Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - July 1, 2010

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly 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

Also you may find Kevin’s M2M News Weekly on the subjects of M2M (machine-to-machine) and the mobile embedded device market of interest.

http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/m2m.html

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One hundred and fifty million is the number of Windows 7 licenses sold, making Windows 7 by far the fastest growing operating system in history. What Microsoft really means is while their rivals are getting all the hype in the press, and people keep blogging about them “dying”, they are selling 7 copies of their OS every second.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/26/microsoft-numbers/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

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According to VDC Research's latest report, the market for mobility solutions for national government applications (in military and national/federal programs) is expected to rebound modestly through 2010, despite the growing pressures from budget cuts and restraints.

http://www.fieldtechnologiesonline.com/article.mvc/Market-For-Mobility-Solutions-For-National-0001?user=2373698&source=nl:27924&VNETCOOKIE=NO

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Twitter COO Dick Costolo said they are currently at 190 million users, who are collectively posting some 65 million tweets per day. And last April, Twitter’s lead engineer for its International team, Matt Sanford, said over 60% of registered Twitter accounts were already coming from outside U.S. borders.

http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/23/twitter-international-growth/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29

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iPhone App Store economics analysis - in the calendar year 2008 the total downloads were 600 million and revenues of $172 million. In calendar year 2009 the total downloads were 2.4 billion and total revenues of $686 million. In calendar year 2010 so far (half year) we've seen 2 billion downloads and $542 million in revenues.

http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2010/06/full-analysis-of-iphone-economics-its-bad-news-and-then-it-gets-worse.html

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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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Apple said it sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s in the first three days of its launch.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/apple-blows-past-record-sells-1-7-million-iphone-4s-debut/2010-06-28?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal

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Analyst Avi Greengart recently stated, “The scale of the content ecosystem Apple has created, coupled with the functionality, style and buzz of the iPhone, has sparked a virtuous cycle for application developers, customers and, ultimately, Apple.” Just witness the 1.7 million iPhone 4s Apple sold at launch.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/android-iphone-and-coming-smartphone-shakeout/2010-06-25?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal#ixzz0sGVlhj4H

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Speculation on a Verizon iPhone has been rampant in the tech blogosphere. If the reports are true (about a January date for Verizon selling the iPhone), then it will give Verizon a boost in its smartphone competition, UBS analyst John Hodulik says. Verizon customers, who numbered 92.8 million at the end of the first quarter, may buy 3 million iPhones a quarter, he says.

http://iphone.usatoday.com/News/1835712/full/

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Cisco announced that in 2011 it will launch an Android-based tablet, named the Cius, aimed squarely at the business market.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/06/cisco-announces-the-cius-the-blackberry-of-tablets/

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Gil Bouhnick, Director of Mobile Solutions at ClickSoftware, updates us all on the new Windows Phone 7 and Windows Embedded Handheld operating systems.

http://clicksoftware-mobilefever.blogspot.com/2010/06/microsoft-announces-windows-embedded.html

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60% of iPads are used by business professionals for both work and home use. Thus, Cius could easily eat up iPad market share. With the Cius sporting the front-facing camera, which the iPad doesn't, the Cius could easily crack into that 60% market share due to the telepresence / HD video capabilities. Add in the growing popularity of the Android community and apps, and Cisco could have a winner on its hands.

http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/cisco/cisco-cius-hd-android-tablet.asp

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Want to locate the nearest U.S. embassy, send an e-greeting or retrieve federal disaster information on your iPhone, BlackBerry or Android mobile device? The White House has published a list of 111 mobile applications sponsored by government agencies.

http://fcw.com/blogs/gov-2/2010/06/usagov-publishes-government-mobile-apps-list.aspx

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Gartner's new and complete 2010 Gartner Field Service Management Magic Quadrant report can be found, compliments of ClickSoftware, at the following URL – http://www.clicksoftware.com/Gartner.

