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Well, by now you probably have seen the commercials. The first commercial began with a children’s lullaby playing in the background as a series of “i don’t” phrases appeared on a whiteboard. This was just enough to catch one’s curiosity when the final “i don’t” phrase dissolves into an eerie Sci-Fi fuzzy screen and a voice is heard announcing the coming of Droid. As a fighter pilot wannabe, the second commercial was much more to my liking. A squadron of what look to be 2^nd or 3^rd generation stealth fighter-bombers is flying in formation when the order is given to release the pods. A shower of what appears to be meteors fills the skies. Upon impact the locals gather around each crater and the pods begin to open when the background voice announces the arrival of Droid.

Last Friday Verizon’s iPhone killer went on sale. Motorola’s Droid has a mobile open source platform on the Verizon network. Michelle Megna reports for Internetnews.com on the impending battle between Apple, the maker of the iPhone, and the PC community in her article entitled “Droid First Step in iPhone Fade Away?”. Megna quotes Tim McLaughlin, CEO of Siteworx, a mobile app and Web development company,

"History shows that unlike Apple, PCs gathered the ecosystem of profitable companies, such as Dell and IBM, thanks to its open technology. Apple, however, only develops systems that benefit itself. It all comes down to economics, and the only company interested in making the iPhone ubiquitous is Apple. On the other hand, you have Google, Verizon, Motorola, all these big companies together, the cumulative market value is huge. You put all of those resources together, and even though it's less effective because it's not centralized like Apple, it will still have a huge impact"

Brad Reed and Matt Hamblen have done their due diligence research on the product and have come up with a nifty review in their article for Computerworld entitled “Four reasons to buy (and one reason to avoid) the Droid”. I’ll try to provide a brief summary of their five points:

1.       Droid is the strongest device on the Verizon Network with the following three characteristics:

a.       Mobile browsing capability

b.      A very good voice recognition functionality

c.       The largest 3G data coverage network of Verizon

2.       The Google connection: The open platform will stimulate development of new apps and allow users to switch to new carriers while maintaining the same device.

3.       Ability to run two applications simultaneously: iPhone can’t do it. Once Droid develops the appropriate security features, then Blackberry will need to pay attention as Droid could become the device of choice for the enterprise user.

4.       Connection to the internet through Wi-Fi: Also use of the same processor as the iPhone will allow a fast and smooth browsing experience.

5.       AND the one reason to avoid this device is the keyboard: Droid has the touchscreen capability, but in order to get that feel of hitting the keys, they have also developed a slide-out keyboard. This feature allows enough room for a larger display screen. Reed and Hamblen report that users do not get the same feel with this shallow keyboard.

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Stuart J. Johnston reports in his article in Internetnews.com for August 12, 2009 entitled Microsoft, Nokia Team to Make Office Mobile that these mobile operating system competitors have signed an alliance whereby Microsoft’s Office Mobile applications will run on Nokia’s Symbian operating system. The Microsoft Office Mobile applications will be ported over to the Nokia Eseries Enterprise devices. The plan begins with porting Office Mobile to the Nokia devices, which then will lead to allowing access to Microsoft enterprise products such as SharePoint and Office Communicator. Next year Microsoft will bundle other apps onto the Symbian operating system such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. As RIM’s Blackberry hold’s the lead in the enterprise market-space, the Microsoft/Nokia alliance could provide some significant inroads into that market. With Nokia’s market share for smartphones worldwide at 45%, it is easy to understand Microsoft’s willingness to join forces, at least in this arena.

For some more interesting reading which could help lay a foundation to understanding an alliance such as discussed above see the April 30, 2009 posting in this Blog entitled The Mobile Revolution Is Upon Us.

