tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16670325009428527752024-03-23T04:21:19.330-07:00Enterprise Mobile SolutionsP Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-76713517488416779522011-05-29T10:40:00.000-07:002011-05-29T10:40:49.379-07:00Mobile Web Next Big thing : What are the choices?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">If you are serious about getting your website or web application mobile-friendly, the easiest, fastest and proven method is to start with a mobile application framework. Similar to programming frameworks like cakePHP, Zend Framework, mobile frameworks provide you with handy tools to automate many of the tedious tasks associated with mobile web development.<br />
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Most of the mobile frameworks consist of cross-browser consistent user interface elements and widgets,abstraction of boilerplate coding and wrappers for accessing native mobile OS functionalities.<br />
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And the best thing is that these frameworks allow you to use web technologies that you are already familiar with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.<br />
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The choice of a mobile application framework will ultimately depend on your requirements, but this review of popular mobile application frameworks provides some useful tips to consider while selection a mobile development framework.<br />
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• Avoid platform specific frameworks: Developing solely for say iPhone is going to restrict your reach to other mobile devices (iPhone US market share is only 27%). Instead opt for a framework that can be used across a wide range of mobile OS.<br />
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• Choose a lightweight framework: Internet availability on mobile phone is extremely prone to slow connectivity or latency issues. You should consider a framework that generates optimized code/graphics, supports some level of caching and makes use of local storage.<br />
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• Leverage your existing web development skills: Stay away from frameworks that require you to learn a new language unless you have a specific reason to do so.<br />
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<strong>mobl</strong><br />
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mobl is a new free and open source language designed specially to speed up building mobile applications. Using modern HTML5 technologies, mobl offers you a concise language to built native-feeling web apps that can be deployed on several platforms including iOS and Android. It borrows its syntax from JavaScript and its compiler automatically generate the related JavaScript and HTML files that can be then hosted to a web host.<br />
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<strong>Sencha Touch</strong><br />
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Sencha Touch was one of the first true frameworks released for mobile web development. It allows you to develop mobile web apps that look and feel native on iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry touch devices. It does so by leveraging technologies like HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript for the highest level of power, flexibility, and optimization. Sencha Touch is compatible with PhoneGap and this will enable you to distribute your application on the Apple App Store or Android Marketplace.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioEtJ73WnLZ6-I8ROZDZeh0px0T5q2586vTjgV0fCijwYzp0Ztc9soIebUfB_HcbAl3qFCKTOKm09aoWiHYjL4DbFiB_HOWShxpyFi4d0MsfnK41JUg-xxogbnUAnRGH4_REQKl3SOlRM/s1600/sencha.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="134" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioEtJ73WnLZ6-I8ROZDZeh0px0T5q2586vTjgV0fCijwYzp0Ztc9soIebUfB_HcbAl3qFCKTOKm09aoWiHYjL4DbFiB_HOWShxpyFi4d0MsfnK41JUg-xxogbnUAnRGH4_REQKl3SOlRM/s320/sencha.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></div><strong>ChocolateChip</strong><br />
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ChocolateChip is a lightweight JavaScript library aimed at developing web applications for mobile devices. It does so by allowing you to code using a special markup language called WAML (Web App Markup Language) that drives semantic meaning to your applications. Several custom tags and attributes provide you with a quicker way to create powerful and highly responsive UI including widgets, controls and buttons. It also has built-in support for AJAX, LocalStorage and SVG images. ChocolateChip is still in beta version and currently works on Webkit-based browsers only.<br />
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<strong>The-M-Project</strong><br />
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The-M-Project is an HTML5 and JavaScript framework for developing cross-platform mobile apps. It comprises of JQuery mobile UI and core files along with build tool called Espresso which is in turn based on NodeJS. It has support for offline data (automatic cache manifest generation), internationalization and locate/remote storage. In addition, it can be integrated with the Cloud9 IDE. The-M-Project is still in alpha stage but the development roadmap looks very promising.<br />