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The Western European mobile phone market grew 8.1% year on year to 42.7 million units in 1Q10, according to IDC's European Mobile Phone Tracker. Shipments of smartphones surged in the quarter to 12 million units, 57% higher than in last year's first quarter, to represent 28% of total shipments. Traditional mobile phones (TMPs) declined 4% year on year to 30.7 million units, showing the continuous trend toward smartphones.

http://www.cellular-news.com/story/44052.php?source=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cellular-news%2FLmiX+%28cellular-news%29

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A new report from ABI Research indicates that by the end of 2010, there will be 5 billion mobile subscribers worldwide. By the end of first quarter there were around 4.8 billion connections worldwide. Much of this growth will come from developing markets in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/abi-5-billion-mobile-subscribers-end-year/2010-06-30

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Following last week's release of the new iPhone 4, Apple quietly added a new section to its App Store virtual storefront reserved exclusively for iPhone and iPod touch applications powered by the new iOS 4 operating system. As of 5 a.m. ET Tuesday, there are 48 applications featured under the heading Awesome iOS 4 Apps, including social networking services Twitter and Loopt, navigation solution TomTom USA and music app Pandora Radio.

http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/apple-adds-ios-4-application-section-app-store/2010-06-28

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90 percent of developers say they are very interested in creating applications for the iPhone, 84 percent express comparable enthusiasm for the iPad and 81 percent are casting their lot with Android. What is surprising is just how little interest developers express for rival smartphone platforms like BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, Symbian, webOS and MeeGo.

http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/iphone-still-dominates-developer-focus-android-gaining-fast/2010-06-28

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The following three articles that I wrote this week discuss what I learned about mobility at Sapphire 2010 and what I think it means to enterprise mobility vendors and SAP customers.

What I Learned About Mobility at Sapphire, Part 1
What I Learned About Mobility at Sapphire, Part 2
What I Learned About Mobility at Sapphire, Part 3

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To attract programmers to its Android operating system, Google may offer tools that help them sell subscriptions, virtual goods, and other items from within applications on mobile phones, Andy Rubin, vice-president of engineering at Google, says in an interview.

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2010/tc20100629_585738.htm

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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
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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What I Learned about Mobility at Sapphire 2010, Part 3

I expect to see a lot of battles between mobility vendors and Sybase. Although mobility vendors publicly play nice, there is a lot of competition for this fast growing market. Sybase brings a lot of capabilities to the table. They will not be satisfied being a mobile middleware player (see Sybase and Field Services). I expect them to start releasing their own libraries of mobile applications for the largest markets, and use their inside knowledge of SAP sales leads and accounts to aggressively go after them.

Having Sybase develop and sell mobile applications has always been a problem.  Sybase OEMs (used as a verb) their middleware to hundreds of software companies, and they have always hesitated to compete with their customers.  It will be interesting to see if they can resist this temptation when the entire SAP user base is available to them.  My guess is Sybase will not resist.  As a result, SAP mobility partners will need to dig deeper into industries and niche markets to defend and grow their positions.

How does the SAP mobility partner trust partnering with Sybase on mobile middleware, when they are also competing on mobile applications?  It will be interesting.

I believe Sybase will be swamped with sales leads for custom mobile applications. There is a backlog of demand.  The problem, however, is that Sybase has traditionally staffed a very small professional services group that has little industry knowledge. That should mean more work for trained systems integrators.  Pay attention SIs!!!

Now that the mobile integration strategy for working in SAP environments is becoming clearer, mobile application vendors need to start developing rapid application development tools specifically for mobilizing SAP. Seriously! You should be able to develop screen layouts for the various mobile OS environments, and drag and drop database fields from SAP into the mobile client. All the coding behind the scenes should be automated.  Vendors should have a one year grace period and then no excuses.

I have a lot of experience in the mobile software development tools area and can say with authority that developing RAD (rapid application development tools) is difficult. However, if you already know the data source and the required fields for a business process, then it can be a lot easier. Simplicity is good. I challenged Sybase for years to develop a RAD tool and have yet to see one that a business analyst can use.

The bottom line - SAP mobility partners can stop focusing on mobile middleware (leave it to SAP/Sybase) and focus more on becoming industry and business process experts. Increasingly, the value they offer will be in developing mobile applications with deep industry and process expertise. They should be looking at all the various business processes and SAP industry business units (around 28 the last I checked) and identify the verticals where there are the most opportunities and where deep industry knowledge can help them develop defensible market positions.

