Independent Mobility Analyst - What Does that Mean?

Talk, Talk, Talk

I had a person ask me today about the meaning of independent mobility analyst.  That is a fair question so let me try to explain what I do.  The first thing to know is that I wear many hats.  I am a blogger (just topped 1,000 articles), journalist, consultant, experienced executive, advisor, workshop facilitator and analyst.  I conduct research and write reports on issues related to enterprise mobility and M2M (machine-to-machine communications). Often I write these analyst reports on contract to analyst firms. 



In addition to writing analyst reports, I also write articles nearly every day that are published at http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/ and on many other sites related to enterprise mobility.  I also publish five newsletters on various niche markets within enterprise mobility each week.  I am regularly invited to speak on webinars and at technology conferences, user groups and other events.  I have led sessions at Sapphire, SAP TechEd, ASUG chapter meetings and SAP Insider events.  Next month I will be leading two sessions at the Mastering SAP Technologies conference in Sydney, Australia.

In between researching, writing, participating in webinars and speaking at conferences, I spend time consulting, recording podcasts and videos, and volunteering my time as an SAP Mentor.  My background is general enterprise mobility and B2B e-commerce, but I spend the majority of my time working within the SAP ecosystem.

That is my odd work life as an independent freelancer.

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

The Latest Thinking and Strategies for Deploying Flexible Mobile Solutions

Mobility can be a Challenge

I will be participating in a two part webinar next week on Thursday, February 17, 2011 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST that I invite all of you to attend.  I will be presenting my research results in the first part called Challenges in Enterprise Mobility from the Experts, and the second part, The Latest Thinking and Strategies for Deploying Flexible Mobile Solutions - The Four Big Issues for Mobilizing SAP and Other Enterprise Systems will be presented by Steve Levy, mobile industry expert and CEO of Pyxis Mobile.

Enterprise-grade mobility is quickly becoming a core component of every company’s IT environment. However, it brings with it some big and often hidden challenges that companies need to plan for, including:

1. Multi-device proliferation: support for a growing number of smartphones
2. Data integration: the freedom to connect to any data in the enterprise
3. Security: more than just authentication
4. Agility: the need to iteratively update applications with new content and functionality in a quick and easy way

 Please join us!  Register here.

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

Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly – Week of February 7, 2011

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

Also read Kevin’s Field Mobility News Weekly 

Also read Kevin’s M2M News Monthly 

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly 

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly 

Also read Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly 

I will be participating in a two part webinar next week on Thursday, February 17, 2011 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM EST that I invite all of you to attend.  I will be presenting my research results in the first part called Challenges in Enterprise Mobility from the Experts, and the second part, The Latest Thinking and Strategies for Deploying Flexible Mobile Solutions - The Four Big Issues for Mobilizing SAP and Other Enterprise Systems will be presented by Steve Levy, mobile industry expert and CEO of Pyxis Mobile.

Google Inc.'s AdMob is on a tear.  The mobile ad network receives more than two billion ad requests daily, marking a fourfold increase from a year ago.

http://www.rcrwireless.com/article/20110131/CONTENT_MOBILE_MARKETING/110139994/googles-admob-receives-2-billion-ad-requests-daily 

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Facebook has acquired mobile ad start-up Rel8tion to improve hyper local ad targeting to its 200 million plus mobile subscribers.  Rel8tion is a nine month old Seattle based start up that connects people to ads based on their location and demographic.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2376226,00.asp 

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According to a new survey conducted by the Association of National Advertisers, in conjunction with the Mobile Marketing Association, a whopping 88 percent of advertisers plan to be active in mobile in 2011—up from 62 percent last year.

