Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - September 30, 2010

Kevin's Mobility News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news and articles related to enterprise mobility that I run across each week. I am specifically targeting information that reflects market numbers and trends.

SMS, Human Capital Management and Mobile Applications

It is easy to think that high value mobile applications need to be complex and sophisticated, but that is not always the case.  This morning I read about a solution that helps firefighters manage their human resources and schedules by interacting with their staff via SMS.  The solution, called ClickRoster, will automatically create the roster for every fire station and every shift for both full time and part time firefighters, allocating individuals to specific roles based on skill requirements and the Watch Managers’ decisions.

Ventureforth Delivers Mobile Enterprise Solutions for Oracle PeopleSoft Using Syclo's Agentry Platform

Ventureforth, a Syclo Independent Software Vendor, licenses and develops off-the-shelf mobile solutions for Oracle, PeopleSoft and Indus (Ventyx) with the configurable mobile platform architecture from Syclo’s Agentry platform.  This is interesting for two reasons:

What Everyone Wants but Few Have - Mobile SDK

Last week I interviewed the COO of Worklight, Kurt Daniels (see interview later this week) and learned about their strategy to become the leading mobile application platform for smartphones, tablets and beyond.  What makes them unique?  They want to be experts in mobile technologies, Mobile SDKs (software development kits) and platforms, but they don't want to develop mobile applications themselves.  They want to support systems integrators and customers that want to develop their own mobile solutions.

Do SAP and Sybase Recognize What is Happening?

I know many people that work at Sybase in the mobility products area.  They were overworked before the acquisition.  Now they are overworked times 10.  Why?  SAP bought them and enterprise mobility is in big demand today.  SAP customers have been waiting a long time for an SAP direction and roadmap around mobility and now that SAP has a strategy there is a huge backlog of interest.  What does SAP do with this interest?  They call the product folks at Sybase Unwired Platform and request their assistance. 

I don't think the management folks at Sybase yet recognize what the SAP ecosystem is going to do to them.  I work closely with the SAP enterprise mobility ecosystem.  The majority of these companies are going to want to partner with Sybase so they can support SAP's roadmap and strategy.  Read  SAP's Mobility Partners After SAP’s Acquisition of Sybase, Part 1 for more information on this subject.  These companies have their own customer bases and are actively recruiting more business.  This is going to drive a significant amount of new business to Sybase.  It is going to require growth at Sybase.

Kevin’s M2M News Weekly – September 29, 2010

Welcome to Kevin's 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 that I read each week. I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article. I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market.

Location Based Services and Mobile Retailing Applications

There is a fast growing segment of the mobile applications market that is rapidly being adopted by retailers.  Retailers and consumer packaged goods companies like Best Buy, Disney, Procter and Gamble, Starbucks, The Gap, American Eagle, Sports Authority and Macy's are all involved in various location based services projects. 

SAP's Consumer Mobile Initiative

SAP is now starting to really deliver vertical specific mobility strategies, ideas and solutions.  I love it!  They are demonstrating that they really understand the power of mobile applications.  Take a look at the following agenda items from their upcoming SAP Retail Forum 2010 in Las Vegas:

Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly - September 28, 2010

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

More on Mobile Scanning Apps and Retail Stores

This morning I read an article written by Ben Lee of Smartsoft Mobile Solutions called Mobile Application Use for On-site Retail.  Ben describes how a number of different retailers have incorporated mobile applications, barcode, QR codes and scanning software into their strategies.