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Well folks, I’m out of breath. I was minding my own business just cruising the net for interesting stories and then all of a sudden I stumbled upon a treasure trove of fundamental information. It all began when I came across an article by Michelle Megna entitled What’s Behind the iPhone Success Story? and read in the first sentence that Apple sold 3.8 million iPhones in the last quarter (that’s three months for the non-accountants) for a $1.5 billion boost to sales revenue during the worst recession we’ve had in approximately 70 years. I was interested to read Megna’s reporting of the reasons behind this success story – 1) the too numerous to list apps, 2) the interconnectivity with the Mac for ease of data transfer, 3) the consumer preference of the iPhone to the Netbook. You’ll have to read further down into the article before you come across the astounding sales numbers for RIM’s Blackberry devices for the comparable time period. And so the story ends – or so I thought.

So I’m in this smartphone / mobility state of mind when I come across Andrew Dod’s article entitled Strategic Considerations for “Going Mobile”. Dod’s article takes this topic into the stratosphere with countless references to vital information. He begins by calling our attention to the old days and another revolution, 1994 that is and modems firing at 14.4 bps. Companies quickly realized that the paradigm had shifted and they needed to be a part of the internet and figure out how to compete and make money.   With over 4 billion mobile devices in existence today the same questions asked in 1994 are being asked again:

·         How do we get our business on mobile?

·         How can we easily create and distribute content on mobile?

·         How do we integrate mobile into our business operations?

·         How do we ensure effective adoption of our mobile applications?

·         How do we extend and grow our business on mobile?

Dod cautions us that mobile is not just for marketing but can help the enterprise achieve its core business objectives. With the excess of mobile devices out there Dod declares that content should be upper most in the mind of the business strategist to address the“significant variations in operating systems, screen sizes, display resolution, processing speed, memory, and performance.” Dod lays out the three major types of content, each with its own unique character and requirements to fit into the business strategy:

·         Text messaging SMS (short message service) delivers simple content but is limited in how much it can deliver - only 160 characters.

·         Mobile Web (WAP): This is where your smartphone uses WAP (wireless application protocol) to access Web sites. The WAP browser is simplified for your handheld device but is fully interactive. Use of the WAP browser is different from a PC browser. Web sites usually display clumsily on the smaller mobile screens. It is better to deliver tailored offerings with a limited portion of the content and functionality available at the full Web site.

·         Mobile Applications: Since mobile devices support numerous platforms, rich media applications have become available enabling a much more vibrant user experience with video and audio. This allows for content developed specifically for the mobile device. Dod suggests that the smart business treats the mobile medium as its own medium, rather than an off-shoot of online.

Dod’s emphasis throughout his article is the importance of content when delivering it to a mobile device. He has devised a list of what he calls the ten C’s of mobile strategies. It is really quite ingenious. I could not do it justice in this blog posting and so I highly recommend his article to all my readers.

Continuing on with this treasure trove of information, many of my readers may remember my Blog posting last August 4, 2008 entitled Mobile Computing: A Unified Platform Is Essential As Technologies Converge regarding Jim Hemmer’s “Mobile Bang Theory”. Just to refresh your recollection Hemmer’s theory simply states that one action from a mobile device can be the catalyst for many other internal, as well as external, business reactions yielding significant ROI. Well Hemmer is back with a follow up to his Mobile Bang Theory entitled The Mobile Bang Theory – Part II: Let the ROI Sparks Fly. He sees the global economic meltdown as an aid in bringing cost containment more into focus for the enterprise and thus putting mobility projects on the top of the “to do” list for IT managers.

Hemmer’s take on the current mobile revolution is quite fascinating. He really sees a BIG PICTURE when he describes the inherent benefits of mobility. His vision combines multiple systems and devices and networks and processes and people and the end result is faster ROI. He emphasizes this faster ROI by explaining that the global recession provides opportunities in the sales cycle to impress your customers. He takes this lesson from the former president of Scandinavian Airlines, Jan Carlzon, who turned the company around during a deep recession. As Carlzon explained each customer interaction was a “moment of truth” for the company to impress the customer. Hemmer takes the moment of truth approach and refines it to fit today’s economic environment. These moments of truth become “Trigger Points” where the sale can be won or lost based on the timely and relevant use of data that can be brought to bear via mobile devices.