Kevin’s Field Mobility News Weekly – Week of February 7, 2011

Kevin’s 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 Kevin’s M2M News Monthly

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly

Construction productivity tools are going mobile, and the combination of advancing cellphone technology and a flurry of activity by app developers has led to an array of easy to adopt solutions for residential builders.

http://www.constructech.com/news/articles/article.aspx?article_id=8493

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first diagnostic radiology app for use in viewing medical images to make diagnoses using Apple's iPad and iPhone, a title that won the Apple Design Award for "Best iPhone Healthcare & Fitness Application" in 2008.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/11/02/04/fda_approves_ipad_iphone_radiology_app_for_mobile_diagnoses.html

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Providing solutions for fleet sustainability efforts, the “green” telematics market is expected to expand nine fold by 2015.  Most valuable to fleets is the wireless communication of fuel consumption and emissions data.

http://www.automotive-fleet.com/Channel/GPS-Telematics/Article/Story/2010/05/Green-Telematics-Use-to-Grow.aspx

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has reversed course on one of the first radiology apps ever pulled from the Apple Store.  Now, U.S. radiologists who can't make it to a workstation but need to review medical images can make a diagnosis off their iPhone or iPad.

Weird, Odd and Strange Mobility Series: iPhones Pointing to Ladies, Creative Hand Gestures and Robot Students



WWI Motorcycle with Mobile
Radio Included

Student Sends Remote Controlled Robot to School

High school student Lyndon Baty has a weakened immune system that prevents him from actually attending school, so he's using a remotely-controlled "robot" that allows him to move from class to class and interact with teachers and other students using nothing more than his laptop and webcam at home.  This is an interesting adaption of M2M (machine-to-machine) and mobile communications.  Soon we will be able to send robots to represent us at speed dating events, class reunions and office parties.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/03/texas-student-sends-robot-to-school-in-his-place-cant-get-it-t/

Using Hand Gestures on Your Computer?

Israeli based eyeSight Mobile Technologies has released its hand gesture interface solution for computers using the Android and Windows platforms.  Users can control their music and video players, browse through eBooks, manage presentations, play games, control PC apps and carry out many other tasks by simply gesturing.  I can image all kinds of strange and interesting gestures that could be implemented.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/03/eyesight-brings-its-gesture-controls-to-android-tablets-windows/

RoboEarth Teaches Robots to Learn from Peers and Pour Creamy European Fruit Beverages

I read about RoboEarth this week and it is both interesting and scary.  The purpose of this European Commission project is to create robots that can teach each other how to do things without human involvement or programming.  I just exposed my teenage daughter to the Terminator series this year, and this sounds a lot like the beginning of SkyNet.  RoboEarth has already taught one robot, the TechUnited AMIGO, to deliver a box of creamy fruit juice to a bedridden scientist.  The next thing you know it will deliver (via a time machine) a nearly indestructible robot determined to stop us from producing future rebels.

http://www.roboearth.org/project-scope

Do You Need to Find Ladies?  There is an App for That.

Geo-location solutions have already degenerated to Wheretheladies.at, a web app that aggregates Foursquare checkins by the female gender.  It has now, disappointingly, been approved by Apple and is available on the iPhone. The iPhone application has a big compass that points you in the direction of ladies. Not just any ladies, mind you, but ladies using mobile devices and Foursquare to checkin.  In addition, it helps you increase your odds of finding a lady by directing you to the location where there is the largest concentration of female checkins.

Alexia Tsotsis at TechCrunch writes, "We previously called this service “evolutionary advantage,” as it is essentially nerds using technology to circumvent Darwinism. The fittest now includes those who have smarts, or at least smartphones."

http://techcrunch.com/2011/02/01/where-the-ladies-at-mobile/

Whitepapers of Note:

• The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
• ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
• Networked Field Services
• Mobile, The Next Big Thing for Business

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

Kevin's M2M News Monthly - February 2011

Welcome to Kevin's M2M News Monthly, 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.

Also read Kevin’s Field Mobility News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly 

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly

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At the end of 2010, roughly 80 million subscribers were using of M2M technology. That number is set to rise to 300 million subscribers by 2015 according to research done by Berg Insight. Europe and North America currently dominate the number of connected M2M devices and are expected to continue through 2020.

http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2011/01/wireless-m2m-growth-projections.html

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According to recent research carried out by InfoCom the M2M market shows significant growth potential worldwide.  M2M has become a fast growing and strategically important market for many companies and network operators as it provides new possibilities for services and solutions.

http://bignews.biz/?id=965040

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Sprint Nextel plans make a significant investment in its M2M technology to wirelessly connect devices like in car safety systems.  This new system will bring significant environmental, safety, efficiency and operational benefits.

