Kevin's M2M News Monthly - February 2011

Welcome to Kevin's M2M News Monthly, an online newsletter that consists of the most interesting news and articles related to M2M (machine to machine) and embedded mobile devices that I read each week.  I aggregate the information, include the original links and add a synopsis of each article.  I also search for the latest market numbers such as market size, growth and trends in and around the M2M market.

Also read Kevin’s Field Mobility News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly 

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also read Kevin’s Field Mobility News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly 

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s M2M News Monthly

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

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

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

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

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

Chetan Sharma's The Promise of Mobile Advertising

Chetan Sharma

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

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

Executive Summary

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

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

Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly is an online newsletter made up of the most interesting news, articles and links related to mobile payments, mobile money, e-wallets, mobile banking and mobile security that I run across each week.  I am specifically targeting market size and market trend information.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Early WWI Drones

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

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

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

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

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

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

Whitepapers of Note:

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

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst

Phone +1 208-991-4410

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

Join the SAP Enterprise Mobility group on Linkedin:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

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

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

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Retailing News Weekly 

Also read Kevin’s Mobile Money News Weekly

Also read Kevin’s Mobility News Weekly

Now for the news:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mobile Expert Interview Series: SAP's Puneet Suppal

SAP's Puneet Suppal

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Smartsoft Mobile's Ed Krufka



Smartsoft Mobile's Ed Krufka

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

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

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

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

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

Mobile Expert Interview Series: Adobe's Matthias Zeller

Adobe's Matthias Zeller

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

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

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

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

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

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

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