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<strong>PhoneGap</strong><br />
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PhoneGap takes a different approach to mobile web development. On the top of being an HTML5 app platform, it also allows you to author native application with normal technologies and get access to mobile OS's API and app stores â€" best of all, it has support for multiple platforms including iOS, BlackBerry OS, Windows Mobile, Android, Palm and Symbian OS. Some of the native features you can access (varies depending on platform) includes accelerometer, camera, compass, storage, geo location, sound notification and address book.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf3eZEmpl8oVkaPFfOzETSCX_lpIe2VyllM2yB4Hw4nQ3V3OZmu-YoJ1uIUW4UxFLTy4VAsiHWbJjww818EKwi6vnQsCBMvYkZO25K1tBZwM1uHO3oy_VnSQ8iPikiRqhCZu_bpGfpgBc/s1600/phonegap.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf3eZEmpl8oVkaPFfOzETSCX_lpIe2VyllM2yB4Hw4nQ3V3OZmu-YoJ1uIUW4UxFLTy4VAsiHWbJjww818EKwi6vnQsCBMvYkZO25K1tBZwM1uHO3oy_VnSQ8iPikiRqhCZu_bpGfpgBc/s320/phonegap.JPG" t8="true" width="320" /></a></div><strong>DHTMLX Touch</strong><br />
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DHTMLX Touch is an HTML5-based JavaScript library for building mobile web applications. It's not just a set of UI widgets, but a complete framework that allows you to create eye-catching, cross-platform web applications for mobile and touchscreen devices. By using a fair choice of available UI elements, you can build interactive mobile apps for business or entertainment.<br />
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<strong>Applitude</strong><br />
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Applitude is a runtime framework and a domain specific language (DSL) for iPhone application development. This language is made-to-measure to express iPhone apps, so instead of keywords like if, then, while it has keywords like contentprovider, tableview or cell. Applitude is a developer tool and as such, a good knowledge of iPhone development in Objective C is required.<br />
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<strong>Jo</strong><br />
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Jo is an HTML5 mobile app framework that sports a pretty UI widget framework that allow you to manipulate DOM elements, events and data stuff. It works across different mobile platforms unlike other frameworks doesn't use a lot of resources. If you want to jam an existing web page into an application framework, jo probably isn't for you. jo is designed to create applications.<br />
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<strong>jQTouch</strong><br />
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jQTouch is a jQuery plugin for mobile web development mostly geared towards the iPhone, iPod Touch and other forward-thinking devices. It provides a great framework for creating powerful mobile apps with just HTML, CSS and jQuery. It has native animations, automatic navigation and themes support.<br />
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<strong>jQuery Mobile</strong><br />
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jQuery Mobile, touted as a touch-optimized Web framework for smartphones and tablets. Built on the top of jQuery and jQuery UI code, it provides a unified user interface across all major mobile device platforms. The code in itself is lightweight (12Kb compressed), flexible and supports a themeable design. Query Mobile makes use of several HTML5 and CSS3 features and if a mobile browser doesn't support some of these features yet, it will degrade gracefully without affecting the user experience.<br />
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<strong>baseJS</strong><br />
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baseJS is a lightweight JavaScript framework intended for use with Mobile Safari on the iPhone and iPod Touch; it also works with Firefox and all WebKit-based browsers. By providing shortcuts and reusable methods, baseJS helps you write code to be lightweight and extendable perfect for the mobile web.<br />
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<strong>Rhomobile</strong><br />
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Rhomobile is a set of products primary meant for managing enterprise-level mobile apps and data. Rhomobile uses the power and productivity of web technology and the cloud to allow enterprises to more easily develop, distribute, deploy and manage native smartphone apps and data. The downside is that Rhomobile requires some knowledge of Ruby â€" could be an adoption pain if you've never worked with Ruby before.<br />
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<strong>Kurogo</strong><br />
