Kevin Benedict Ponders the Future

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

Mobility in Australia is Challenging

Snake is 5 meters (15 feet) long
Click Image to Enlarge

I had the privilege of speaking at a conference in Australia this week and spending time with many utilities and construction companies. The challenges in Australia can be highlighted by this image of a snake, provided by Jeff Morgan from Electrix taken from the window of a utility vehicle in Australia. This snake is of a very aggressive and deadly nature. I was also intrigued by the many spider stories that were shared by the field engineers that I spent time with this week. Seems spiders really like electrical meter boxes.

In addition to the biting and stinging variety of challenges, there are many connectivity challenges in a country as big and remote as Australia. It doesn't take long to lose connectivity once you leave the main roads in Australia. Companies use specialized radios and satellite phones and up-links a lot in this region.

Any mission critical mobile application such as field services and enterprise asset management needs to be designed to work equally well connected or disconnected from the Internet in Australia. That takes databases on the mobile client, syncing technology and back office integration. In other words, these kinds of mobile solutions are naturals for Sybase's SUP and SQL Anywhere architecture.

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

Mobile Expert Video Series: Jemena's Tinashe Mutimbe

I met Tinashe Mutimbe over dinner at ClickSoftware's ClickConnect APAC 2011 conference in Manly, Australia this week. We had a very interesting discussion about enterprise mobility in the utilities industry and he was kind enough to agree to a video interview. Thanks Tinashe!

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

Mobility ROI Weekly - Week of July 11, 2011

This weekly ROI (return on investment) report will include ROIs that I come across in my weekly enterprise mobility, M2M and GPS vehicle tracking research. I will be collecting ROIs and posting them here. The idea is that in the future if you need to find ROIs for companies in various industries they will be available here. I hope you find this useful.

Scottish Council Saves Through Fleet Management

After investing in a fleet management system from TomTom Business Solutions, the Scottish Council of West Dunbartonshire was able to track its fleet of vehicles resulting in a £100,000 reduction in fuel expenses during the first year. The Council installed TomTom LINK300 tracking units on 260 vehicles allowing Rodney Thorton, head of fleet and waste management, to better monitor the driving habits of his workers.

In the upcoming months the Council is expected to install TomTom tracking units on the remainder of the 380-vehicle fleet to save in fuel costs and reduce carbon emissions. West Dunbartonshire is also looking at TomTom’s ecoPLUS device that monitors engine performance and gathers engine data through embedded sensors. West Dunbartonshire’s ROI was reported to come from the following areas:

£100,000 reduction in fuel expenses
The ability to better monitor the driving habits of workers resulting in more responsible and efficient driving practices.
Fuel cost savings resulted from improvements to the way council vehicle operators carry out their duties.
Reduced carbon emissions

Read original source

Pipe Works Services SAves Through Vehicle Tracking

New Jersey based Pipe Works Services was able to increase their vehicle fleet productivity and reduce fuel consumption after installing GPS tracking devices on company vehicles. They selected the Marcus Fleet Tracking Solution package from Discrete Wireless, Inc. Pipe Works chose this solution because it offered features including email alerts and geo-fencing capabilities. Their ROI was reported to have come from the following areas:

35 percent productivity increase
20 percent reduction in fuel consumption
Better security and improved employee accountability

Read original source

Ventura California Saves Through GPS Tracking

The city of Ventura, California equipped select vehicles in its fleet of 450 with GPS tracking devices. After implementation the city saw impressive savings that include an overall fuel savings of 10 percent. In just the city’s water department, they realized annual savings of $10,000. Larger vehicles like wastewater vehicles can save up to $1,200 per year. After implementing a fleet tracking solution, the city saw an ROI in the following areas:

Improved fuel economy by 10 percent, which more than pays for the GPS Tracking System
Reduced idling time
Improved routing
Improved customer service
City water department saved more than $10,000/year in fuel and maintenance costs
Larger vehicles realized up to $1,200/year in fuel savings
Helped the city become leaner and greener by implementing more sustainable practices

