Mobile Applications for Knowledge Management, Collaboration and Human Progress

I am very interested in mobile enterprise applications that deliver collaboration and knowledge management functionality.  I believe these solutions will revolutionize businesses that use them.  I saw three of these applications at Sapphire this year that I describe later in this article. 

First let me share a very interesting article by Matt Ridley that was recently published in the Wall Street Journal on May 22-23, 2010, Humans: Why They Triumphed.  Here are some excerpts:

• Collective intelligence is the notion that what determines the inventiveness and rate of cultural progress or change in a population is the amount of interaction between individuals.
• The sophistication of the modern world lies not in individual intelligence or imagination, rather, it is a collective enterprise.
• Exchange stimulated innovation by bringing together different ideas. Exchange and collective intelligence is the key to human progress.
• Once human beings started swapping things and thoughts they stumbled upon divisions of labor, in which specialization led to mutually beneficial collective knowledge. Specialization encourages and promotes innovation. 
• The process of cumulative innovation that has doubled life span, cut child mortality by three-quarters and multiplied per capita income nine-fold-world-wide in little more that a century is driven by the exchange of ideas.

Mr. Ridley believes that the interactive nature of the internet, rather than dumbing down people, will in fact lead to an explosion of new ideas and inventions! Online collaboration and the sharing of idea through blogs, tweets, online forums and discussion groups lead to an increase in knowledge.  I believe the three mobile applications that I saw at Sapphire will do just that.

The mobile collaboration and knowledge management tools that I saw at Sapphire were:

• SAP's Expert Link (a proof-of-concept for internal use only developed by Leapfactor)
• SAP's Streamworks - SAP StreamWork brings together people inside or outside your organization with information for fact-based decision-making and interactive business tools for collecting feedback, strategizing, and brainstorming.
• Open Text Everywhere - As the enterprise moves away from a fixed and location-centric work setting to a dispersed mobile world; the ability to interconnect people, the processes and the core content regardless of where and when becomes a necessity and a competitive differentiator.

For more details on these applications you can watch a short video from Kevin's Video Comments - Kevin on mobile collaboration and knowledge management applications.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
CEO/Principal Consultant, Netcentric Strategies LLC
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://twitter.com/krbenedict
***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly – June 24, 2010

You are reading the second edition of "Kevin's Mobility News Weekly." This is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across 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 enterprise mobility.

You can read archived newsletters here - http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/kevins-mobility-news-weekly.html

Please send me any interesting mobility news links, market numbers, events, case studies, analyst reports or whitepapers you think I should include in my newsletter. Enjoy!

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A recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan, finds that the new mobile office market earned revenues of roughly $1.7 billion in 2009. This is predicted to reach $6.8 billion in 2015.

http://hosted-exchange.tmcnet.com/topics/mobility/articles/88847-mobile-office-market-reach-68-billion-2015-report.htm

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Internet advertising will join television in 2014 as the only media with spending in excess of $100 billion. Internet access is a key driver of spending in most segments. Increased broadband penetration will boost wired access while growing smartphone penetration and wireless network upgrades will drive mobile access. Spending on wired and mobile Internet access will rise from $228 billion in 2009 to $351 billion in 2014. Globally, the online and wireless video game market will grow from $52.5 billion in 2009 to $86.8 billion in 2014, a compound growth rate of 10.6%. This will make it the second fastest-growing segment of E&M behind wired/mobile Internet advertising, yet ahead of TV subscriptions and license fees.

http://www.socialtimes.com/2010/06/pwc-outlook-entertainment-and-media-growth/

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Sprint-Nextel reports they may open a center in the San Francisco area to foster the development of the M2M ecosystem. Meanwhile, AT&T recently reported that it had 5.8 million M2M connected devices on its network and added 1.1 million in the first quarter. Verizon said that it has 7.3 million M2M connected devices on its network. Sprint hasn't disclosed specific connected device numbers, but Bowman estimated that the company has "a couple million" devices on its network.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/sprint-may-open-m2m-collaboration-center-san-fran/2010-06-17?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal#ixzz0r8jFxDJ5