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Kurogo is a PHP framework for delivering high quality, data driven customizable content to a wide range of mobile devices. Its strengths lie in the customizable system that allows you to adapt content from a variety of sources and easily present that to mobile devices from feature phones, to early generation smart phones, to modern devices and tablets.The mobile web component exists as a based web application served using PHP. This application is hosted on a web server and users access it using the web browser on their mobile device.<br />
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<strong>Wink Toolkit</strong><br />
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Wink Toolkit is a lightweight JavaScript toolkit which will help you build great mobile web apps. It is designed and developed to meet the specific constraints of the mobile environment. The toolkit's core offers all the basic functionalities a mobile developer would need from touch event handling to DOM manipulation objects or CSS transforms utilities. Additionally, it offers a wide range of UI components are offered to help you improve the look and feel of a web app, or simply to experiment with new user interactions.<br />
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<strong>Unify</strong><br />
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Unify makes use of HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript to create native-like applications for smartphones, tables and desktops. It also has a few dependencies like Sass Adobe Air and PhoneGap. A typical end user should not be able to distinguish an application built with Unify from a natively programmed application.<br />
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Source: <a href="http://www.articlediary.com/article/review-of-mobile-web-application-frameworks-909.html">http://www.articlediary.com/article/review-of-mobile-web-application-frameworks-909.html</a><br />
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</div>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-74694000648975096692011-04-22T05:31:00.000-07:002011-04-22T05:31:29.902-07:00Shape your IT with Mobile and Cloud computingThere’s been a lot of talk about cloud computing, and mobility has been in the news for years. But apps and an enterprise app store are going to bring it all together to remake the face of IT.<br />
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<b>Cloud Computing<br />
</b>Cloud computing is a method for delivering computing resource. Its principal attributes are outsourced management, ubiquitous access and elasticity.<br />
• Outsourced management allows us to obtain the use of software without having to deal with installing it, maintaining it, or managing the associated databases.<br />
• Ubiquitous access means we can use the Internet to get to our software and data. Anywhere you can get access to the Internet, you can get access to your cloud computing application.<br />
• Elasticity means we don’t have to worry about technology sizing. We don’t have to buy a server that will accommodate our peak demand, which maybe occurs only when the last Friday of a quarter corresponds to a full moon. Instead, we just use the resource we need, and we pay only for the resource we use. This is a very fair approach, and CFO’s love it.<br />
<b>Mobility<br />
</b>Mobility is one of those things that has snuck up on us. It started with mobile phones, then texting and mobile email, and now it’s gotten to the point where you can do anything just about anywhere. And if you think about it, that’s where things started in the first place. Before we got to the point of using computer systems, we relied on what we carried around with us to get our jobs done. We could move around freely to meet with customers and co-workers in the most appropriate environment for the job we needed to do. The idea that we should have to retreat to a single “corporate” location to find relevant data is an artificial creation of a time when computers were too bulky to carry around. The new reliance on portable computers and hand-held devices is just a return to where we started. We’ve thrown off the shackles of our behemoth computing captors and returned to a world where location is determined by our task — not by our limited access to data.<br />
<b>Apps<br />
</b>There’s a huge difference between an app and a traditional software application — particularly a Windows application:<br />
• Apps can be self-installed in a few minutes by a novice. Traditional applications require lots of steps, the answers to a number of unanswerable technical questions, and often a restart of your computer system.<br />
• Apps are intuitively easy to use. Applications require training and rote learning of arcane codes. That’s often because applications are more sophisticated than apps, but who came up with the stupid idea that an application has to be a swiss army knife and do hundreds of things when only a few things are really needed? Apps just do what’s needed; applications try to be adequate at everything and often end up being good at nothing.<br />