To be sure, mobility is not solely for the sales cycle. Hemmer’s article is full of other real examples of the use and benefits to the enterprise deploying the latest mobility devices and applications. He presents examples of mobility’s use for field service operations and also the productivity gains for IT Management itself as data can be retrieved real time to provide visibility into the operations. Jim Hemmer’s article is a nice companion piece to Andrew Dod’s article. And as Andrew Dod stated in his article:

“Mobile is here, now, and only going to dwarf the first Internet wave due to its ubiquity, essentialness, convenience, and proximity to nearly all we do.”

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In my reading and search for noteworthy events in the IT world, I have come across several interesting, but not necessarily connected articles. I thought I would list out a few of these to keep my readers apprised of these current events and what is or may be happening in the not too distant future. I’ll give you a very brief synopsis and provide the link to each article if you feel the need to dig further into the story. My selections (not in any particular order of importance) are as follows:

BlackBerry Bold Keyboard Is Hot

Judy Mottl reports that all sales of the BlackBerry Bold in Japan have been halted. It seems after the first week that NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s mobile carrier, received more than several complaints that the keyboards were hot. At present it is not a battery issue, just hot keyboards. Mottl puts an interesting twist in the article by listing out some component prices for the BlackBerry Bold. The highest priced component is the processor at $34.34 while the keyboard is listed at $1.85. For more on this see BlackBerry Bold too hot to handle in Japan.

Stimulus Money for Broadband

Kenneth Corbin reports that $7.2 billion of the total $787 billion stimulus package passed by Congress has been allocated for broadband deployment. The National Telecommunications Information Administration (NTIA) will be meeting with ISP’s soon all looking for some of the approximate$4.5 billion the NTIA has to spend. The remaining $2.5 billion will be administered by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) for broadband in the more sparsely populated areas. Corbin seems to buy into the Obama Administrations claim for transparency on the spending of these funds. His article is entitled Feds pressing forward with broadband stimulus plans.

The Demise of TV News

If you are as frustrated as me with the TV News, then Mike Elgan’s article Why Social Media is Killing (Bad) TV News is a must read. Elgan’s opinion piece is a no nonsense approach to the obvious bias and search for ratings and career boosting antics of the anchors. Elgan holds nothing back as he illustrates his point using CNN's Wolf Blitzer “doing his clumsy ‘Situation Room’ shtick”. Elgan is infuriated at the rehashing of the 4 top stories (as the editors see it) and suggests reporting on the top 20 stories. He presents a list of 5 things to do for TV News to become more timely and relevant while taking a swipe at the “over-paid personalities” delivering their own slanted opinions on what they have decided are the top 4 news items of the day. I disagree with one of his points though. In his third point he wants to do away with all opinion show personalities. He states the following, “Bill O'Reilly, Lou Dobbs, Sean Hannity, Jim Cafferty, Keith Olbermann, Rachael Maddow and their ilk — show them the door.”  I think we already have a system set-up for that. It is called ratings. As long as each opinion show personality makes it clear to the viewers that the show is an opinion show and not a “Hard News” show, I say let the viewers decide. Just in case you are not sure where Elgan’s true feelings lie after reading his 5 points, he concludes his article as follows:

“Of course, I don't expect the TV new media to do any of these things. The medium is the message, and the number-one objective of any organization is to blindly pursue the interests of the organization itself. TV networks need their advertising dollars, and believe that the only way to make money is to be phony, non-responsive propaganda machines that barely cover the news and spend half their time on self-promotion.

Fine.  Just don't expect me to watch. I'll be getting the real news on Twitter.”

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Gartner reports that worldwide sales for Smartphones topped 32 million units for the second quarter of 2008.  It seems that the North American consumer shrugged off any thoughts of a downturn in the economy.  This market experienced an annual increase of over 78%.  Even with new competitors and the new touch screen technology, Nokia kept its leading worldwide market share, although its growth rate was half the market average.  Nokia will address this sluggish growth by introducing its own touch screen Smartphone later this year.

