Gartner predicts top 10 mobile technologies
The top 10 mobile technologies that will change business, as described by Gartner research VP, Leif-Olof Wallin
HTML5
By 2015, Gartner predicts HTML 5 will deliver 50% of allapplications that would have been native in 2011. Wallin notes, however, that while HTML5 is often presented as the solution to all problems, it will not be the only solution for some applications, since it is not yet fully standardised. Wallin warns developers and business to expect fragmentation and to adapt applications accordingly.
Near-field communication
“This is really great technology that has unfortunately just taken forever to mature,” says Wallin, adding that it will undoubtedly become the leading ‘touch to act’ tech. According to Gartner, near-field communication (NFC) will enable numerous capabilities such as payments, ticketing, vouchers and coupons, check-in services, access control and information sharing. “There is already support from key platforms and vendors such as Android, Nokia and RIM,” notes Wallin.
Wallin, however, warns that m-payment solutions won’t happen readily and commercial and technical battles are expected to emerge between banks, network operators and Internet mega-vendors.
Platform independent AD tools
Gartner says no single mobile platform will dominate, and HTML5 alone will not satisfy all cross-platform development needs. As a result, there is opportunity in recognising that operating systems are not the only platforms one should be independent of.
Paying With Your Phone
BARCELONA - Paying with a mobile phone is gradually become a reality for consumers, with banks, telecommunications operators and Internet players all jumping in to offer payment options.
But while one group is pushing for a system of payment through an electronic wallet hosted on the web, another is investing in an infrastructure that would allow customers to pay by swiping their phones against a reader.
The latter, championed by Internet giant Google and telecoms operators like Orange and Vodafone, is made possible by so-called Near Field Communication technology.
It requires buyers to have specially equipped telephones, while sellers need to have new payment terminals installed. Yet it is the method preferred by both operators and banks, and particularly appears destined for developed countries.
At the world’s biggest mobile show in Barcelona in the past week, several handset makers previewed telephones compatible with NFC, while chip makers Gemalto, INSIDE Secure or STMicroelectronics all demonstrated their solutions for mobile phone payment.
However, “despite the large scale trials and some other announcements, we are far from a massive utilisation by consumers, neither are we seeing deployment on an industrial scale among sellers,” lamented Patrick Flamant, manager at internet payment operator Ogone.
Analysts say that payment by NFC telephones may be eclipsed by other methods that consumers find more handy - public transport cards, identification badges or store cards.
There are 6.8 billion people on the planet. 5.1 billion of them own a cell phone, but only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush.
Volkswagen turns off Blackberry email after work hours
Volkswagen has agreed to stop its Blackberry servers sending emails to some of its employees when they are off-shift.
The carmaker confirmed it made the move earlier this year following complaints that staff’s work and home lives were becoming blurred.
The restriction covers employees in Germany working under trade union negotiated contracts.
Campaigners warned that the move would not be suitable for all companies.
A spokesman for VW said: “We confirm that this agreement between VW and the company’s work council exists”, but would not comment further.
Under the arrangement servers stop routing emails 30 minutes after the end of employees’ shifts, and then start again 30 minutes before they return to work.
The staff can still use their devices to make calls and the rule does not apply to senior management.
“We wanted to take a preventative approach to tackling the issue,” said Gunnar Killian, VW’s works council spokesman…Continue reading
Two Things Every Great Mobile App Must Have
What makes a great app? To be more specific – what makes a really great mobile app? As I have written in some of my previous posts there are unique challenges with mobility in terms of form factor (which is just a fancy way of saying device size) and what it means to be productive. These challenges are not always accounted for. Many mobile app designs suffer from poor layouts, confusing functionality, or focus more on presentation and looking good over everything else. However, if an app design misses the mark from a productivity standpoint you have nothing more than a pink bow on the fence of a feedlot.
Enterprises are quickly moving away from desktop-based apps as their sole operational interface and towards an always-connected on-the-go experience. For many application developers it will be challenging, at first, to make this transition into the mobile arena. Desktop, and to the same extent web, applications designed for large screen resolutions have been the dominant paradigm and have so much momentum that it is taking time and a lot of track to stop that train. A product’s mobile UI is often an after-thought; an ‘oh yeah - now let’s make this work for mobile’ conversation. Because of inexpensive monitors application developers have become accustomed to vast expanses of screen real-estate as their playfield for form, function, and beauty.
Large screens are ubiquitous and as a result we have become as sloppy in our layout. Just as we went from really tight memory management to bloatware we have become footloose and fancy-free with taking up UI space. Great mobile apps will take this into consideration -but how?
Source: remotelymobile
Yes, Even iPhones Can Spy on You, Too
By ADAM CLARK ESTES for the Atlantic Wire
An Apple hacker has discovered that Carrier IQ, the shady smartphone software recently found to be logging keystrokes on Android and BlackBerry devices, is also installed on the iPhone. Don’t worry, fanboys. It’s off by default — probably. After
As on other smartphones, the presence of Carrier IQ in Apple’s iOS firmware is difficult to detect. Prominent iPhone jailbreaker “chpwn” discovered traces of the code on Thursday, after Android security researcher Trevor Eckhart dug into the code of his Google-made operating system to discover that Carrier IQ was recording tons of user data, even the contents of text messages. Hacker blogs are referring to Carrier IQ as a “rootkit,” a type of virtually undetectable software that provides privileged access to your data. In 2007, CNET reported that rootkits were “tops on the criminal hackers’ To Do lists,” though Carrier IQ markets its services to mobile carriers like AT&T and Sprint, as the name suggests. It’s also not a new service, as chpwn explains in a blog post (emphasis his):
Americans and Their Cell Phones
by Aaron Smith for the Pew Internet and American Life Project
Mobile phones have become a near-ubiquitous tool for information seeking and communicating—83% of American adults own some kind of cell phone.
- Cell phones can help stave off boredom – 42% of cell owners used their phone for entertainment when they were bored.
- Despite their advantages, some cell phone owners just need an occasional break – 29% of cell owners turned their phone off for a period of time just to get a break from using it.
- With advantages comes frustration – 20% of cell owners experienced frustration because their phone was taking too long to download something; 16% had difficulty reading something on their phone because the screen was too small; and 10% had difficulty entering a lot of text on their phone.
- Cell phones can help prevent unwanted personal interactions – 13% of cell owners pretended to be using their phone in order to avoid interacting with the people around them.
Text messaging and picture taking continue to top the list of ways that Americans use their mobile phones—three quarters of all cell owners (73%) use their phones for each of these purposes. Other relatively common activities include sending photos or videos to others (54% of cell owners do this) as well as accessing the internet (44%).