• Apps automatically know how to get data from the principal data sources on your device. For example, apps which need address book or calendar information know how to get it. Traditional applications, on the other hand, require extensive configuration. You’ll have to be specific about telling your application exactly where to get data, even down to the directory where you’ve chosen to store it or the server where the data can be found.<br />
• Apps can be installed without hurting other apps. Applications often interfere with other applications due to DLL overlaps and conflicting registry entries.<br />
• Apps can be deinstalled without incident. Applications often leave behind old files and even software which will continue to haunt you when it conflicts with other applications you’ll later install.<br />
Basically, apps are the new applications. They’re what applications should have been if we had been working in an environment which made apps possible.<br />
<b>Enterprise App Store<br />
</b>Anyone with a smart phone is familiar with the concept of an app store. You search for an app for a particular need, then buy it, download it and install it all in one easy step. An enterprise app store is just like the app store for a smart phone, except:<br />
• The apps have gone through a selection and weeding-out process so that only the best and most appropriate business apps are available for your use.<br />
• The store contains a mixture of generic and proprietary apps. The proprietary apps were designed, tailored, written or customized by people in your company to provide for the specific needs of your business. Those proprietary apps know how to access your corporate information and the cloud databases they use. And so when you use one of these proprietary apps, you’re actually updating the same corporate database that your company relies on for its day-to-day business.<br />
• Access to the enterprise app store is secure, and only authorized employees are allowed to see certain apps. The apps you see in the store are restricted to those apps that make sense for your job and for your level of authorization within the company.<br />
• There may be different versions of the same app. The version of the app you download will be determined by your job and level of authorization. For example, your app may let you look at your department, while your division vice-president’s app may let her look at the entire division.<br />
<b>Bringing It All Together<br />
</b>It you put all these things together — if you use cloud computing, mobility, apps and an enterprise app store — you can totally change the face of IT in your company. For starters, you have no need for a data center, since all of your data is stored in the cloud, and all of your applications are delivered through the Internet. Then you can drastically cut the size of your help desk, since you no longer have to worry about PC configuration issues for applications, and since apps are so much easier to use than traditional applications.<br />
Of course, someone still has to develop the proprietary apps, but you’ll probably outsource most of that work. So the primary work of the IT organization will be:<br />
• Strategic Technology Leadership — determining what ought to be done<br />
• Systems Architecture and Integration — determining how corporate systems should look, breaking the requirements down into individual products, databases and apps, and then developing an overall approach for implementing what’s needed<br />
• Project Management — leading projects for major technology initiatives<br />
And yes, there will still be a need for some help desk support, but with properly designed apps, the amount will be much less than what is required today.<br />
<b>Conclusion<br />
</b>Each of these factors — cloud computing, mobility and intuitive apps — has had an impact on IT. But together these three factors, in conjunction with an enterprise app store, are going to totally reinvent IT. You can lead the change in your business, or you can drag your feet and get left behind. The choice is up to you.<br />
Source : <a href="http://blog.makingitclear.com/2011/01/31/cloudmobileapp/">http://blog.makingitclear.com/2011/01/31/cloudmobileapp/<br />
</a>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-18790944333807925802010-12-17T09:35:00.000-08:002010-12-17T09:38:36.188-08:00Business Mobility Market Outlook: 2011<Strong>Enterprise Mobility trends for year 2011</strong><br /><p></p><br /><u>by Purushottam Darshankar </u><br /><p></p><br /><p>As we look back at year 2010, one can see many changes in mobility space. Some of these changes were evident from the way how tablets and other mobile hardwares made news this year. As global economy is heading out of recession, more and more organizations have started to see mobility as a strategic differentiator and see expanding role of individual-liable device in enterprise mobility.</p><br /><p>According to analyst firm, Gartner Cloud computing, social networking, mobile devices and applications are the technologies that businesses should plan for - they may not adopt them all, but they must at least be aware of them and thinking about how they fit in their organisation and relate to all the other technologies.