Read original source

Upcoming Events

Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Read The M2M News Monthly

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 Charts Weekly - Week of July 11, 2011

In the course of my daily research on subjects related to enterprise mobility I find charts that depict the current and future status of the market. It occurred to me that these charts may also be useful to others, so I am going to collect these charts, include links to the original source, and then publish them in a new weekly blog article called Mobile Charts Weekly. I hope you find this useful.

eMarketer estimates that during 2011 nearly 88.2 million Americans will redeem an online coupon for either an online or offline purchase, and by 2013 they expect 96.8 million adults to do the same. This chart reflects the predicted steady growth of U.S. coupon users over the next few years. Read Original Content

Michael Boland recently authored a forecast report for BIA/Kelsey that predicts large increases in both overall mobile advertising and, more specifically, a sharp increase in location-based advertising. By 2015 he expects advertisers to spend $2.84 billion on location-based advertisements. Read Original Content

The Wall Street Journal ran an article on June 29, 2011, reporting on recent studies on the emerging M2M market. In the article Juniper Research breaks down the M2M industry and compiles the different M2M sectors into the chart above. As a whole the M2M market is expected to increase sharply over the next few years. Read Original Content

CapGemini estimates that the world M2M market will be worth €27.4 billion ($39.3 billion) by 2013. Also Vodafone expects wireless traffic alone to be valued at €8.9 billion euros. Read Original Content

Upcoming Events

Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

M2M News Weekly - Week of July 11, 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 Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobility Charts Weekly

According to the information firm Pike Research, approximately 17.4 million smart meters were shipped globally in the first quarter of 2011, with 12.1 million of those units being deployed in China and around 3.5 million in North America. Read Original Content

Berg Insight reports that the market for home health monitoring devices was $10 billion in 2010, and patient monitoring is set to grow about 26 percent annually through 2014. In the next few years healthcare telematics is set to expand rapidly. Read Original Content

The number of smart meters installed in Europe will reach more than 130 million devices by 2016, according to a new research report from Berg Insight. Read Original Content

With help from 3G and 4G networks, more than one billion M2M connections are expected by 2015. Read Original Content

Visible Energy, Inc. has released an iPad application that allows customers to track their home-energy usage through their tablet. Read Original Content

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

According to a study by Pew Internet and American Life Project, a quarter of Americans with smartphones use the devices as their main way to access the Internet. About nine in 10 owners of such devices access the Web and check their e-mail each day through a mobile device. Read Original Content

The number of teens who own smartphones has nearly tripled over the last two years, says a new study: About 4.8 million teenagers owned smartphones in April of this year, according to research firm ComScore; in April 2009, only 1.7 million teens owned smartphones. Read Original Content

According to Kantar Worldpanel's research, Android has surged from 10.7 percent of UK smartphones in June 2010 to a dominant 45.2 percent in June 2011, thanks to the popularity of phones from the likes of HTC and Samsung. Read Original Content

Phones using iOS software currently hold 18 percent of the UK smartphone market, down from 30 percent last year, while RIM is showing a jump to 22 percent. Read Original Content

Nokia still leads the pack with 95.5 million phones, boosted by its strong position in emerging markets, followed by Samsung's 73.7 million. However, some Reuters analysts expect Samsung will narrow the gap in the coming quarters and one sees it overtaking Nokia in 2012. 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 Field Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Weekly

Local Media Consultancy predicts that advertisers will invest a total of $690 million on local mobile ads this year, reaching $2.84 billion by 2015. Read Original Content

Pyramid Research recently stated that global revenue for the location-based services market is expected to reach $10.3 billion in 2015 up from $2.8 billion in 2010. Read Original Content

Marketers are poised to increase their U.S. mobile advertising spending from $790 million in 2010 to $4 billion in 2015 according to a new forecast published by BIA/Kelsey. Read Original Content

Apple is trying to capture a larger advertising client base by offering special deals to ad agencies to market companies through iAds. Read Original Content

Earlier this week Groupon informed it’s 83 million subscribers that they have changed their privacy policy in order to collect more information from mobile devices and personal content. Read Original Content

AT&T is creating a mobile location-based yellow pages feature that allows companies to advertise through the mobile app. AT&T expects the local mobile ad market to be worth $2 billion by 2014. Read Original Content

Mobile Expert Video Series: Gizmo's Troy Cox

Troy is CTO at Gizmo. They are an IT services start-up using cloud solutions, unique business models and mobile solutions. I had the chance to listen in on his presentation and to interview him in Australia this week.