On the other hand, Research in Motion (“RIM”), the maker of the Blackberry, came in with a stalwart performance for 2008 topping 126% growth from last year.  Gartner reports:

“RIM continued to execute well at the consumer level, increasing its global market reach. In the second half of the year, the company is expected to launch smartphones based on new form factors, which are necessary to keep pace with the competition at the consumer level”

The apparent lackluster sales for the Apple iPhone was due to inventory troubles on the initial sales of the iPhone, but we should expect record sales numbers for the second half of this year.

Read the complete story as reported by Judy Mottl of InternetNews.com in her article Smartphones Show No Signs of Slowing.

Speaking of RIM and its latest clamshell BlackBerry …

Research in Motion announced its latest entrant into the consumer market with the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220.  This model is aimed at Apple’s iPhone consumer based market and not the conventional RIM enterprise user.  The usual full keyboard has been reduced to a 20 button keyboard which favors the web surfing of consumers over the text entry preference of the enterprise user.  Competition in this space can be fierce with such competitors as Apple’s iPhone, Nokia’s Symbian OS, and the soon to be released Google Android.

AR Communications analyst, Carmi Levy, commented on RIM’s strategy,

"RIM's ability to get all of its next-generation devices out the door and into the channel by year's end as originally planned is critical to its continued market and revenue growth,"

This latest 8220 Flip open Smartphone boosts 2 LCD screens.  When closed, the outside LCD allows the user to preview calls, emails, and text messages.  Also available on the 8220 will be AOL AIM and ICQ instant messaging services, and AOL Mail.

Read RIM's BlackBerry 'Flips' Out to Woo Consumers for a more complete story.

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First I would like to define what we mean by Unified Communications (“UC”).  Unified Communications encompasses email, instant messaging, texting, phones, and other networking and mobility applications.  In short Unified Communications “ … lets users access people and resources, no matter the location or communication channel, spurring productivity and boosting business processes at an economical cost.”  For an in-depth discussion on this topic see UC Will Prove Challenging to Buyers And Sellers by Judy Mottl.

Initially SMB’s have found it a daunting task to try and pull all these various applications together into one cohesive platform.  The lack of funds and the lack of familiarity with these tools have hindered their move to UC.  The familiarity issue is evaporating as more people are using these communication tools in their non-work life and begin to demand these tools in the workplace.  For further discussion on the capabilities and uses of the newest wireless devices and the coming of the Mobile Web see the following posts in this blog:

• Blackberry Bold RIMs Next 3G High Speed Wireless Handset

• 4G and The Mobile Web: WiMAX v LTE

SaaS may be the way that SMB’s can overcome the budgetary constraints as well as the integration problems that have acted as a barrier for these enterprises.  SaaS provides a faster deployment and the right provider can pull all the telephony tools and applications together into one unified and interconnected unit.  Judy Mottl has written an excellent article that details in the ins and outs for those SMB’s considering this next step into UC.  In her article SaaS Best Path for SMB Unified Communications: Service strategy lets small companies enjoy technology benefits without the headaches she interviews Simon Edwards, UC project director, British Telecom (“BT”), who cautions not to get locked into one particular platform:

"SMBs have to make sure they stick to an agnostic platform," said Edwards, adding that the best approach is an open standards platform that allows emerging technologies from different tool makers

Mottl concludes her article with a quote from Mat Taylor, a senior software architect with BT:

"The ability to get things done faster, get workers more engaged in business scenario, provide better customer service, are all big productivity wins that benefit the bottom line"

For more on the coming of age of handheld devices for the UC revolution see the following posts in this blog:

• Future of Wireless Devices

• SAP Sapphire 2008

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In my reading of interesting and relevant articles posted on the web, there have been several follow-on articles which expand on some of my more recent posts to this Blog. Due to the number of articles that I have come across, I thought it best to cite to some these articles, with a line or two of brief explanation, and let the reader pick and chose any article(s) of interest. I found the following to be of particular interest:

• 
  Time to Scrap Your BPM Spreadsheets? SMBs have powerful SaaS alternatives: Here is a way to streamline the budgeting and financial planning process. This will facilitate collaboration, what-if scenarios, and contingency planning.
• 
  Apple Watchers Salivate Over 3G iPhone Rumors - Developer conference expected to be launch venue for new iPhone: This will be one to watch this week. Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) starts Monday, June 9th in San Francisco. Could this be Apple’s answer to the recent flurry of applications announced to be integrated into the BlackBerry?
  