</p><br /><p>Though it’s unfair to compare device platforms directly, Symbian will still lead its market share in 2011 because of Nokia’s entrenchment in low-end feature phones across the globe, while all other players are aiming to make high-end smartphones. Android at second position and gaining its market share day-by-day has an added advantage of recruiting many manufacturers to its cause. RIM at third position uses its blackberry OS only for mobile phone unlike android and iOS who have spanned their platforms for phones and tablets.</p><br /><p>In 2010, iPad became the most quickly adopted electronic gadget in history that brought new levels of usability to computing. These are most suited for users who do not need full functionality of PC especially for travelling executives, employees on field , management top brass etc. Tablets such as iPad, RIMs Playbook that runs on QNX , Samsung Galaxy tab will start replacing laptops with expected sale of 54 million in 2011. We’re going to see a slew of iPad competitors hit the market early next year. The trend of rich UI based touchscreen devices will continue with over 60 percent devices to include the use of multi-touch interfaces to be shipped in Western Europe and North America in 2011.</p><br /><p>With large screen and greater computing power, tablet will be the choice for enterprises. 2011 may see enterprises purchasing and deploying tablets for their employees. This will demand increasingly sophisticated device management and security solution that can protect device, network and applications that are running on device. 3G/4G services such as LTE and WiMax will continue to increase and market will see improved technologies to store and manage content such as audio, video and images. BT 4.0 and its low energy LE technology will enable range of peripheral devices to be used by devices to enable new functions.</p><br /><p>Over 75 percent of devices shipped in mature market will have GPS capabilities, enabling wide range of B2B or B2E location aware applications. If local privacy regulations are addressed, enterprise will see good adoption of such applications that can bring significant improvement in productivity and operational efficiencies.</p><br /><p>The M2M (machine-to-machine) market is highly fragmented but wide range of low cost network devices is helping industry grow 30 percent year-on-year. The applications such as meter reading, security/surveillance, automotive systems, vending and point of sale, remote tracking and monitoring will be in demand.</p><br /><p>Cloud computing acceptance will accelerate in the small business sector during 2011. Mobile solutions will begin to exploit the cloud in order to provide lower cost of entry point to mobility solutions for SMBs. Telecom players will align and move their service offering on Cloud model – easy to use pay-as-you–go model</p><br /><p>The focus on green IT will continue, as organizations are sensitive and more aware of reducing their carbon footprint via different methods like reducing paper consumption, reduced power usage, reducing travel etc. Mobility has been well positioned in providing the underlying foundation for more eco-friendly society.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-28410483890466422552010-08-18T07:29:00.000-07:002010-08-18T07:34:16.556-07:00Cloud makes enterprise mobility more compelling<Strong>How cloud makes enterprise mobility compelling</strong><br /><p></p><br /><u>by Purushottam Darshankar </u><br /><p></p><br /><p>Cloud represents substantial change in how IT systems are built, used and sold. Economic and competitive factors have forced companies to look to a new model of providing IT services. Instead of building servers and datacenters supported by a significant number of well trained staff and increasing power costs, organizations are looking to outside firms to provide the services they need and take away their pain. However, concerns around security and relinquishing control over sensitive corporate data have been stalling the widespread adoption of cloud computing in the last couple of years.</p><br /><p>When it comes to enterprise mobility , it needs to be able to connect to ERP, CRM, SCM , Database or other legacy systems and offer unfettered access to all types of devices, from Apple, Blackberry, NOKIA, Samsung and many more.</p><br /><p>The device market being highly fragmented, the question companies face is should this access be a browser based to get rid of device-specific complexity? – But this approach rarely works because people need offline access to enterprise data. The core of this complexity is device platform, i-Phone OS, Goggles Android, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, WebOS, Symbian, Bada and various Linux flavors. Companies are becoming increasingly frustrated with the limited reach of mobile apps and growing cost of launching and maintaining mobile apps. The cloud that bring in enterprise mobile middleware make the application to work on different device platform and also offer the management console to deploy and manage the applications. Though multidevice support increasingly looks inevitable, the question companies need to answer: Can you afford to support multiple devices for a given business application?