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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/

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BlackBerry App World launched in April 2009. A year later RIM said the store offers about 6,000 applications, far behind rivals like Apple's iTunes App store, which now boasts about 225,000 apps for iPhone and iPod touch devices. BlackBerry App World currently has roughly 25 million active users, with nearly 1 million app downloads per day, according to RIM.

http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/blackberry-app-world-makeover-adds-carrier-billing/2010-06-17?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

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Mobile ad network Millennial Media is reporting that iPad ad requests grew 160 percent from April to May. RIM’s BlackBerry remained the second largest OS on Millennial’s network for the tenth consecutive month. Android’s share rose by 5 percent to a 15 percent share of impressions for the month of May.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/18/millennial-media-apple-os-drops-by-33-percent-in-may-but-ipad-impressions-grow-160-percent/

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In this 4 minute YouTube video from this week’s Video Comments, I discuss the value of mobile micro apps for businesses.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwjaGDvThLg&feature=channel

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Analytics firm Distimo reported that 80 percent of all iPad applications fall into the Paid Apps segment. By comparison, 73 percent of iPhone and iPod touch applications carry premium price tags, while the average iPad app costs $4.67, as opposed to $3.82 on iPhone. Medical apps for iPad lead the way at an average price of $42.11, followed by Finance apps at $18.48; on the iPhone, Medical apps average $10.74, and Finance apps average $5.74.

http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/apps-ipad-surpass-5-000-device-sales-top-2-million/2010-05-31#ixzz0rVZLbpmW

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With the iPad, Apple has laid down yet another challenge to the wireless industry's incumbents. The book-sized gizmo, now past 2 million shipments in just two months, represents a new device category for consumers, a chance for additional data revenues for carriers and a slap in the face to handset makers already struggling to stanch the rise of the iPhone.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/special-reports/temperature-tablets-how-mobile-industry-responding-ipad?utm_source=FWhomepage#ixzz0rVYdS700

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The Global Mobile Applications Market (2010 – 2015) report published by Markets and Markets reveals that around 7 billion free and paid applications were downloaded in 2009 alone from native as well as third party stores. The downloaded applications were responsible for generating revenues worth $3.9 billion in the same year. Unsurprisingly, Apple dominated the market with 4 billion downloads to date grabbing 90% of the application market share in 2009. New players in the industry are fast catching up and with super growth in smartphones, the mobile application market is likely to expand exponentially. Estimates by the same firm reveal that the global mobile application market is likely to reach $24.4 billion in 2015 growing at 64 percent CAGR.

http://apps4mobile.wordpress.com/2010/06/21/most-preferred-mobile-applications/

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In this video on YouTube I discuss mobile collaboration and knowledge management applications for businesses.

http://www.youtube.com/sapmentors#p/u/5/1OlokRKoOgE

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Smartphone market estimates are increasing, and growth in the hand held industry should grow at approximately 45% in 2010 and 31% in 2011. RIM should maintain a global share of 20% in 2010 and 2011.

http://newsystocks.com/news/3557593

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Munster is raising his estimate for iPads for 2010 and 2011. He originally estimated that Apple would sell 6.2 million iPads in 2010 and 8.2 million in 2011, giving Apple 14.4 million iPads by 2012. Munster now says Apple will sell 7.5 million in 2010 and 9 million in 2011 for a total of 16.5 million iPads by 2012.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20008462-37.html

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According to Millennial Media, 90 percent of U.S. developers are focusing their efforts solely on one mobile platform, with just 10 percent pursuing multi-platform strategies. Among developers dedicated to a single platform, 56 percent are focusing on iPhone and 29 percent are targeting Android. Just 5 percent are building for Symbian, with 4 percent working on BlackBerry--the remaining 6 percent of developers are focused on "Other" platforms, and it speaks volumes about the sorry state of both Windows Mobile and webOS that the report doesn't even break them out into their own separate pie-chart slices.

http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/ios-4-arrives-bringing-changes-it/2010-06-21

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"IBM, except for its professional services side, has lost its way in mobile," said Jack Gold, an analyst at J.Gold Associates. “IBM does not have a strong presence in mobility on a standardized product basis and must modernize to support multiple [mobile] platforms to gain share. It has to be seen as offering a compelling solution to the market at a reasonable cost.”