Here are a few examples:

• Hazardous waste and chemical management
• CPG food/meat processing inspections
• Mobile animal lifecycle tracking applications (beef, dairy, chicken, hog, etc)
• Mobile insurance claims
• Mobile healthcare applications
• Mobile eldercare applications
• Mobile chronic disease management applications
• Mobile oil and gas pipeline inspections
• Mobile disaster relief applications
• Mobile damage assessment applications
• Mobile facility and security management applications
• Mobile applications for customers of SAP customers and their markets (retail apps, marketing apps, etc.)
• etc.

I am throwing around a lot of opinions here, so please share your comments and views as well! We can figure this all out together.

* What I Learned About Mobility at Sapphire 2010, Part 1
* What I Learned About Mobility at Sapphire 2010, Part 2

*Read the latest news and market numbers on enterprise mobility at Mobility News Weekly.

*Join the Linkedin Group, SAP Enterprise Mobility, it has over 750 members now.

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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 M2M News Weekly – June 30, 2010

You are reading the first edition of "Kevin's M2M News Weekly." This is an online newsletter that is made up of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices 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 the M2M market.

I believe that enterprise mobility and the M2M markets are converging.  Both areas exchange wireless data with the enterprise.  Both play important roles in enterprise asset management, fleet management and field services.

You can read archived editions of Kevin's M2M News Weekly at  http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/p/m2m.html.

Please send me any interesting M2M news links, market numbers, events, case studies, analyst reports or whitepapers that you come across and I will include in my newsletter. Enjoy!

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ABI Research forecasts that Wi-Fi-enabled health care products will hit sales of nearly $5 billion globally in 2014, up 70% from 2009. The increase is expected partly because of the need to provide wireless networks to support improved asset management, mobile workers, standard administration of medications and digitized records, said Stan Schatt, an ABI analyst.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9135412/Wi_Fi_enabled_health_care_products_to_surge_with_electronic_medical_records?taxonomyId=1

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If you are interested in the M2M or embedded mobile devices market for consumer electronics, you may want to watch this short video on the consumer electronics segment of M2M.

http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2010/06/m2m-market-overview-part-2-consumer.html

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Vodafone’s machine-to-machine business has taken 40 percent of the market since it launched the M2M division last year, it said last week.

http://it.tmcnet.com/news/2010/06/25/4869524.htm

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TMC and Crossfire Media announced that their M2M Evolution Conference will once again be collocated with TMC's ITExpo, October 4-6, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

http://it.tmcnet.com/news/2010/06/24/4866658.htm

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In emerging markets, “device” was almost synonymous with “smartphone,” while in mature markets the “device” focus went beyond smartphones and into other devices, such as machine-to-machine readers, netbooks, e-readers and tablets.

http://connectedplanetonline.com/mobile-apps/news/amdocs-sp-role-study-062410/
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A new M2M analyst report is available on the Maximizing Wireless Profits website. M2M 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.

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

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Gemalto is looking to insert SIM cards into mobile devices. Today the identity module–maker announced it is purchasing Cinterion Wireless, the world’s largest manufacturer of GSM machine-to-machine wireless communications modules. The combination will put under a single umbrella the two technologies necessary to make an M2M solution work: the radio module that physically connects a device to the network and the authentication and security software that allows it to transmit.

http://connectedplanetonline.com/3g4g/news/gemalto-buys-cinterion-062910/

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M2M, or machine-to-machine communication, is fast becoming a market-changing force for a wide spectrum of entrepreneurial businesses. Since launching its Emerging Solutions Group in October 2009, Sprint has worked with solutions partners to help a growing number of businesses serve customers -- and in some cases outflank their competitors -- with M2M innovation.