</p><br /><p>The core advantage of mobile middleware platform available on cloud is that it lets you quickly develop and deploy the application. The platform offers complete solution composed of application development framework, hosted development environment and prebuilt adapters to interact with different backend systems. It also addresses enterprise's mobile security needs - especially remote wipe and lock - through device management solution.</p><br /><p>Lots of enterprise software companies have failed to provide the necessary hooks and links that would allow the millions of mobile workers to seamlessly extract the real-time and relevant information from backend systems. Today’s enterprises have added to integration complexities due to their complex, distributed and heterogeneous nature. Some of the enterprise software companies have a solution for i-Phone but not for Blackberries or vice versa, while others have solution that works for Windows mobile but not for others. SAP, which currently supports Windows Mobile for its CRM application, is due to introduce its new release to deliver a mobile version of its CRM product to Blackberries. Now that other device platforms have emerged such as Android, Bada , SAP has acquired Sybase to develop software that lets customers more easily port apps to multiple devices.</p><br /><p>There's a particular class of services, needs for the business, that if tried to address in the traditional application-centric models, they become too expensive to start or they tend to be so complex that they fail to take-up. Not everything is applicable for mobility cloud computing, one need to figure out exactly which processes, services, information are good candidates for cloud computing and accordingly offer such services. But a much larger savings can be done if one can restructure the application itself so that it can be delivered and amortized across a much larger user base. There's a huge economic value if the application can take advantage of horizontal scaling – one can add compute capacity easily in a commodity environment to be able to meet demand, and then remove the capacity and use it for another purpose when the demand subsides. Economic viability is a strong driver for companies to go for cloud, and that drive will prevail over technical challenges.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-74795696203019447562010-07-22T03:18:00.000-07:002010-07-26T06:23:59.826-07:00It’s CommunicAsia’10 in Singapore after…MWC & CTIA<strong>Summary of CommuunicAsia 2010</strong><br /><u>by Purushottam Darshankar </u><br /><u></u><br />CommunicAsia event is considered to be the next big event for mobile network and communication vendors after MWC in Barcelona and CTIA in Las Vegas. Annually organized by Singapore Exhibition Services Pte Ltd, CommunicAsia is considered to be Asia's most recognized and the unparalleled one-stop ICT platform. It provides a global platform for showcasing the convergence of the latest digital technologies across mobile networks and applications, network infrastructure and satellite communications.<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzXba6QBRfPdDXY2GdrqzRy9rJfjJe-QgLb6EEiLgedy698aOn-2uFnVhdPUMRuqV7qy8_Kxpi7Bj_-NfXyuHtiVGPFDwucx4OZc1Kam3XeTbL4c51H2dSvj6GePVojUmbb1dYkURHgbk/s1600/IMG083.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5496676955529259378" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzXba6QBRfPdDXY2GdrqzRy9rJfjJe-QgLb6EEiLgedy698aOn-2uFnVhdPUMRuqV7qy8_Kxpi7Bj_-NfXyuHtiVGPFDwucx4OZc1Kam3XeTbL4c51H2dSvj6GePVojUmbb1dYkURHgbk/s200/IMG083.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><p>Over four days visitors hailing from different countries saw the cutting edge technologies and business solutions targeted towards consumer and enterprise market. The event spread over eight halls, totaling 58,000 square meters of floor space, saw a total of 1,923 exhibiting companies from over 60 countries and regions. covering solutions throughout the value chain of convergent technologies.</p>Thrilling crowds at CommunicAsia were various new launches of new-generation mobile phones. Samsung chose the show as a platform to launch a new touchscreen smartphones - the Galaxy (Android) devices – globally.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhiDEjgg53QJTlMUadCz9cs-uFLMxUgGxB_Egl7rFmwr5tsK9moYdDHDEeX2pSP_bAedUjWcNypSNTf9F66_3wcMFCMjkZ537gsfRh27H7OzQBaedu4GLWBhtL7F_NmpZVlUj15LP8MQ0/s1600/IMG114.jpg"></a> To help businesses capture growth and keep professionals abreast and on the pulse of the fast-evolving communication industry, conferences highlighting key industry topics like mobile services and business models, network enablers and architectures, satellite communications, mobile TV and entertainment, IPTV, were organised alongside the exhibition. Over 100 international speakers presented on the latest industry trends, innovations and business cases.