this and work with developers to take advantage of mobility.

It would be sad for the developers to have a wide selection of powerful tools to develop innovative mobile solutions, but then not be able to get the business to paint the picture or to re-engineer their processes to take advantage of them.

On a side note - Just because all of these tools are now available, it does not mean a company should develop their own mobile solutions. Companies may be better off out-sourcing, subscribing to a cloud based solution or purchasing an off-the-shelf app. There are a lot of different points to consider. We will discuss this in more details soon.

***Next week on April 26th I will be speaking in Atlanta at a lunch event organized by Motorola and ClickSoftware. If you are interested in attending please register here. I will be providing an update on my latest research into enterprise mobility, best practices and mobile strategies.

Read more on the subject of SAP's intent to acquire Syclo here:

SAP Acquires Syclo - A First Analysis Over Coffee

SAP Acquires Syclo – A Second Cup of Coffee and 25 Comments

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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 Commerce News Weekly – Week of April 15, 2012

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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

A new study from Juniper Research indicates NFC technology will facilitate transactions valued at $74 billion by 2015, as NFC is increasingly used to pay for goods in store, and for transport ticketing. This is over treble the estimated value of this market in 2011. Read Original Content

In RichRelevance’s “The 2012 Q1 shopping insights mobile study,” the company looked at how iPad shoppers are responsible for a solid chunk of browsing and buying on mobile. The study also looked at the buying habits of iPad owners, which has clear implications on how retailers should be developing tablet-specific efforts. Read Original Content

Intuit is extending its mobile commerce strategy with a new deal to acquire shopping application AisleBuyer. According to reports, Intuit and AisleBuyer have been piloting an integration of the app’s mobile check-out technology with Intuit’s products. Read Original Content

Verivo is a leading provider of enterprise mobility software. Verivo helps companies accelerate their business results. Its unique technology empowers teams to build, deploy, manage and update their mobile apps -- rapidly and securely. Verivo’s mobility platform is used by hundreds of companies in numerous industries, worldwide. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Verivo. To learn more, visit www.verivo.com

A new report from KPMG predicts that mobile commerce will grow by 97 percent per year over the next three years, with revenue from mobile commerce expected to hit £591 billion by 2015. Read Original Content

Nokia and Microsoft are jointly jumping onto the NFC bandwagon with the next version of the Lumia 610. Slated to debut in Europe sometime this summer, the new version of the 610 will be the first Windows Phone handset to let users pay for goods on the go via NFC. Read Original Content

NFC technology is slowly being incorporated into mobile phones to create an electronic virtual wallet. Simply pass your phone over a reader and money is extracted from your funds that are stored on a computer someplace else. Those who don't think this is a disaster waiting to happen do not understand technology. Read Original Content

Mobility Blogging in 2006

Developing a mobile solution is still a major challenge for most companies. In 2006, I was just starting to blog and I was the CEO of a mobile applications company (similar to Syclo) and a close partner of Sybase. Back then I used different terms and device names, but much of the advice I wrote then is still valid. Here is an excerpt from a blog article in 2006.

Year 2006 - If you have never created mobile applications, there is a steep learning curve. A lot of mobile [apps and middleware] development is just plain tedious, expensive and risky.

Are you going to develop for just one kind of handheld computer or many? There are many different screen sizes, buttons, accessories, etc. If you want to support many different kinds of handhelds and their unique add-on components yourself - expect a couple of years of development.
How do you develop a solution that will work equally well on all devices such as Tablet PCs, PDAs, Smart Phones, Pocket PCs and/or laptops? What if your business user wants you to support them all with the same mobile application?
How do you develop and manage a synchronization server? Have you ever contemplated how difficult this might be?
How do you add database integration to your synchronization? How do you do this without messing up the production servers?
How do you add data validation to your mobile solutions?
How are you going to manage secure communications between your mobile application and your central database?
How do you build in mobile printing support?
How do you manage the deployment of mobile devices and track all the users and mobile applications?
Who is going to write all the help menus, user documentation, etc., if you develop in-house?
How do you add support for new hardware add-ons such as bar code scanners, RFID readers, GPS, digital cameras, printers to your application?
When Microsoft [or iOS, Android, Blackberry] releases the next version, are you going to re-write your application to support the new smartphones and other hardware? You will be required to since all new handheld devices are sold with the latest OS.

Six years later much has changed, there is HTML5, better mobile devices, and better mobile solutions today, but also much has stayed the same. There is still a lot you must know about mobile app development. If you are wanting to learn more, then you might find this upcoming webinar by Verivo of value:

Best Practices - The Mobile App Software Development Lifecycle

Developing mobile apps brings a new set of challenges and software development processes that IT teams must be prepared to address. Whether you’re building your first app or you’re part of an organization building multiple apps with multiple technologies, attend this webinar to learn about best practices in building mobile apps across the complete software development lifecycle. Get practical insights and answers to your questions to help deliver the right app, on time, and on budget.