• 
  Software Sales in 'SaaSy' Transition - The consumer-inspired trend of easy, online access to applications is finding a ready market in the enterprise: What can I say. We told you so. This is a discussion about applications designed for the end-users and not colorful reports to impress the top brass.
  
• 
  BlackBerry Defies Stagnant Tech Spending - Companies are untying IT purse strings for smartphones but not for much else these days: With IT spending slowing down, RIM’s market share is estimated to reach 82% this year.
  

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Let’s start with full disclosure – I own a BlackBerry Curve. It provides me the freedom I require. I am not tied to the office. I can be out of the office and still receive my emails and determine if the email or document promised to be sent to me has indeed arrived. I can also get a quick note out and/or be responsive to a client’s email and simply state “Not in office. Call U later.” Instead of waiting to the end of this article for the “Moral of the Story”, let me state upfront in my opinion that the secret to high-tech (and especially wireless) should be to make the technology work for you and not the other way around. As of late, there has been a flurry of news surrounding 3G and RIM’s BlackBerry and so I am not quite sure that making the technology work for you instead of you being tied to the technology can remain as my mantra, but I will try. I do not intend for the following to sound like a commercial, but I confess that it might.

RIM announced its latest handheld device, the BlackBerry Bold. We can expect to see this new smartphone this summer. While the corporate customer is RIM’s target market for now, the added features to the BlackBerry Bold may help extend RIM’s reach into the consumer market as well. The new BlackBerry Bold will have “the most vivid display ever on a BlackBerry, a 2-megapixel camera with video recording capability and a media player for watching movies and managing music collections.” To be more descriptive, “the enhanced display” will be “twice the resolution of the Curve. The half-VGA color LCD is ‘fused’ to the undersurface of the device lens, which RIM says, improves definition and clarity.” Further the new BlackBerry Bold is “Sleek, shiny and sharp in design” and comes with “a newly designed full QWERTY keyboard, integrated GPS and 802.11 Wi-Fi. In addition, the unit has a 624MHz mobile processor for faster document downloading and support for triband HSDPA networks.” The more consumer-friendly features of this new device puts Apple’s iPhone squarely in its crosshairs. Read all about these new features in the article as reported by Reuters in the Internetnews.com post A Bold New BlackBerry for Business and also Judy Mottl’s article BlackBerry Goes Bold for Market Gold.

Continuing with this flurry of announcements, as I explained in my post of May 8, 2008, SAP Sapphire 2008, SAP will be integrating its CRM functionality into the BlackBerry with an aim at integrating all the functionality of the SAP software suite in the near future. This announcement was quickly followed by Microsoft announcing that it will make available Windows Live service on the RIM device as well. Users will now have available Windows Live Messenger and Hotmail. If this wasn’t enough, IBM announced that it is making the BlackBerry the only handheld enterprise device to have full mobile access to all Lotus collaboration solutions which includes Lotus Notes and Sametime. Users will now be able to collaborate across documents. “With the Lotus Collaboration Software suite, enterprises also gain access to IBM WebSphere Portal technology. The IBM dashboards software lets businesses build Web sites and single screen dashboard views that deliver information, applications and processes personalized to the individual BlackBerry user.” Judy Mottl reports this and more in her article IBM Lotus Goes Mobile Via The BlackBerry.