Upcoming Events

Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011
Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

Mobility and Personalized Health Technology - Webinar

I want to call attention to a webinar coming up tomorrow, Wednesday, July 13th at 1 PM EDST. It sounds very interesting and is addressing an area in healthcare that I find very intriguing. Here is some background:

Healthrageous is a personalized health technology company spun out of Boston-based Partners Healthcare. The company uses biometric devices to collect key health statistics from its users, integrating that data with personal profile information to create customized, long-term health programs. As a start-up company, Healthrageous understood from day one the need to embrace mobility. Healthrageous’ native mobile application, h!GO, provides users with instant access to health data and progress reports, and serves as an extension of the company’s core platform.

Healthrageous originally planned to either custom develop h!GO using its in-house team or build a mobile web application. But, as the company analyzed all of the pros and cons of both of these methods, it realized that utilizing a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) would allow it to build, deploy, and update its app more quickly, easily and cost-effectively - all key considerations in today’s market.

Healthrageous’ CTO will be discussing the lessons learned from his mobile development experience, and why short development cycles and speed to market were critical to their success.

Register for the webinar here!

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

Mobile Expert Video Series: SAP's Andrew Fox

This is an interview with SAP's Head of Mobile and Cloud solutions in Australia and New Zealand, Andrew Fox. Andrew shares his thoughts on SAP enterprise mobility, sales strategies and product roadmaps.

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011
Mobile Case Study: Healthrageous Accelerates Time to Market through Mobile Development Strategy, July 13, 2011
Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

Mobile Commerce News Weekly - Week of July 11, 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
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Weekly

A new report from Juniper research predicts the value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, money transfers and NFC transactions will reach $670 billion by 2015, up from $240 billion this year. Read Original Content

PayPal, owned by eBay, continues to demonstrate they are serious about participating in the mobile payment market. Most recently they have purchased the mobile payment company Zong for $240 million. Within the past few months they have acquired three mobile payment companies. Read Original Content

By 2014, 70 percent of U.S. consumers will have smartphones and 52 percent of those will be NFC capable, according to estimates by payment consultancy Mercator Advisory Group. Read Original Content

Google has launched Mobilize, a free mobile tool that allows small and medium-sized enterprises to create high quality mobile sites or landing pages within minutes, without any coding experience. Read Original Content

A global consumer survey of 8,530 people conducted by MEF found that 38 percent of North American respondents have paid for items via their mobile network operator in the last six months. Read Original Content

Mobile payment device maker Square was given a $100 million investment last week. This came as a shock to many in the mobile industry as Square brings in less than $30 million in annual revenue. Read Original Content

More on Change Management and Enterprise Mobility

I had the opportunity to spend time with teams from two large utilities last evening at the ClickConnect APAC 2011 conference in Australia. I was impressed by three specific discussion points:

Change management challenges
M2M
Network connectivity issues

First, both utilities said the human factor in change management is a big problem for them. Both organizations have an aging workforce that does not like change. They shared that this workforce often has many inefficient and bad habits that they are not interested in changing. When new apprentices are added to a team, it takes only six months for the old timers to teach the new apprentices the same bad habits. What is to be done?

The positive note is that the young apprentices don't fear technology. They have grown up with mobile phones, text messaging, email and social networking. They are willing to embrace the use of these technologies in the workplace. There is hope!

M2M (machine to machine) communications is being used extensively by the gas distribution company I met last night. They have a broad range of different remote M2M sensors on their pipelines that wirelessly send data back to a central server. Although these M2M devices are widely deployed, the challenge is still around how best to use the data from these remote sensors. There is still a lot of work to be done that will turn this data into actionable intelligence.

