Mobile Commerce News Weekly - Week of November 28, 2011

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
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Also read Mobile Medical News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobility Charts Weekly

PayPal has announced that on November 24, the company saw a 538 percent increase in mobile payments compared to the same day last year. Read Original Content

Following its success in the United States, Starbucks is planning to install a payment system in its iPhone app for 700 of its stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Read Original Content

Pyxis Mobile provides an agile, powerful, and secure mobile enterprise application platform.  It enables rapid cross-platform application development, unlimited data integration, enterprise-grade security, and the unique ability to change and update applications in real time.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Pyxis Mobile, http://pyxismobile.com/

The European Union is deciding whether to regulate mobile payments as NFC technology is driving the rapid advancement of paying through smartphones. Read Original Content

Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of November 28, 2011

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 M2M News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Medical News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobility Charts Weekly

SAP and Sybase, a provider of enterprise and mobile software, have unveiled new mobile apps designed for a wide range of industries and mobile workers, from executives to knowledge and task workers. Read Original Content

The U.S. Army Logistics Innovation Agency is installing more than 6,500 active radio frequency identification tags as part of its Next Generation Wireless Communications program for logistics applications, to track military vehicles and other equipment as they are washed at Camp Arifjan, in Kuwait. Read Original Content

The U.S. Army is currently developing a tablet computer for battlefield use. The tablet is expected to use Android operating systems, and be smaller than Apple’s iPad with a ruggedized a protective case. 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/.

In recent years rugged tablet computers have found practical uses in work settings that include dairy farms, beverage distributors, and auto-part companies as they find that tablet computers allow for more efficient business practices. Read Original Content

Motorola's RhoElements is this Strategy a Trend?

In October of 2011, Motorola Solutions (MSI), the segment of Motorola that split off to focus on business solutions, acquired RhoMobile.   Rhomobile is a software company that develops mobile business and government solutions, and MEAPs (mobile enterprise application platforms).  The day that Motorola announced this acquisition, they also announced a new solution from RhoMobile called RhoElements, a hybrid HTML5 platform for Windows Mobile, Windows CE and Android based Motorola devices.

This is an interesting strategy for a traditional manufacturer of Windows Mobile and Windows CE based barcode scanners, ruggedized smartphones, handheld and tablet computers.  It appears that MSI is no longer willing to wait for Microsoft based OS answers and upgrade paths.  

Over the past few years, Microsoft has severely damaged the ruggedized hardware market through neglect and a refusal to provide an upgrade path for their Windows Mobile and Windows CE mobile operating systems.  This has forced the ruggedized hardware manufacturers to try to compete and sell expensive mobile hardware, with outdated operating systems, against a tsunami of innovative, inexpensive, new consumer-oriented smartphones and tablets.  The ruggedized handheld manufacturers have seen their markets shrink as a result.

This Microsoft engineered disadvantage is motivating the manufacturers of industrial grade mobile devices to look for alternative solutions and upgrade paths.  It appears that MSI has acquired theirs with RhoMobile.  Rather than wait for Microsoft, MSI released RhoElement which appears to enable HTML5 based mobile applications to run on the old Windows CE and Windows Mobile browsers as this excerpt from DevProConnect states, "RhoElements is designed to allow businesses to quickly and cost-effectively develop and deploy web-based applications on existing Motorola Windows Embedded Handheld (formerly known as Windows Mobile) and Windows Embedded Compact (Win-CE) mobile computers as well as Motorola's recently announced ET1 Android-based enterprise tablet."

MSI bought a MEAP with RhoMobile that they hope to make a "universal" standard.  RhoElement already supports Windows Mobile 6.5 and Android, and they have promised to soon support all of the other popular OSs.

Let's now take a closer look at some of the motivations that MSI has given for the acquisition of RhoMobile:

• We (MSI and RhoMobile) have a shared focus on the enterprise with a strong commitment to partners.
• MSI will provide the scale, resources, and industry knowledge to accelerate universal adoption of Rho technology.
• MSI is strategically committed to the Rhomobile suite of products.
• MSI is committed to supporting the Rhomobile community and continuing the open source heritage of Rhodes.

My analysis is that given the lack of answers and no Microsoft provided upgrade path, MSI is strategically changing paths.  They have seen the negative impact on their business caused by a dependence on Microsoft and have sought and found a non-operating system dependent path to innovation which is a RhoElement,  HTML5 hybrid approach to enterprise mobility solutions.

It will be very interesting to see if others like Intermec, PSION, Honeywell, Trimble and others also decide to acquire a non-Microsoft path.

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

Visit MobileEnterpriseStrategies.com

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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 Medical News Weekly - Week of November 21, 2011

The Mobile Medical News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to medical mobility that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting information that reflects market data and trends.

Also read Field Mobility News Weekly

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Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly

Also read Mobility News Weekly

Also read Mobility Charts Weekly

London-based market research firm Datamonitor estimates the market for telehealth services in the U.S. and Europe will grow from $3 billion in 2009 to nearly $8 billion by 2012. Read Original Content

According to ABI Research by 2016 the mobile health app market will be worth $400 million. Read Original Content

The Asia Pacific region will generate more than $7 billion in revenues from mHealth services in 2017, according to a new study by the GSM Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Read Original Content

Webalo technology eliminates the need for traditional mobile application development tools and custom programming to provide in hours, instead of weeks or months, mobile access to the specific enterprise data and functions that smartphone and tablet users rely on to do their jobs.  This newsletter is sponsored in part by Webalo, www.webalo.com.

One out of four healthcare providers are now using tablets in their practice, with another 21 percent expecting to do so in the next 12 months, and more than half are using a smartphone at work, according to CompTIA. Read Original Content

M2M News Weekly - Week of November 21, 2011

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 Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobile Medical News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobility Charts Weekly

Ford Motor Company has announced that it will accelerate plans to develop and deliver best-in-world in-car technology to customers across Asia, as it is establishing its connected services group in the Asia Pacific and Africa regions. Read Original Content

Asia-Pacific is forecast to become the largest market for M2M subscriptions in volume terms in 2013, and in 2016 is expected to account for 37 percent of the total market, according to a new report from Pyramid Research. Read Original Content

The global market for M2M communication is slated to grow to $1.5 billion by 2014 from around $842 million in 2010. 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/.

According to analyst house Infonetics Research, the global M2M market will be worth $3.8 billion by 2015. Read Original Content