And if you aren’t out of breath yet from all these announcements, I’ve got one more. Mottl reports further that the BlackBerry will carry the RSA software in her article BlackBerry Becomes Security Token Device. With this new technology from RSA, the BlackBerry will be able to function much like a key fab security token. “The software generates a one-time passcode that users copy and paste to log in to corporate VPNs, enterprise wireless networks or network applications.” This technology will give greater security for network connectivity. As Mottl points out, such a need for this type of security for our mobile devices was magnified when several White House staffers’ Blackberries went missing during a recent visit from the President of Mexico.

That’s all I have for you now. But ask yourselves, with all this new functionality will we really be making the technology work for us or will we be working more because of the technology. At this point I am not certain.

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As many of you may know already May 4th to 7th was Sapphire 2008. This year it was held in Orlando, Florida. What is Sapphire? Well, it is SAP’s annual international customer conference. It is the place where the enterprise’s decision makers come to see the latest business solutions that SAP has to offer. There are a plethora of announcements and it is difficult to keep all the facts and details straight in one’s mind. I have listed below what I found to be a few of the more noteworthy announcements with a brief summary and if any of these are of interest follow the links for more details.

First on the list was the pre-conference announcement. My guess is that this was sort of a primer for things to come. The “mobile workforce”, many of whom are users of the ever popular hand-held device from Research in Motion (“RIM”) known as the Blackberry, may be interested to know that they will have access SAP’s CRM functionality in the coming months. The plans are to eventually integrate the rest of SAP’s functionality into the handheld device. As a Blackberry user myself, I think the implications of this could be enormous. Just the mere fact of being able to send and receive my emails wherever I happen to be is a huge advantage to me. SAP and RIM are talking about a mobile workforce now with access to all parts of the enterprise including order applications and inventory management. A more detailed description can be found in the Internews.com article SAP Is Wooing the BlackBerry CRM Crowd.

The next announcement I found to be of interest was that Rimini Street, the low-cost third-party provider of support, will be providing support for the SAP R/3 ERP suite. The concerns about SAP pulling support for its older versions was alleviated a bit when Rimini Street pledged to continue supporting the older versions without any upgrades until the year 2020. The cost savings for the R/3 user base could be significant. SAP had recently announced that it would raise its maintenance fees from 17% to 22% to keep up with the industry standard, particularly Oracle. Now with the availability of support from Rimini Street, CEO Seth Ravin, boosts, “Most of our customers are saving on average 70 percent against overall maintenance costs and at least 50 percent on their annual maintenance bill. We cut customers' costs in half and still make a very hefty profit." Ravin’s approach is that R/3 users don’t want to move to the next platform since “they spent years and a ton of money to get it working right and,…there's nothing that justifies the cost of upgrade, disruption and opportunity cost…” To read more see Rimini Street Adds SAP, Passes on TomorrowNow.

Following the Rimini support announcement, SAP made another announcement concerning its own Enterprise Support. This new approach to support from SAP will be more of a holistic approach and not the usual patches sent to fix bugs in the software. SAP will be supporting SAP solutions as well as non-SAP solutions and focus its attention on SOA. To learn more about the components of this Enterprise Support offering from SAP read SAP Beef’s Up Enterprise Support. This article also contains Oracle’s perspective on SAP’s offering and how it competes with SAP.

The last announcement coming out of Sapphire 2008 that I will discuss are the two add-ons that will assist in the design and execution of new business processes without the need for new code development, SAP NetWeaver Business Process Management (BPM) and SAP NetWeaver Business Rules Management. With close to 39,000 NetWeaver deployments, these new add-ons continue to emphasize SAP’s push into SOA. SAP's NetWeaver BPM will provide the ability to implement and manage complex business processes. In essence it simplifies the implementation of an SOA environment. As stated in SAP Add-Ons Aim to Simplify BPM for NewWeaver, “NetWeaver BPM's unified modeling capabilities mean that a single version of a business process will be available throughout an enterprise, and its users will be able to edit it and make changes without losing details in translation.”

The above discussion is only a sample of the announcements that came out of Sapphire 2008.

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