This is the first in a series of webinars that will focus on best practices in the software development processes for building mobile apps. Attend this webinar to:

Understand the key differences between mobile development and traditional IT development across the complete software development lifecycle.
Discover hidden risks and best practices in defining requirements, building components, setting up your infrastructure, testing, and deployment.
Learn about two team-member roles that are critical to the success of every enterprise mobility project.

Date: April 18

Time: 1PM EDT

REGISTER HERE!

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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's New in HTML5 - Week of April 16, 2012

SAP has become a big advocate of HTML5 for enterprise mobility. Many of their recently announced partnerships with mobile vendors include strong endorsements of HTML5. I also see HTML5 playing a very important role for mobile applications developed in house. It is very hard to justify creating native applications for all platforms when you are only distributing the mobile apps internally. The economies of scale that mobility vendors can receive, are often not possible when developing for internal customers.

Information visualization firm Periscopic has worked on a number of HTML5 sites developed for the iPad. They found that switching from Flash to HTML5 was not as bad as they feared. Read original content

Sencha reviewed Apple’s new iPad and iOS 5.1 and results of the HTML5 Scorecard indicated the new product and OS were a “mixed bag at best and a disappointment at worst”. Read original content

Cisco predicts that the number of mobile connected devices will exceed the world’s population in 2012. This article provides five reasons to turn to HTML5 for building a mobile site. Read original content

The University of Notre Dame has redesigned its website using a mobile first approach that provides content on any device. Read original content

With the border between desktop and mobile quickly fading away, the best way to provide content to the end user regardless of desktop or mobile is with HTML5. This article explores five reasons why HTML5 matters for meeting expectations and providing users what they want, keeping clients focused on your service, product or website. Read original content

Stating that “we believe that web technologies are important to the future of mobile and that we can help to make HTML5 a well-supported platform for mobile developers to build upon,” Facebook has open-sourced Ringmark, its browser test suite for developing mobile applications. Read original content

Software company CodeBaby has announced that its 3D virtual assistant technology is now available for mobile devices. The company’s 3D interactive characters will be implemented on mobile devices through the emerging HTML5 video standards. Read original content

Speakers at the India Software Developer Conference in March provided advice on developing mobile apps using HTML5, with presentations such as “Building Mobile HTML5 Apps in Hours, Not Days” and ““Cross platform Mobile App Development with HTML 5”. Read original content

The Pacific Asia Travel Association has launched a real-time travel data platform that travel industry professionals can use on their mobile devices. PATAmPOWER was created in HTML5 and is available for smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops. Read original content

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile Industry Analyst, Consultant and SAP Mentor Alumnus

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility and Sybase Unwired Platform Groups

Read The Mobility News Weekly

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 and M2M News Weekly – Week of April 15, 2012

The Field Mobility and M2M 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 Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

Google Maps currently covers 187 countries, providing 26 million miles of driving directions and covering 75 percent of the world’s population. Read Original Content

An enterprising team in Los Angeles has created Road Stoves, allowing customers to locate their favorite mobile food vendor. Mobile food vendors install GPS units in their trucks and customers can download an iPhone or Android app to locate the participating vendors. Read Original Content

Tablets and smartphones could become the control point for the connected, automated home of the future, allowing homeowners to dim the lights, open the curtains, engage the alarm or check in on our kids via video feed. Read Original Content

Since 1995, Syclo has enabled hundreds of companies in 37 countries and industries supercharge their businesses with mobility. This newsletter is sponsored in part by Syclo. http://www.syclo.com/.

A new system utilizing bar codes and smart printers has allowed Koegel Meats of Flint, Michigan to streamline their antiquated labeling and product tracking operations. Read Original Content

Consulting firm Burns and McDonnell has found that using rugged tablets and specialized mobile data collection applications has markedly increased the efficiency and accuracy of data collected by its field staff. Read Original Content

Siemens and Streetline have partnered to create an M2M solution for urban parking limitations. Wireless sensors detect the presence of vehicles in individual parking spaces. A free smartphone app provides real-time data to motorists, guiding them to available parking spaces, allowing them to keep track of the time left on the meter, and pay for parking. Read Original Content

Welcome to Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility in Asia. Asia is predicted to be the fastest area of growth for enterprise mobility between now and 2016.

Also read Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly

Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

Enterprise Mobility, Re-usable Code and Private App Stores

Mobility News Weekly – Week of April 15, 2012

Mobile Marketing News Weekly – Week of April 15, 2012

SAP's Acquisition of Sybase in 2010 Revisited - A Third Cup of Coffee

Mobile Commerce News Weekly – Week of April 15, 2012

Developing Enterprise Mobility Apps and a Flashback to 2006

What's New in HTML5 - Week of April 16, 2012

Field Mobility and M2M News Weekly – Week of April 15, 2012

Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly – Week of April 15, 2012

Mobile Health News Weekly – Week of April 8, 2012

Interviews with Kevin Benedict

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