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9178051/IBM_to_set_new_mobility_strategy_with_launch_of_software_development_lab

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Machine to machine or embedded mobile devices and applications are an area of wireless data usage with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 25% per year through 2014 and a projected need for up to 50 billion M2M devices by 2025.

http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2010/06/m2m-growth-opportunities-for-mnos-in.html

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IBM announced new mobile software, services and research projects at the opening of their new software development lab in Massachusetts. Mail Triage, a research prototype was shown as an iPhone application that can help workers inundated with e-mails more quickly assess which ones need immediate action and which can be deleted or handled later.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9178141/IBM_launches_software_lab_in_Massachusetts_announces_mobile_products?taxonomyId=16

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Piper Jaffray reports that free apps account for about 4 billion total App Store downloads or 81% of all downloads. iPhone, iPod touch and iPad users presently download over 16.6 million applications each day, almost double the 8.9 million daily downloads via Apple's iTunes multimedia storefront. The average selling price among the top 50 premium App Store applications for iPhone and iPod touch is $1.49. Among the top 30 paid iPad apps, the average price jumps to $4.66.

http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/study-free-applications-make-81-app-store-downloads/2010-06-23?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal#ixzz0rh8nzN8L

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Kevin’s Video Comments on mobile applications for collaboration, knowledge management and human progress.

http://www.youtube.com/sapmentors#p/u/5/1OlokRKoOgE

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Research in Motion confirmed it will finally unveil its long-awaited BlackBerry OS 6.0 update during the third quarter. Specifics remain scarce but include an improved WebKit-based browser, a customizable homescreen, a revamped media player and a more intuitive user experience.

http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/rim-launch-blackberry-os-6-0-q3/2010-04-27#ixzz0rh6A8Pgm

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Robust earnings for Research in Motion, growth and solid sales of more than 11 million devices are unlikely to impress analysts. Both are expected, along with further declines in average selling prices, as overseas sales of lower-end devices grow. RIM's share of the more lucrative North American market, meanwhile, is expected to have eroded further as the iPhone and a slew of smartphones that use Google's Android operating system eat into the BlackBerry's market share.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65L3FG20100622

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Barnes & Noble and Amazon cut the prices of their electronic-book reader tablets. Barnes & Noble dropped the price of its Nook device from $259 to $199 while introducing a WiFi-only model selling for $149. Amazon dropped the Kindle's price from $259 to $189.

http://mobile.washingtonpost.com/rss.jsp?rssid=597&item=+http%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fwp-syndication%2farticle%2f2010%2f06%2f22%2fAR2010062201954_mobile.xml+&cid=4007073&spf=1

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Kevin’s Video Comments on different mobile application categories.

http://www.youtube.com/sapmentors#p/u/7/AMyOAo8YNUA

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Apple announced that it sold its three millionth iPad™ just 80 days after its introduction in the US.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/06/22ipad.html

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The following links are interviews that I have conducted over the past few months with enterprise mobility experts and CEOs.

Mobile Expert Interview Series

http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/mobile-expert-interview-series.html

Mobile Expert Video Series

http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/mobile-expert-video-series.html

Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly archives can be found at:

http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/kevins-mobility-news-weekly.html 

I would invite those interested in enterprise mobility to join the Linkedin Group SAP Enterprise Mobility, http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro.


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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst CEO/Principal Consultant, Netcentric Strategies LLC www.netcentric-strategies.com www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict http://twitter.com/krbenedict ***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles. ***************************************************

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Pyxis Mobile's EVP Christopher Willis

Pyxis Mobile is one of those companies that accomplishes great things, but moves under the radar.  Gartner recently highlighted Pyxis Mobile in their Magic Quadrant report so moving under the radar may be over.  Pyxis Mobile has over 500,000 mobile clients in the field.  Most of their traditional customers are in the financial services industry, but they have been rapidly expanding into higher education, manufacturing and pharmaceuticals. I had the opportunity recently to interview Chris Willis, Pyxis Mobile's EVP of Marketing and Strategy.