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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/machines-talk-together-and-transform-business-operations-with-sprints-m2m-wireless-mobility-solutions-2010-06-16?reflink=MW_news_stmp

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Machine-to-machine communications is emerging as an important growth area in wireless, but there's a battle underway over which network is best suited to accommodate the expected onslaught of connected devices.

http://www.lightreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=193336&f_src=lightreading_gnews

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Now that SAP has enterprise mobility all figured out, it is time to explore opportunities in the M2M marketplace. M2M is a vision of connecting physical things through a network that will let them take an active part in exchanging information about themselves and their surroundings over the Internet.

http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/2010/05/m2m-market-opportunities-introduction.html

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Over the next five years the market for wearable wireless sensors is set to grow to more than 400 million devices by 2014. Demand will come from the professional healthcare, home healthcare and sports and fitness markets, but these markets will develop at different speeds and will support different applications. The sports and fitness market represents more than 90 percent of the market today.

http://www.abiresearch.com/press/1460-Market+for+Wearable+Wireless+Sensors+to+Grow+to+More+than+400+Million+Devices+by+2014

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Sprint plans to open up a center to help foster the development of embedded mobile devices using a cellular connection later this year, according to a company executive. As the traditional business of providing cellphone voice and data services begins to peak, carriers are racing to stake a claim in a new area commonly known as connected devices. Sprint, which moved early in the area and pioneered a wholesale business model with Amazon’s Kindle, has since fallen behind its larger peers Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100616-710644.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines


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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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What I Learned about Mobility at Sapphire 2010, Part 2

At Sapphire 2010, not only did SAP discuss their intent to acquire Sybase, but they also announced Project Gateway. Project Gateway is an API layer (gateway) that is designed for simple mobile applications and M2M (machine to machine) integrations with SAP. The intent as I understand it is for SUP (Sybase Unwired Platform) to be the integration layer for complex mobile applications (rich/thick clients) that require advanced synchronization technologies, and Project Gateway for lightweight iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and other micro applications.

SAP was quick to add that mobility partners can develop and use their own integration methodologies as well.  They espoused the virtues of choice.  As a result, I see the following integration options:

• SAP's strategy for integrating advanced rich or thick client mobile applications will be SUP.
• SAP's strategy for integrating lightweight mobile applications will be Project Gateway.
• SAP also certifies a variety of integration strategies specific to various mobility partners.
• Customized integrations.

SAP mobility partners that have invested heavily into their own integration and mobile middleware technologies must now consider supporting multiple integration strategies - their own and SAP's.  This may increase their development and support costs but flexibility nearly always does.

Mobile enterprise application vendors often support many ERPs and business applications. Their current inventory of mobile middleware and integration tools may continue to be needed in these non-SAP environments.  It seems it will be up to the end customer to choose their favorite flavor of integration and middleware.  This will be an important decision for the end customer that will impact TCO (total cost of ownership).

Some of the SAP mobility partners have already decided to consolidate all of their middleware needs on the SUP. They don't want the expense of developing and supporting two different integration and middleware technology platforms and like the idea of leaving middleware issues to someone else.  If more vendors follow this move, Sybase will generate more sales and profits as a result of this trend. SAP has said they intend to operate Sybase as an independent business unit and I believe SAP can generate "new money" as a result of influencing vendors to adopt SUP.

* What I Learned About Mobility at Sapphire 2010, Part 1

*YouTube - Kevin's Video Comments

*Read the latest news and market numbers on enterprise mobility at Mobility News Weekly.

*Join the Linkedin Group, SAP Enterprise Mobility, it has over 750 members now.

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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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Shift Gears Now!!! An iPhone Application That Tells You How to Drive

Oh no!  An iPhone that tells you how to drive.  That's all I need.  The application is called DriveGain and it gives a range of visual and audio feedback on what changes are required by the driver to burn less fuel.  I wonder if it uses my father's voice?

It works with any petrol or diesel car with a manual transmission and features a database of over 8,400 European and 8,500 North American cars to choose from.

Verbal instructions given by the iPhone app range from general advice such as “try reducing your acceleration!!!!!”, to specific gear changes. While on the visual side, DriveGain provides more detailed information including current speed, level of acceleration or braking and the affect this has on fuel consumption, a smoothness score, average fuel economy reading and other eco-related statistics.  I wonder how much sarcasm is built into the app?

Is this supposed to make my driving experience more pleasurable?  "Turn left, SLOW DOWN, not third gear stupid, BRAKE NOW, do you know how much you are spending on fuel at this speed, recalcuating directions, stop hitting me."

Read more about DriveGain:
http://eu.techcrunch.com/2010/06/30/drivegain-launches-with-an-iphone-app-to-make-you-drive-more-efficiently/


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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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