It takes only one minute of discussion with a utility company in Australia to understand how necessary it is to have mobile applications that can run offline and online. It only takes a short drive away from a main road to lose mobile phone connectivity in the outback. Satellite phones and specialized radios are normal equipment for these IT organizations. The IT assumption is that there will always be limited connectivity. All mission critical mobile applications must work with this assumption.

Last week in Europe, I heard the same kind of requirements for offline and online mobile applications. Several of the companies I was meeting with had a significant presence in Africa and South America. Mobile application connectivity cannot be assumed.

I think back to a discussion I had with a member of the Sybase team in the UK earlier this year. He shared that there were three locations between his office and his home where he could not get connectivity on his mobile phone. I think we all need to remember these issues and not assume global connectivity when we are thinking through mission critical mobile application designs and architectures.

What does a mobile application that can run offline or online look like? It will have the capability to store data in the mobile application on the mobile device that can be synchronized, at a later time when there is connectivity, to a back office database. This kind of application requires a comprehensive mobile middleware solution that includes synchronization technology, on device data storage and backend integration capabilities.

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

The Importance of Change Management to Enterprise Mobility

In this video blog from Manly, Australia, I speak on what I have learned recently about the importance of "change management" to large enterprise mobility deployments in the field services sector. I hope you find it useful.

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011
Mobile Case Study: Healthrageous Accelerates Time to Market through Mobile Development Strategy, July 13, 2011
Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

Field Mobility News Weekly - Week of July 11, 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 Mobile Commerce News Weekly
Also read Mobile Marketing News Weekly
Also read Mobility News Weekly
Also read M2M News Weekly

The Federal Aviation Administration has authorized a small group of airliners to allow pilots to use iPads rather than the traditional paper documents required for flying. Read Original Content

Indian Railways is now accepting SMS text messages as passenger tickets. They have also created a mobile ticket app for smartphones, moving towards a more efficient process. Read Original Content

ABI Research shows that in 2010 the RFID market was valued at $5.3 billion and is projected to hit $6 billion by 2011. Read Original Content

Michigan State University recently created an RFID program that allows smartphones to scan a package of beef which shows the age, breed, grade and farm origin of the specific animal. Read Original Content

The city of Saint John in Canada has created a GPS mobile tracking system for the city’s mass transit fleet, allowing passengers to track bus progress and view arrival times from a mobile phone. Read Original Content

The new iPhone app “Skin Scan” is said to be able to detect melanoma by using the app’s camera feature. Read Original Content

Mobile Expert Video Series: SAP Mentor Graham Robinson

I had the honor of having lunch in Sydney with fellow SAP Mentor Graham Robinson today. During our lunch Graham shared with me his new mobile application for working with SAP workflows. This video is Graham sharing the details of his mobile application and design strategy.

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011
Mobile Case Study: Healthrageous Accelerates Time to Market through Mobile Development Strategy, July 13, 2011
Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

HTML5 - What I am Learning

With all the discussion around HTML5, I thought I would spend some time getting to know more about it myself. I will be researching it and sharing what I am learning through a series of articles over the next month. I have read that it is expected to have a huge impact on mobile software applications and the business models of software vendors. Is it ready for prime time? I hear a variety of opinions on that subject.

Sybase has stated that their goal is to "enable web developers to become mobile application developers" through the use of HTML5 and their mobile SDK that will come with SUP (the Sybase Unwired Platform). I was told by Nick Brown at SAP that version 2.1 of SUP would be out in the September 2011 time frame and this version will include HTML5 support and an HTML5 container.

Mobile application design and development is challenging, in part, because applications traditionally needed to be customized for each different mobile operating system version and different mobile device. Developers needed to create multiple versions of the same application to accommodate different screen sizes, screen types, resolution, graphics, buttons, keyboards, barcode scanners, RFID system, digital cameras, etc.