Chris joined Pyxis in 1998.  In 2001 the company became 100% focused on enterprise mobility. 

Chris what mobile device do you carry?
I carry two mobile devices, the iPhone for personal use, and the BlackBerry Bold for professional use.  I have always used BlackBerrys professionally and am just used to it.  I know how to get what I need from it.  I use the iPhone as a large iPod.

What is your favorite mobile application?
A CRM application built by Pyxis Mobile.  It is connected to our expense management system and enables me to complete my expense reports while on the road.  On the personal side I love MLB at Bat.  When you see MLB at Bat on an iPad it is amazing.  It is better than the programs you get at the game.

What industries do you see adopting mobility?
Financial services is big for us.  Seventy percent of our business is still in financial services.  We have developed complete trading systems on mobile devices for some customers.  Higher education is big for us.  We have developed all kinds of mobile applications for universities that show class schedules, grades, etc.  Emerging markets for us are in manufacturing and pharmaceuticals.

What business processes do you see companies mobilizing first?
Sales and field services to start, however, nowadays we are seeing a lot of B2C (business to consumer) application demand.  Companies want to give mobile applications to their customers for product sales, branding, marketing and customer support.

What are some of the most surprising trends that you saw in mobility over the past 12 months?
B2C is the biggest trend - "There's an App for that!"  Companies wanting to provide their customers with mobile applications.

What do you see happening in the near future, say 2010-2011?
Mobility vendors delivering on their promises and filling the missing "app gaps."  Companies are now educated on mobility.  They are now looking for complete solutions and mobility platforms to execute a full enterprise mobility strategy.

Tell me about some of the most interesting mobile applications you have seen in the market.
We have developed a mobile laundry application.  It is a M2M (machine-to-machine) application.  Laundry machines text students in the dorms when there is a machine available and when it is finished.  Another application I love is from Concur Mobile.  It helps you book travel, manage travel expenses, call taxis and have it all paid for by the credit card they have on file.  No cash needed.  You can also use it to photograph receipts and turn them in as well.  Nice!

What are some of the most unusual mobile applications you have seen?
There is an application that consists of a website and a mobile application. The website shows a 2D barcode on the screen, and your iPhone captures the barcode and activates various games that use the accelerometer on the iPhone to control various objects in races.  Very interesting!

When is a consumer oriented mobile device sufficient, and when do you need a ruggedized industrial grade device?
Consumer devices (smartphones) are capturing market share from industrial grade mobile handhelds.  There is less interest in expensive rugged devices, because the service technician is carrying a smartphone anyway.  If you buy expensive rugged devices, they will now have two devices to break.  Many companies are simply buying rugged cases for smartphones.

What is the most complex mobile application that you have seen?
We developed entire mobile trading systems for use by companies in the financial services industry.  Very complex!  We developed a very sophisticated mobile application for Thomas Reuters that pulled data from dozens of different sources.

What are some of the biggest challenges you see in the mobile industry today?
Rapid changes to mobile operating systems and new mobile devices.  Today Samsung announced a new mobile OS.  Today enterprises use the same mobile OS as consumer devices so we need to stay on top of all of them.

What do you see from ERP vendors in mobility?
All ERPs have to mobilize their solutions.  Pyxis Mobile is supporting all the majors, and we believe this is a competitive advantage.

What is still missing from MEAPs (mobile enterprise application platforms)?
I think MEAP vendors are simply taking different approaches.  Some try to be ERP agnostic.  Others focused on specific markets.  I think the differences will be how effective you are with partners.  Are you systems integrator friendly?  Pyxis Mobile provides tools for SIs to develop and support new mobile applications.  This is important!

How important is mobile device management to your customers?
It isn't.  Our customers don't ask for it.  Smartphones and online app stores seem to have resolved many of the earlier issues.  Perhaps in the future our customers will ask for it.

How is Pyxis Mobile positioned?
We are the one mobility platform that enables all of a company's mobility needs including B2B and B2C.  We cover mobile enterprise and consumer applications.