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - Week of January 31, 2011

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 data and trends.

Also read Kevin’s Field Mobility News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly 

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s M2M News Monthly

During the third quarter of 2010 — the first complete quarter with Apple's iPad on sale the entire time — manufacturers shipped 4.8 million tablets worldwide, up 45 percent from 3.3 million in the same period last year.

http://wirelessweek.com/News/2011/01/Devices-IDC-Pad-87-percent-3Q-Tablet-Sales-Computers/

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According to IT provider Softchoice’s recent survey of more than 1,400 people from over 1,200 companies, mobile is quickly becoming a preferred method for researching IT purchases.  The survey found that 60 percent of respondents that carried smartphones used them to research IT.

http://www.b2cmarketinginsider.com/b2b-perspective/for-it-marketing-go-mobile-011562

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According to its annual report, Forrester Research indicates that Technologies like 4G and LTE, Near Field Communication, barcodes and augmented reality will see increasing amounts of hype in 2011, and the use of mobile/social/location combinations will soar.

Chetan Sharma's The Promise of Mobile Advertising

Chetan Sharma

I have been following with interest analyst Chetan Sharma and his work in the mobile and voice communication industry sectors for some time now.  He produces very good industry reports, and he participates in many industry conferences.  His website is http://chetansharma.com/.

Mr. Sharma has just completed a new report, The Promise of Mobile Advertising.  Here is an excerpt that I found of particular interest, "Mobile is having a significant impact on local advertising. The attributes of immediacy, location, always-on connectivity, user profile and segmentation, and the viral nature of the medium make mobile the best channel for local advertisers to engage potential customers."

Executive Summary

The world of advertising is changing at a dizzying pace.  New media are transforming advertising, and consumer expectations have changed accordingly.  In this dynamic environment, no communications platform holds more promise than the mobile device.

Kevin's Mobile Money News Weekly - Week of January 31, 2011

Kevin’s Mobile Money 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 Kevin’s Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of January 31, 2011

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly - Week of January 31, 2011 

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly - Week of January 24, 2011

Also read Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly - Week of January 24, 2011

Ericsson will launch mobile phone banking services, hoping to capture a big chunk of a market it estimates will be worth an annual $27.7 billion by 2015.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/02/ericsson-idUSLDE71128320110202

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Driven by wider smartphone adoption and regular mobile Web use, the number of Americans banking by mobile phone will jump from 10 million today to more than 50 million by 2015.

http://www.mediapost.com/blogs/raw/?p=5473

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Facebook, flush with cash, is making mobile a priority and planning to snap up mobile start-ups to beef up its arsenal to compete with rival Google.

http://www.mobiledia.com/news/80731.html

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Visa Europe has launched the first commercial deployment of its own iPhone payments App. Visa introduced an NFC certification program in December.  In the UK, Visa continues to test NFC based payment systems at its London offices.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/17738/visa_begins_iphone_iwallet_payment_tests_in_europe

Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly – Week of January 31, 2011

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

Also read Kevin's Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of January 31, 2011

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly - Week of January 24, 2011 

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly - Week of January 24, 2011

Also read Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly - Week of January 24, 2011

In 2010 small businesses adopted a number of new technologies such as mobile, group purchasing and location-based marketing as part of their business advertising strategies.  However, social media has quickly risen to the top.  According to the recent Ad-ology 2011 Small Business Marketing Forecast, 46 percent of small businesses plan to increase their marketing spend in 2011, up from 29 percent last year.

http://www.amsterdamprinting.com/Article/Nearly+half+of+small+businesses+to+increase+social+media+spend+in+2011/800367418/Default.aspx

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In a new report market research firm Gartner forecasts that global mobile app store revenues will triple from $5.2 billion last year to $15 billion in 2011, and keep growing to an astounding $58 billion by 2014.

http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/26/mobile-app-store-15-billion-2011/

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Groupon recently acquired a small online coupon startup in India called SoSasta (which means “very cheap”).  However, the real leader in India’s digital coupon space is actually SnapDeal, which currently boasts over 1 million subscribers, holding roughly 70 percent of the market share.

Weird, Odd and Strange Mobility Series: Suicide Bomber Receives Wrong Text

Early WWI Drones

Killer Text: A Russian suicide bomber blows up by accident. 

In an article by Daniel Kennedy for ZDNet he writes about a suicide bomber that was set to detonate a belt of explosives in Russia's Red Square on New Years, when instead the explosives went off early inside the safe house.  It seems the explosives were set to be triggered by a mobile phone call.  However, an automated "Happy News Years!" text message sent by the mobile network operator detonated the bomb early to the good fortune of New Years revelers. 

The rapid pace of the mobility revolution is having impacts on society in ways we could not have imaged a few years ago.  Mobile technology is helping replace governments, turning industries upside down (book stores, video stores, newspapers, TV and films, music, etc.) and changing the way we all communicate with each other.  How very strange indeed.

Silicon Valley's Google and Twitter Enable Egyptians to Tweet via Voice

Using Google's speech-to-text recognition technology, Twitter's hashtagging and massive distribution list, Egyptian citizens can still report their experiences to the world despite an Internet blackout.  Callers dial special numbers and their words are transcribed into a Tweet that is auto-tagged with #egypt.

Perhaps we can all learn to use hands free texting...or isn't that the same thing as calling?  How strange.

Whitepapers of Note:

• The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
• ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
• Networked Field Services
• Mobile, The Next Big Thing for Business

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

Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst

Phone +1 208-991-4410

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility group 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.

Kevin’s Field Mobility News Weekly – Week of January 31, 2011

Kevin’s 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 Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly 

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly

Now for the news:

The Army’s Medical Communications for Combat Casualty Care organization is getting ready for the day when mobile devices may be fielded to soldiers.  MC4 is preparing for the eventuality that remote, computerized training modules could be loaded on iPads, iPhones and Android-based devices.

http://www.govhealthit.com/newsitem.aspx?nid=76120

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Mobility is one of the emerging technology trends identified by Gartner in its recent Top 10 strategic technologies for 2011.  Gartner predicts that the global market for enterprise mobility will exceed $168 billion 2012. Also a recent survey by CIO.com highlights that significant percentage of IT leaders are including towards mobile solutions.

http://ers.hclblogs.com/2011/01/mobility-solutions-–-meriting-the-manufacturing-and-retail-industries/

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The City of Columbus, Ohio is utilizing Wireless Matrix Corporation’s FleetOutlook Silver service to help improve efficiency of field vehicles in its Department Public Utilities. The  City is implementing the FleetOutlook Silver service for GPS tracking, and deploying Wireless Matrix devices, providing integrated GPS and wireless data communications for the solution.

http://www.government-fleet.com/Channel/GPS-Telematics/News/Story/2011/01/Columbus-Dept-of-Public-Utilities-Implements-GPS.aspx

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Zurich has signed up Trimble to provide telematics for the insurer's new fleet risk management scheme Zurich Fleet Intelligence.  Trimble will offer its telematics devices to Zurich customers looking to cut fleet operating costs and reduce crashes.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: SAP's Puneet Suppal

SAP's Puneet Suppal

I have been blessed with the opportunity to participate in a number of conferences, events and webinars this last year with Puneet Suppal with SAP’s Premier Customer Network Center of Excellence. He is an experienced mobility expert, and I want to thank him for sharing his independent thoughts and insights with us (these do not represent any official statement from his employer, SAP).

Note: These are not Puneet’s exact words, rather my notes from our interview.

Kevin: What mobile device(s) do you carry?
Puneet: My main devices are: BlackBerry, Nokia (my overseas phone), Android. Apple iPod Touch, Lenovo ThinkPad, Dell laptop.

Kevin: How many computing devices do you have in the house?
Puneet: Eight.

Kevin: Do you make purchases on mobile devices?
Puneet: Occasional movie tickets on the Android smartphone. I have purchased often using desktop or laptop computers.

Kevin: What are your favorite mobile applications on your mobile device?
Puneet: I am a news junkie, so my favorite mobile apps are news and sports related. I also use Twitter and text messaging apps.

Kevin: How long have you been involved in enterprise mobility?
Puneet: As a user, I got my first BlackBerry in 2004. I have been involved in the enterprise mobility industry since 2008-2009.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Smartsoft Mobile's Ed Krufka



Smartsoft Mobile's Ed Krufka

 I want to thank Ed Krufka from Smartsoft Mobile Solutions for scheduling time with us. Smartsoft Mobile is an SAP services partner.  Ed has been working on enterprise mobility applications for over twenty years. He started by developing mobile solutions internally for a large utility company. His insights today have the added bonus of a long term industry perspective.

Note: These are not Ed’s exact words, rather my notes from our interview.

Kevin: What mobile device(s) do you carry?
Ed: I use a Windows 7 Phone as my main business and personal phone. I carry an Android for testing and navigation. I can actually use both the Android OS and Windows Mobile 6.5 on the same device. I just need to reboot it. I also carry a laptop.

Kevin: What is your favorite mobile application?
Ed: I use the OneNote application a lot. I can store all of my documents, presentations and notes there and access them from any of my devices.

Kevin: How long have you been involved in enterprise mobility?
Ed: I have been working in enterprise mobility for over 20 years. I started working on mobile solutions in the utility industry. We developed our own mobile solutions internally. They were mobile applications for use on laptops mounted in utility trucks for high volume work orders. In 1995 I joined the vendor side of the business.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Adobe's Matthias Zeller

Adobe's Matthias Zeller

I have known Matthias Zeller for over ten years.  We first met in the fast lanes of the Silicon Valley dot.com days, where we were both focused on e-commerce and B2B systems.  A lot has happened in the past ten years for Matthias, including marriage, children, an SAP Mentorship and work as Group Product Manager, Enterprise Rich Internet Applications, at Adobe Systems.

Please read Matthias's responses with a slight German accent.

Note:  These are not Matthias' exact words, rather my notes from our interview.

Kevin:  What mobile device(s) do you carry?
Matthias:  An iPhone 3G, although I am switching to a new Android that supports Adobe's Flash.  I have a MacBook Pro and an iPad.

Kevin:  Have you purchased products using your mobile device(s)?
Matthias:  Just music and apps - no physical items.

Kevin: What industries do you see adopting mobility today?
Matthias:  Financial services, mobile banking, regular and investment banks, and insurance companies.

Kevin: What business processes do you see companies mobilizing?
Matthias: Processes that involve customer engagements like insurance claim filing, transactions, interactions between businesses and customers.  I also see a lot of field force automation, sales force automation and inventory monitoring while on the road.

Kevin's Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of January 24, 2011

Kevin’s 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 Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - Week of January 24, 2011
Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly - Week of January 24, 2011
Also read Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly - Week of January 24, 2011

Apple’s launch of the iPad marked the start of the Tablet revolution. Infinite Research expects that 147.2 million Tablet computers will ship in 2015, up from 16.1 million units in 2010.

http://www.infiniteresearch.net/research/tabletmarketforecast.html

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South Africa’s healthcare is poised for a major revolution this year. Now, millions of subscribers of MTN, a major communications company in Africa, will be able to access a range of healthcare services on their mobile handsets without the inconvenience of travelling to a healthcare facility.

http://www.itnewsafrica.com/?p=10187

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Mobile body area network technology has the potential to be a boon to the healthcare system of the future by enabling remote patient monitoring through disposable wireless devices -- meaning fewer doctor visits for everyone and great news for latrophobes.

Weird, Odd and Strange Mobility Series: Lonely Clusters, Bumping Dinner, Fountains and Penguins

iFLY Home Mobile App

You are lucky enough to have stumbled upon the first article in, I am sure, a long running series on strange and weird mobility news, information and other oddities.  Sorry.

Now for the weird, odd and strange:

1. Scientists on Possession Island (1,000 KM off the coast of the Antarctic) have found that Penguins monitored with embedded RFID chips live longer than Penguins with leg bands.  Banded Penguins have a 16 percent lower survival rate, travel slower, have less babies, take longer to feed.
2. Early tanks in WWI used pigeons to communicate their locations, logistics, inventories, status and pizza orders. 
3. Just heard on a ScienceNow podcast - Meet and greet social gatherings don't work for lonely people. Lonely people tend to cluster together, and lonely people that cluster together just make each other lonelier.   Try Facebooking.
4. Heard this quote from a person not licensed to practice medicine this morning, "IT is impotent in the face of mobility." 
5. Read about a new mobile application that let's people share the cost of a restaurant dinner by "Bumping" money from one mobile device to another.
6. SAP co-CEOs advice to politicians, "Business and political leaders should champion and enable further growth of mobile technology...there are 4.6 billion mobile telephones on the planet, and even the poor buy them."
7. Have you read about the bathroom scales that will wirelessly tweet your weight.
8. Forrester Research prediction - 2011 is the Year of the "Dumb" Smartphone User
9. More Forrester Research predictions - Technologies like QR codes and augmented reality will prompt users to hold up their phones to interact with the world around them.
10. Never walk while texting.  Woman falls into Mall fountain while texting.
11. A 68 year old man punched a 15 year old boy on a Southwest Airlines flight from Las Vegas to Boise, Idaho, in December because the teen wouldn't turn off his cell phone

If you come across weird, odd or strange articles on mobility and mobile applications please submit them to me for inclusion.  My apologies again.

Whitepapers of Note:

• The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
• ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
• Networked Field Services
• Mobile, The Next Big Thing for Business

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

Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly - Week of January 24, 2011

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 data and trends.

Also read Kevin's Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly
Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly

Forty-four percent of 250 IT managers surveyed plan to roll out five to 19 mobile apps for enterprise users this year. One in five have their sights on 20 or more. The main driver behind the mobile expansion is cost savings: 63 percent of the sample picked cost savings as one of the influences in choosing new apps.

http://www.cio.com/article/654467/Survey_Finds_Big_2011_Surge_in_Enterprise_Mobile_Apps?source=CIONLE_nlt_enterprise_2011-01-19

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A study found that in November 2010, the number of visitors to web-based email sites declined six percent compared to the previous year, while email engagement declined at an even greater rate. During the same time period, the number of users accessing email via their mobile devices grew by 36 percent.

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/1/Web-based_Email_Shows_Signs_of_Decline_in_the_U.S._While_Mobile_Email_Usage_on_the_Rise

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China's wireless subscriber base swelled to 841.94 million in December, the country's top three operators reported.

http://wirelessweek.com/News/2011/01/Carriers-Subs-Reach-842M-China-Mobile/

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In 2009 the market for mobile medical apps was worth about $41 million, or about 1.5 percent of the total mobile app market. Research firm Kalorama estimates that sales from mobile medical apps in 2010 total about $84.1 million.

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Webalo's Peter Price

Webalo Co-Founder Peter Price

I had the privelege this week to interview mobility expert and co-Founder/CEO of Webalo, Peter Price.  You know it is going to be an interesting conversation when four of the six people on the management team have PhDs or are working on PhDs.  Webalo formed in 2000 and has since written over 600,000 lines of code to power their solutions. 

Note:  These are not Peter's exact words, rather my notes from the interview.

Kevin:  What mobile device(s) do you carry?
Peter:  BlackBerry Bold, iPad and MacBook.

Kevin: What are some of your favorite mobile applications?
Peter: I must say our own Webalo application.  I practically run the business from my BlackBerry.  Any kind of travel related applications.  My family really likes the HeyTell mobile application.  It turns your smartphone into a walkie talkie, push to talk kind of device.

Kevin:  Do you use mobile devices to purchase things?
Peter:  Absolutely.  My iPad is my ordering device.  I buy all kinds of things online using mobile devices - tickets, books, reservations of all kinds.  I think the iPad will really drive online purchases because it is so convenient.