In a perfect world we would have one stable and reliable programming language that works across all mobile platforms. That is the idea behind HTML5, although we don't live in a perfect world. HTML5 makes it possible to design, develop, and publish one time and display the published content via each mobile device’s HTML5 compliant browser.

What is HTML5? HTML5 is as the name says, the fifth major version of HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), the core language of the web. It is non-proprietary, open source and free for all to use. W3C - the World Wide Web Consortium – is the main international standards organization for the Web, and the Consortium that develops and approves the HTML5 standard.

What are some of the benefits of HTML5?

• Cost and speed of development: Developing an HTML5 app takes roughly half or less of the time compared to developing a native app.

• Compatibility across platforms: Mobile Applications developed using HTML5 will be usable across a broad range of devices getting us closer to the goal of develop once and use many times.

• Dynamic content and layout: Content and layouts can be changed instantly.

• Optional installation: HTML5 apps can be distributed regularly via an App Store or can be made available via the browser. Users aren’t forced to install anything before using it.

What are the limitations of HTML5?

• Standards are still in development: The HTML5 standard is still being developed and the final version is still a couple of years away.

• Performance: HTML runs slower than applications developed using native code.

• Limited features: APIs such as GameCenter, in-app-purchase and peer-to-peer networking aren’t available in HTML5 without custom code.

I have spoken to a number of SAP mobility EcoHub partners about their views on HTML5. Some have already released production mobile applications using HTML5, while others are taking a wait and see approach.

HTML5 has the opportunity to radically change vendors’ business models and application designs due to the reduction of cost and time for development, but it is still a few years from being finalized. Native development is not going away anytime soon.

What are your thoughts on HTML5? I would like to hear from you.

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011
Mobile Case Study: Healthrageous Accelerates Time to Market through Mobile Development Strategy, July 13, 2011
Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

Reporting on Enterprise Mobility from Manly, Australia

I am in Manly, Australia this week where I will be speaking on issues related to enterprise mobility, field services and my latest research on enterprise mobility trends and best practices. I am speaking at ClickSoftware's ClickConnect APAC 2011 user conference. Many of the attendees work for utilities, telcos, field services organizations and railroads. My favorite part of attending these kinds of events is meeting the end users and learning from them. They are the ones experiencing the real implementations and challenges in the dust and heat on the frontlines of mobility. I will be recording video interviews all week so stay tuned.

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011
Mobile Case Study: Healthrageous Accelerates Time to Market through Mobile Development Strategy, July 13, 2011
Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

M2M News Weekly - Week of July 4, 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 Mobility News Weekly
Also read Mobility Charts Weekly

SAP continues to participate in the smart meter market by recently announcing new software for utility companies that helps to monitor individual energy usage. Read Original Content

Early in 2012 Best Buy will begin selling GE smart appliances, which can be controlled by a communication and data storage device that manages electricity usage. Read Original Content

According to the network provider Cisco, by 2020 there will be 50 billion devices connected to the Internet. CapGemini estimates that the world M2M market will be worth $39.3 billion by 2013. Read Original Content

Berg Insight forecasts that global revenues from shipments of home automation systems will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 33 percent from $2.3 billion in 2010 to nearly $9.5 billion in 2015. Read Original Content

TeliaSonera has joined the M2M alliance created by France Telecom's Orange and Deutsche Telekom earlier this year. This alliance hopes to streamline the M2M industry and create common features throughout the market. Read Original Content

Discussions About Sybase's Embedded Mobile Database Business, Part 2

In Part 1 of this article I shared a conversation I had with Sybase's Tom Slee on mobile embedded databases and Sybase's SQL Anywhere. One of the questions I asked him was where SQL Anywhere fits in the SUP (Sybase Unwired Platform) picture. Tom said SQL Anywhere databases, syncing and integration technologies are all in SUP, but they are only a small subset of what SUP offers.

SQL Anywhere is often embedded in other ISV mobile solutions. The end customer often does not even realize that Sybase technology is embedded in their mobile solution. ISV partners will often develop all kinds of complex business rules, logic and code that accesses the SQL Anywhere database and utilizes the syncing technology, but it is buried in the application. That is how my team used it.