What are your thoughts on when thick/rich mobile clients are needed and when micro-apps or browser apps are needed?
We like rich native apps that optimize what you can do on each OS and mobile device.

Do your customers want to develop their own mobile applications using your Application Studio, or do they want you to develop it?
About 80% of our customers want us, or one of our systems integrator partners to develop the mobile application for them.  They are not experienced, but we are.

Thanks for your time Chris!!!

To read more interviews in the Mobile Expert Interview series, visit:
- http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/mobile-expert-interview-series.html

To watch videos of mobile expert interviews, visit:
- http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/mobile-expert-video-series.html

For a weekly recap of mobility news, analysis and market numbers read:
- http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/kevins-mobility-news-weekly.html

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
CEO/Principal Consultant, Netcentric Strategies LLC
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://twitter.com/krbenedict
***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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New Research Shows the Importance of Mobility to SAP Customers

I received an email today from a firm that just completed face to face meetings with over 100 SAP customers.  In these meetings the SAP customers identified the SAP solutions they would like to learn more about and then prioritized them.  The fifth hottest topic among these SAP customers was SAP enterprise mobility.  NICE!

SAP, systems integrators and enterprise mobility vendors should all take note of this research.  SAP's customers are wanting to learn more about enterprise mobility.  SAP's SDN site, this blog, the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on Linkedin, and Kevin's Mobility News Weekly are all sites dedicated to sharing information on enterprise mobility.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
CEO/Principal Consultant, Netcentric Strategies LLC
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://twitter.com/krbenedict
***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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M2M - Growth Opportunities for MNOs in Developed Markets

The new M2M analyst report that I just finished has now been uploaded and is available on the Maximizing Wireless Profits website.  M2M, machine-to-machine communications, is a very intriguing market.  It is closely related to enterprise mobility in that mobile devices (embedded mobile devices, remote sensors and monitors) are collecting and sending data back to a central server. The audiences for this report are mobile network operators (MNOs), M2M and mobile enterprise software companies.

Handset driven customer growth has reached the saturation point in many regions of the world and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are looking for new applications, new markets and new technologies for their next phase of growth. Machine to machine (M2M) devices and applications are an area of wireless data usage with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 25% per year through 2014 and a projected need for up to 50 billion M2M devices by 2025. In addition, low churn rates, low acquisition and operational costs, expected long product lifecycles, and a market that needs many additional value added services makes this a compelling market opportunity for many MNOs.

Why is the M2M market interesting for enterprises?  Nearly all high value assets and equipment that are remote or mobile could benefit from having an embedded mobile device in sensors and monitors that provide information wirelessly back to the asset management and tracking system at the office.  Pressure gauges, measurements, volumes, temperatures, operating hours, mileage, etc., can all be collected and wirelessly sent to the central management system. 

When a piece of remote equipment begins having problems, an alert can be wirelessly sent to the asset management and work order management system so repairs can be scheduled.  Maintenance schedules can also be set based upon data collected by remote monitors.

Embedded mobile devices can also be implemented to both send and receive data.  Some M2M systems provide the capability for instructions to be sent to remote monitors that will change settings on equipment.  I have read about large trucks having their engines adjusted remotely to improve performance or fuel mileage.

I believe that mobile enterprise application platforms (MEAPs) may expand to support M2M data integration that will be used by enterprise asset management systems and service optimization solutions like SAP's mobility partner ClickSoftware at some point.  The data, whether coming from a smartphone or a remote sensor, looks the same to the platform.  It is just data coming in wirelessly to the system.

There are some very interesting M2M companies like Enfora that are offering a wide range of specialized M2M devices, services and systems.  Enfora is a provider of wireless networking solutions that enable enterprises to access, analyze and leverage information from their geographically dispersed assets.  It is interesting to read about how their solutions are being implemented and the ROIs their customers are experiencing.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile & M2M Industry Analyst
CEO/Principal Consultant, Netcentric Strategies LLC
http://www.netcentric-strategies.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
http://twitter.com/krbenedict
***Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant and Web 2.0 marketing expert. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
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