Special Report: Advice from Mobile Experts

Mobility Experts

This report consists of the answers that seven enterprise mobility experts recently provided me in response to the question, "What advice do you have for companies considering implementing enterprise mobility solutions?"

• Make sure the users get to provide feedback and direction.  Make sure the mobile users will use it.  Make sure the mobile application actually supports the work and the way the work is done in the field.

• Think bigger.  Mobility is not a nice to have or a fad.  It is here to stay.  It will be here for the rest of your career.  It is now a core component of your IT environment.

• Plan on supporting your employees' personal devices.  Have a strategy for supporting personal mobile devices, and develop policies for managing and supporting them.

Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly – Week of January 24, 2011

Kevin’s Mobile Money 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.

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IMPORTANT!  In the January 27 webinar, Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility in Fortune 500 Companies-Ten Lessons Learned, Smartsoft Mobile will share the top ten lessons learned from implementing SAP enterprise mobility solutions in Fortune 500 Companies.  If you are a systems integrator or an end user, you will value from learning what works and what doesn't work in deploying mobility solutions. This webinar will also include an overview of the enterprise mobility industry in 2011 by SAP Mentor Kevin Benedict.

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More PayPal customers are using its payment service from their mobile phones. eBay’s payments unit in 2010 nearly tripled its eBay Mobile gross merchandise volume to $2 billion from the previous year, driven by strong holiday shopping.

http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/176_14/paypal-mobile-payments-1031590-1.html

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AT&T aims to drive awareness of mobile bar codes and the services it provides to companies that want to use them within marketing collateral via a business to business campaign that combines sight, sound and motion on Apple's iAd platform.

http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/advertising/8879.html

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Apple plans to introduce services that would let customers use its iPhone and iPad computer to make purchases using NFC, said Richard Doherty, director of consulting firm Envisioneering Group.

Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly – Week of January 24, 2011

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

IMPORTANT! In the January 27 webinar, Implementing SAP Enterprise Mobility in Fortune 500 Companies-Ten Lessons Learned, Smartsoft Mobile will share the top ten lessons learned from implementing SAP enterprise mobility solutions in Fortune 500 Companies. If you are a systems integrator or an end user, you will value from learning what works and what doesn't work in deploying mobility solutions. This webinar will also include an overview of the enterprise mobility industry in 2011 by SAP Mentor Kevin Benedict.

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When Google releases year-end and fourth quarter earnings this week, it will report a 20.2 percent lift in search ad revenue to $25.4 billion compared with the prior year. Revenue from display advertising will rise by an estimated 61 percent for the year.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=143255

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The number of mobile phone ad impressions in the United Arab Emirates has surged by more than 50 percent, as the devices become the medium of choice for consumers accessing the Internet. The Nielsen Global Online Survey has found that 43 percent of Middle East consumers plan to use a mobile phone to access the Internet over the coming year.

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/mideast-mobile-phone-advertising-surges-by-more-than-50--375308.html

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Facebook is on track to generate more than $2 billion in ad revenues in 2010, far surpassing earlier estimates of $1 billion, and will likely skyrocket past that figure in 2011, as more marketers shift budgets from TV, radio, and print to the social realm.

Wireless M2M Growth Projections

M2M Industry Segments

Analysts project significant growth numbers for the M2M market.  M2M or machine-to-machine is the market for wireless embedded chips that can send data to a central server.  By the year 2020 there are projected to be billions of connected devices. At the end of 2010 roughly 80 million subscribers were using of M2M technology. That number is set to rise to 300 million subscribers by 2015 according to research done by Berg Insight. Europe and North America currently dominate the number of connected M2M devices and are expected to continue through 2020.

Looking even further ahead the projected growth of M2M will hit 2.1 billion by 2020, and about 1 billion will come from utility companies, says Tracy Ford with RCR Wireless News. Utility companies are jumping on the concept of M2M technology to efficiently monitor and regulate services to clients.

“With many leading wireless service providers and utility companies looking to profit from the M2M opportunity and the growing support from US federal and state governments, M2M applications in smart grids have tremendous potential for growth. The smart grid is expected to provide a major boost to the M2M industry in the next few years.” GlobalData