SUP in turn is meant to be a complete end-to-end mobile middleware solution that connects back office databases to mobile applications. Is is far more than just SQL Anywhere. SUP includes all kinds of additional features to bring it all together in a manner that can be used by an IT organization, not just C++ programmers.

I also asked Tom how mobile application developers synchronize mobile applications that are developed in HTML5 and that use the SQL Lite database with back office systems. He said simple mobile applications with limited syncing requirements could use web services, custom scripts or other custom developed syncing schemes. He added that some mobile applications may store data, but have no need to sync with back office systems. An examples could be a note taking application. You may want to write notes and save them, but perhaps there is no need to sync the notes with an enterprise system.

When would a developer want to use HTML5, but use Sybase's SQL Anywhere database and syncing technologies rather than the free SQL Lite? Tom said many enterprise class mobile applications need to synchronize data all day long in near real-time, with multiple databases, web services and ERPs. Some of the data sources are dynamic and must be synchronized in near real time, others are static and need to be updated only weekly. All of these different synchronization needs must happen seamlessly in the background and the mobile application must run smoothly whether online or offline. This situation begs for a mature mobile middleware layer like SQL Anywhere.

To develop your own custom synchronization engine and middleware from scratch to efficiently and accurately manage complex synchronization scenarios is a huge and expensive task. These are the kinds of situations that motivated me to become an ISV/OEM partner of Sybase and to use their SQL Anywhere technology years ago. Those same kinds of motivations exist today.

The way I understand it is that software companies that want to develop mobile applications with embedded databases and syncing technology may prefer SQL Anywhere, but an IT organization looking to support all of their enterprise's mobility solutions and needs would look to SUP as their comprehensive mobile middleware solution.

Do you agree or disagree? Is my understanding correct? Please comment below if my understanding in incorrect. THANKS!

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011
Mobile Case Study: Healthrageous Accelerates Time to Market through Mobile Development Strategy, July 13, 2011
Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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

Mobility Charts Weekly - Week of July 4, 2011

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The worldwide number of smartphones with near field communication (NFC) capability is set to increase steadily over the next few years. This growth is largely due to the participation in mobile payments development by Nokia and Google. By 2014 there will be 220.1 million smartphones shipped with NFC capability, representing 14 percent of the total cell phone shipments. View Original Content

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Mobile banking activity is expected to increase dramatically over the next few years, resulting from increased emphasis on bank survival. Since the beginning of the recent economic downturn, banks have shifted their focus from growth to survival that has led bankers to invest more in technology and remote banking access . This FSOkx forecast predicts there to be 900 million mobile banking users by 2014. View Original Content

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A comScore study focusing on the first three months of 2011 has shown that Google is steadily increasing its market share over Apple. As of March, 2011 Google, with its vast range of Androids, controlled 34 percent of the smartphone market while Apple controls 25.5 percent. During the first three months Google gained 5 percent while Apple was only able to manage a 0.5 percent growth. View Original Content

Upcoming Events

ClickConnect APAC 2011, July 11 – 13, 2011
Syclo Mobile Conference 2011, July 13 – 15, 2011
Mobile Case Study: Healthrageous Accelerates Time to Market through Mobile Development Strategy, July 13, 2011
Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development: Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011

Whitepapers of Note

The Business Benefits of Mobile Adoption with SAP Systems
ClickSoftware Mobility Suite and Sybase Mobility Solution
Mobile Adoption Among Gas and Electric Utilities
Mobile Adoption in Life Sciences
Mobile Adoption in Oil and Gas
Networked Field Services

Recorded Webinars of Note

3 Critical Considerations for Embracing Mobile CRM
The Future of Enterprise Mobility
The Latest m-Business Trends and How the Onslaught of Mobile Devices Affects Development Strategies
The Real-Time Mobile Enterprise: The Benefits of Rapid, Easy Access
Syclo and SAP Deliver Mobile Apps on Sybase Unwired Platform

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

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

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict