Mobile Expert Video Series: Tal Geffen

I recorded this interview with ClickSoftware's VP of Product Development, Tal Geffen in beautiful and sunny San Diego, CA last week.  In this interview I ask Tal to describe how back-end applications like work order management, scheduling, time sheets, rostering and other service related solutions connect and work with mobile apps.  We then talk about mobile platforms and the use of context aware and predictive concepts in mobile solutions.

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

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC (Social, MOBILE, Analytics and Cloud), Cognizant

Read The Future of Work

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Strategic Enterprise Mobility Linkedin Group

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Kevin Benedict's What's New in HTML5 - Week of September 16, 2012

I read an article by one of Facebook's developers this morning in which he discussed their challenges with HTML5.  He called for additional browser tools that would help with debugging HTML5 apps and hardware issues, especially in the area of tracking down memory problems.  It seems that Facebook manages so many photos and other media in their news feeds that its HTML5 mobile app was constantly having scrolling problems due to memory and hardware issues which made for a poor user experience and a buggy app.

The Facebook developer still thinks HTML5 mobile apps will ultimately win over native, but after some time and additional features have been added to the standard.

Tylted CEO Lon Otremba feels that the adoption of HTML5 as a development platform will revolutionize how the games industry becomes mobile.  Read Original Content

Since its upgrade to HTML5, ShopNBC has exceeded expectations, with a 7 percent increase in page views and a 77 percent increase in mobile traffic.  Read Original Content

Vertical Solutions, Inc. has launched HTML5-based mobile versions of its customer relationship management and field service software solutions.  Read Original Content

Music streaming site Grooveshark has launched a new HTML5-based site.  CEO Sam Tarantino praises HTML5, stating “Thanks to technologies such as HTML5, we are able to offer our service with much better device compatibility, which will expand our user and revenue base for our partner labels and artists”.  Read Original Content

Despite the setback with Facebook rewriting its iOS app in Objective C, interest in HTML5 is still growing.  Facebook is still a supporter, with a company representative stating “Facebook is not moving away from HTML5, as we use it for our mobile site, which gets more traffic than our native apps”.   Read Original Content

YouTube uses Adobe Flash to display videos; however it is in a trial phase for HTML5 playback for some videos.  Christopher Park explains “How to Enable HTML5 in YouTube”.  Read Original Content

Ketan Anjaria, founder and CEO of app maker CardFlick notes that there are several advantages of HTML5 over native apps, but warns they come at a price.  “It's extremely easy to get updates out to everybody, you're always running the latest version, you can change things at will, you can track and analyze users a lot better. But you don't get performance. You don't get animation, and even though HTML5 says you can build on one platform and run on many, you still have to build for mobile platforms."  Read Original Content

The Open Mobile Summit will be held November 7-9, 2012 in San Francisco, and will explore the key themes of today's mobile industry, including app monetization, HTML5, mobile advertising, cross-platform brands and the cloud.  Read Original Content

A report from French group faberNovel on HTML5 and how to rethink web strategy is embedded as slides in this article from techcrunch.com “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About HTML5* (*But Were Afraid To Ask)”.  Read Original Content

Analysts at Gartner warn that HTML5 still has a long way to go in the enterprise.  “There is visible momentum around HTML5; however, as with most technologies, especially on the Web, interest is occurring primarily outside the enterprise sector--among progressive Web designers and among mobile application developers.”  Read Original Content

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg admitted that “the biggest mistake we made as a company was betting too much on HTML5 instead of native”, such as Apple’s native Cocoa Touch platform.  Read Original Content

According to ABI Research, 32 percent of the top iOS Apps can be built as HTML5 web apps within 18 months.  “However, in many big-ticket categories, the majority of titles are distinctly native. Games, productivity, utilities, music apps won’t have much to gain from HTML5 anytime soon”, says an ABI senior analyst.  Read Original Content

The HTML5-responsive redesign of The Chicago Tribune search pages brought “significant improvements in user experience for mobile users and sizable increases in visits to these pages”, according to Perfect Market.  Read Original Content

Mozilla has posted a new video that provides a glimpse of the new Firefox OS built using HTML5.  The video is embedded in this article “Get a Sneak Peek at Firefox OS in This New Mozilla Video” in PCWorld.  ReadOriginal Content

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

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC (Social, MOBILE, Analytics and Cloud), Cognizant

Read The Future of Work

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Strategic Enterprise Mobility Linkedin Group

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Commerce News Weekly – Week of September 16, 2012

The Mobile Commerce News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile commerce and marketing, mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking, mobile ads 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 News Weekly
Also read M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Health News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly

Worldwide mobile payments transactions are expected to reach $171.5 billion this year, up from $105.9 billion in 2011, research firm Gartner Inc. said in May. Read Original Content

According to eMarketer, Twitter will tally $129.7 million in U.S. mobile advertising revenue in 2012, compared with $72.7 million for Facebook. Read Original Content

Smartphone users worldwide will download more than 45 billion apps this year, nearly twice the number of apps that were downloaded in 2011, according to new data from the research group Gartner, in a clear sign of just how quickly the demand for apps is growing. Read Original Content

By the end of 2013, roughly 43 percent of bank customers are expected to be using a smartphone for banking on the go, according to The Federal Reserve. Read Original Content

Founded in 1979, DSI is a global provider of Enterprise Mobility Solutions®, helping companies worldwide increase productivity and profitability regardless of data source, device type, operating system or network connectivity.  DSI serves clients globally through its offices in Australia, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by DSI.

Chicago mobile ad spending in the financial and insurance category is expected to grow from $4.4 million in 2011 to $27 million in 2016. Read Original Content

Charles Schwab has announced mobile deposit capabilities for iPad users, enabling Schwab brokerage and Schwab Bank clients to deposit checks remotely by taking a picture of a check with an iPad camera. Read Original Content

Despite worries about Facebook’s ability to make money from mobile devices, new research predicts the social network's U.S. mobile-advertising revenue will quintuple next year, catapulting it into the top ranks of the mobile-ad business, behind market leader Google Inc. Read Original Content

Pakistan’s number of mobile banking accounts has reached 1.45 million, experiencing a growth of 37 percent during the quarter ending June 30,2012, a state bank official has said. Read Original Content

Mobile Expert Video Series: Latecia Mills

I must confessed to rarely having a female mobility expert included in my Mobile Expert Video Series, so today I am particularly happy to publish a video interview that I conducted a couple of weeks ago with a 20-year veteran of enterprise mobility Latecia Mills, VP of Global Services and Support with DSI.

DSI has been in business for over 30 years, and they have been implementing mobile solutions for over 20 years.  It is not every day that I get to interview someone with that much real-world experience.  DSI grew out of the heavy duty warehouse management and manufacturing industries, and this year they made it onto Gartner's Magic Quadrant for MADPs (mobile application development platforms).

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

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC (Social, MOBILE, Analytics and Cloud), Cognizant

Read The Future of Work

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Strategic Enterprise Mobility Linkedin Group

Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

iPhone 5, BYOD and Enterprise Mobile Strategies

My wife and I are going to do something we have never done before.  We are going to get up early on Friday morning and drive to our local (everything is local in Boise) Apple store so we can report on the silly crowds standing in line to get the new iPhone 5.  If by chance we happen to end up in the store and our iPhones get upgraded C'est la vie.  The things we do for our readers...

Ever since Apple announced the new iPhone 5, each time I open my iPhone there are apps that need updated.  This reminded me of the impact hardware and operating system updates have on enterprises.  In the old days (four years ago), Microsoft would rarely update their mobile OS, and when they did you would have many months of advanced notice.  Today, all you have are rumors up to the very day of the announcement.  This can cause problems for custom built native applications in the enterprise.

In this video interview that I recorded earlier this year with Element Five Solutions' Harish Rau at a ClickSoftware event in Atlanta, GA, Harish shares how he had a large client implementation derail because of an Apple iOS update.  Seems right in the middle of his final testing, an Apple iOS update was released and a large number of his beta group updated.  Suddenly the native app his team was rolling out would not work!  YIKES!

In a BYOD (bring your own device) world, the enterprise is not in as much control.  This means companies must understand the new consumer oriented deployment models, anticipate these events and plan for them.  I know some of the MDM (mobile device management) and MAM (mobile application management) vendors have software that can control and prevent unplanned OS updates.  However, this means the owner of the smartphone or tablet must agree to allow the company to prevent unwanted updates. 

The BYOD environment may not work for companies that have mission critical mobile apps and important SLAs to meet.  If a company's ability to deliver mission critical services to clients is jeopardized by the decisions of the smartphone's owner, then that is a risky environment that many companies may choose not to support.

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

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC (Social, MOBILE, Analytics and Cloud), Cognizant

Read The Future of Work

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Strategic Enterprise Mobility Linkedin Group

Full Disclosure: I am a mobility analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles. These are my personal opinions only and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.

Mastering Enterprise Mobility with SAP in ANZ

I am honored to have been invited to speak at a series of 4 one-day conferences in Australia and New Zealand in November, 2012.  The conference series is entitled, Mastering Enterprise Mobility with SAP and consists of 17 international and local mobile experts sharing their insights.  It looks like a great program!

Topics include:

• Developing Your Enterprise Mobility Strategy (ME)
• Getting Mobile Solution Design Right
• Security Management, Governance and Compliance
• Communication Infrastructure and Device Management
• Understanding the SAP Roadmap and Products
• Developing the Business Case for Mobility
• Succeeding with Change Management
• Support and Administration of Mobility Projects
• Reporting, Analytics and Mobile BI
• Technical Connectivity and Continuity

Australia is such a beautiful and interesting place to visit.  I have had the privilege of visiting and speaking in Australia many times and have developed great friendships and worked on some very interesting mobility projects there.  It is always an interesting day when your routine includes avoiding 15 foot deadly snakes while on the job - see this photo sent from a friend who works for a utility company in Australia.

Mobile applications for field services in Australia are often used in remote locations in the outback where service technicians work at night, around the large mines, and have to travel great distances in isolated and rough environments.  These mobile apps often have a special focus on safety for the service technician.  I have seen apps that report missing service technicians if they don't report in on schedule, etc.

One service technician told me he runs into very dangerous snakes all the time.  He worked for a large equipment rental company that supplies mines.  It seems some of the equipment makes perfect homes for dangerous snakes.  Wow!  I just try not to slip in the shower in the morning.

The New Zealand conference will be a real bonus, as I have not had the opportunity to spend time there, although I have worked on several mobility projects with New Zealand companies.   Here are the dates of the conferences in mm/dd/yyyy format:

• Auckland, NZ on 11/01/2012
• Brisbane, AU 11/05/2012
• Sydney, AU 11/07/2012
• Melbourne, AU 11/09/2012

I look forward to meeting up with all my friends and making new friends on this trip!

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

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC (Social, MOBILE, Analytics and Cloud), Cognizant

Read The Future of Work

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Strategic Enterprise Mobility Linkedin Group

Full Disclosure: I am a mobility analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles. These are my personal opinions only and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.

M2M News Weekly – Week of September 16, 2012

Welcome to 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.  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.

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

There will be over 700 million cellular-enabled machine-to-machine device adoption and system deployments in the U.S. by 2017, according to a recent Gigaom publication. Read Original Content

The global M2M industry is expected to generate some $290 billion in revenues in 2017, up from just $44 billion this year, according to new research from MarketsandMarkets. Read Original Content

The growing use of RFID in modernizing applications is set to overtake the traditional RFID use cases driving the market to over $14 billion in 2017, according to ABI Research. Read Original Content

ILS Technology provides ready-to-use cloud based platforms to implement and manage M2M (machine to machine) and embedded wireless devices that connect to SAP.  ILS Technology simplifies deployments and offers unparalleled security to protect company and customer data and to ensure regulatory compliance. This newsletter is sponsored in part by ILS Technology.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced it has reached its $250 million goal of improving the rural smart grids of the country. The agency has been keen to improve these grids for some time, hoping to better prepare them for the adoption of alternative energy systems. Read Original Content

China's smart grid components market is expected to achieve a CAGR of 6 percent between 2011 and 2021 reaching $1.43 trillion, SBI Energy says in a market study. The country is expected to become number one globally on the smart grid market, surpassing the U.S. whose CAGR is estimated at 4 percent. Read Original Content

The number of mobile connected devices will nearly double to 12 billion by 2020, the GSMA predicts. In addition to consumer electronics devices such as cell phones, the GSMA forecast includes a variety of machine-to-machine sensors, including devices for the automotive, education, healthcare, and public utility industries. Read Original Content

The total smart grid software and related IT services market will reach $4.3 billion by the end of 2012, according to Pike Research. Read Original Content

Mobile Expert Video Series: Moshe BenBassat (Mobile AI and Context Aware Apps)

Did you have a chance to watch Dr. Moshe BenBassat's video last week where he discussed his background working with NASA, ballistic missile defense, the Army and Air Force logistics, and how he uses that experience today to develop mobile applications?  It was very interesting!

In this video, which can be considered a Part 2 to last week's, he discusses the use of artificial intelligence, contextual aware and predictive applications for the services industry.  Again, a very intriguing notion.

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

Kevin Benedict, Head Analyst for SMAC (Social, MOBILE, Analytics and Cloud), Cognizant

Read The Future of Work

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the Strategic Enterprise Mobility Linkedin Group

Full Disclosure: I am a mobility analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles. These are my personal opinions only and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.

Field Mobility News Weekly – Week of September 16, 2012

The Field Mobility 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 M2M 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

Students and faculty from Delta State University in Mississippi utilized GIS technology to create search and rescue maps to assist the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency as Hurricane Isaac reached the Gulf Coast.  Read Original Content

Panasonic’s rugged Toughbook 19 convertible tablet PC has been upgraded and will now feature the Intel Core i5-3320M vPro processor.  Read Original Content

Vertical Solutions, Inc. has launched HTML5-based mobile versions of its customer relationship management and field service software solutions.  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.

The city of Indianapolis is using GPS technology with private field service crews taking inventory of streets and street signs, utilizing special vans equipped with cameras, sensors and laser guided radar.  Read Original Content

South African firm Harmonic Group is working with a private hospital to utilize RFID technology to track and secure newborn babies.  Read Original Content

MIT researchers have developed an ethylene-detecting sensor with an RFID chip that communicates with a handheld device to detect and display ethylene levels and reduce food waste in the supply chain.  Read Original Content

The City of Honolulu is undergoing a project which integrates GIS technology with 3D apps to help visualize and map development and planning proposals.  Read Original Content

The ThingMagic division of Trimble has created a new infographic titled “The Future of RFID:  Think Big, Yet Simple,” illustrating the benefits of RFID technology in industries such as healthcare, retail, construction and transportation.  Read Original Content

Enterprise Mobility Asia News Weekly – Week of September 16, 2012

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 News Weekly
Also read M2M 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

With QR codes, NFC and smartphone technology, mobile marketing in Korea is rising rapidly.  Read Original Content

In Australia 18 percent of IT leaders indicate a shortage of mobile technology skills when searching for employable talent and that shortage could worsen in the short term.  Read Original Content

Asia-focused hotel technology provider MVI and IBM have collaborated to launch a mobile device management solution for mobile smart devices to support interactive, live and on-demand video services in hotels, such as Hong Kong’s L’Hotel élan. Read Original Content

Antenna Software provides a complete cloud-based enterprise mobility suite that enables both IT pros and business executives alike to create and manage mobile apps, websites and content across the entire business.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Antenna Software.

According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report, widespread adoption of mobile technology in healthcare in China is now viewed as inevitable by 80 percent of doctors and healthcare payers, including government officials, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies.  Read Original Content

With an increasing number of mobile Internet users in China, investment in the industry reached $378 million in the first six months of 2012, a year-on-year increase of 18 percent.  Read Original Content

Research firm Gartner has predicted the Asia Pacific region and Africa will comprise over 60 percent of global mobile payments volume by 2016.  According to SAP, mobile commerce in the Philippines is growing rapidly.  Read Original Content

Myriad Group is partnering with Facebook to provide social mobile messaging for mobile operators Celcom in Malaysia, Indosat in Indonesia and Mobily in Saudi Arabia.  Read Original Content

Mindspeed is teaming up with China Mobile Research Institute to accelerate the adoption and deployment of the small cell network in China.  “With more mobile subscribers in China than any other country in the world, the development of a small cell network is critical to meet the growing data and traffic demands on the network.”  Read Original Content