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.indiatechonline.com/viewimage.php?id=152">...more on my particiaption</a>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-8130522697159461322010-04-21T01:38:00.000-07:002010-04-21T01:56:29.977-07:00Mobile application signing and certification<strong>Legitimize Your Mobile App: Get It Signed</strong><br /><p></p><u>Source:- http://www.devx.com/wireless/Article/40418/1954 </u><br /><p><strong><em><span style="font-family:arial;">Signing your mobile application is a critical precursor to distribution. Here’s a handy reference to application signing for today’s mobile platforms.</span></em></strong></p><p>If you're just setting out to develop your first mobile application, you may still be grappling with the fundamentals of installing SDKs, obtaining hardware, and scaling your application to the limitations of today's mobile platforms. One thing you may not be considering, however, is signing your application—cryptographically endorsing it with an identifier that others can use to trace its origin to you.</p><p>This article reviews why application signing is important, and provides a reference so you can determine the steps necessary to sign your application for today's leading mobile platforms. Armed with this information, you'll be ready to distribute your application.</p><strong><p>Why Sign Your Application?</p></strong><p>You might be wondering why the code signing process is even necessary—after all, the mainstream computing market has existed for years with no comparable analogue. Do mobile platform providers and carriers foist application signing on you just an additional barrier to entry?</p><p>In a word, no. Code signing provides stakeholders throughout the value chain—application testers, carriers, and users—with a clearly defendable trail of entities that have contributed to your application. By signing your application, end users can verify that your application is actually from you, and easily determine whether an intermediary has tampered with your application. Even more important, the signatures others apply to your application—such as application testers and the carrier distributing your application—provide the user with important information about the reliability of your application.</p><p>This second fact is key. On today's mobile platforms, a number of applications may not be permitted to run without the appropriate signatures. Platform interfaces requiring a user's trust (such as those that access device location or private data such as your contacts) may require additional credentials—provided through signing—in order to operate. If you don't correctly sign your application, and obtain signatures from appropriate entities such as testing houses and carriers, it won't have access to the interfaces it needs to deliver value to your users.</p><p>Critics may charge that this use of application signatures leads to closed platforms, but the anonymous and unverifiable alternative simply doesn't scale to the billions of wireless devices on the market today. Without some kind of access protection and non-repudiation scheme in place, users and network operators must simply trust every application equally or limit platform functionality to protect the network and end users.</p><p>As an aside, code signing isn't just for mobile platforms, either. Major platforms including Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X now provide facilities for code signing, and vendors warn developers that in the future, code signing may be required in to access specific APIs, in much the same way that many mobile platforms do. In the future, expect signed code to play an important role in software distribution.</p><strong><p>How Does Application Signing Work?</p></strong><p>Public-key cryptography provides tools that support today's need for trust and security. The basic principle of application signing is simple:</p><p>1. An application developer (presumably, that’s you!) obtains a cryptographic key from a well-known and trusted certificate authority. You keep this cryptographic key to yourself as private knowledge.<br />2. Using this private key and a one-way hash of your application, you encrypt the one-way hash, signing your application. This encrypted hash is included when distributing your application.<br />3. You transfer the application to the recipient.<br />4. The recipient—a testing authority, other agency, or the end consumer—creates a one-way hash of your application.<br />5. The recipient decrypts the digital signature you created in step 2 and compares the results with the one-way hash of your application. If the hashes match, the recipient has assurance that the application has been delivered intact and is actually from you.<br /></p><br /><p>Of course, this process requires considerable infrastructure—the presence of certificate authorities, the ability for you to securely store your key and use it to sign your application, certificate stores on the end device to manage the chains of keys that prove your identify, and public cryptography algorithm implementations on today's mobile devices. The fact that this infrastructure exists and thrives is testament to the market's demand for authenticity and integrity in today's application distribution environment for wireless devices.</p><p>The signing process can be repeated at various steps through the value chain. For example, a testing house will apply their signature to your submitted and tested application after it passes their rigorous testing; later, consumers of your product can verify their signature to ensure that the version of the application they're about to execute has met the testing company's standards.</p><p>When signing an application for a mobile device, you follow essentially the same steps just described, using keys obtained from specific sources (such as Verisign or Thawte) and tools provided by the platform vendor. Unfortunately, the sources of both keys and tools vary from platform to platform, making the process a perplexing one. For example, if you're an accomplished BREW developer, you may be somewhat puzzled the first time you need to sign a Java ME application. Note that some platforms—notably Android—let you self-sign your applications, using locally generated keys. Self-signed applications are a compromise between convenience and trust, because they spare you the time and expense of working with a certificate authority to prove your identity and obtain a key. This means that it's easier to create a self-signed application—but because anyone can do it without proving their identity, it's easier to spoof a vendor's identity.</p><p>Typically, application signing is the last step before a submission for certification, because you can't make changes to a signed application (you'd break the one-way hash you create during the signing process, breaking the chain of integrity the very process is meant to ensure). Because application certification is so closely related to application signing, most developers conflate the two. They are, however, two different processes—you sign your application so that the tester and others can definitively identify the source of the application. Once your application is signed, you have a third-party certify your signed application to meet specific operational standards set by the carrier or other channel that will distribute your application. The discussion that follows focuses on the application signing process, but also provides some information about the certification submission process for each platform, because it does you little good to have a signed application ready for certification, and no idea how to get it certified!</p><strong><p>Obtaining a Key</p></strong><p>Typically, you obtain a key from a certificate authority, a company whose business is verifying who you claim to be and issuing electronic certificates with cryptographic keys that represent that fact. While there are a number of companies that do this, the three most widely known are VeriSign, Thawte, and GeoTrust. Obtaining a certificate will take time and money, because you're asking one of these firms to originate a key and sign it with their root certificate. While costs vary, expect to pay a few hundred dollars per year and experience a latency of a few days while you get the paperwork in order (typically exchanging photocopies of photo ID, business statements, or phone calls so that the certificate authority can verify that you are who you claim). Moreover, many of the code signing keys you obtain are good only for a set number of uses—you're not given the privilege of signing an unlimited number of applications, and the certificate you obtain is good only for a certain period of time. Thus, maintaining your key is an ongoing part of your business, just like ensuring your Internet domain name remains registered.</p><p>When selecting vendors to provide keys for application signing, be careful—it's emphatically not one-size-fits-all. Different devices require different kinds of keys, and if you're a cross-platform application publisher, expect to obtain different keys for different platforms. This can significantly increase the out-of-pocket expense for an independent developer, so it's something to plan for if you're flying solo and planning on releasing your product on multiple platforms.</p><p>While you're developing your application on some platforms, signing with a self-generated key is an option. You can generate a key for self-signing using the Java keytool command, included with the Java Developer Kit (JDK) you need for developing applications for platforms including Android and Java ME.</p><p>To generate an untrusted key for self-signing, invoke keytool like this:</p><p><span style="font-family:courier new;">keytool –keystore key -genkey -v -alias alias -keyalg RSA -validity days</span></p><p>Using keytool, you need to specify an alias, which is the unique name for the key, and the validity (how long the certificate will remain valid in days). For example, this generates a new key in the keystore keys with the alias Yoyodyne using the RSA algorithm that is valid for 10,000 days:</p><p><span style="font-family:courier new;">[cdr:/tmp] kf6gpe% keytool –keystore keys -genkey -alias Yoyodyne -keyalg RSA -validity 10000<br />Enter keystore password: password<br />What is your first and last name?<br />[Unknown]: Ray Rischpater<br />What is the name of your organizational unit?<br />[Unknown]: Development Team<br />What is the name of your organization?<br />[Unknown]: Yoyodyne<br />What is the name of your City or Locality?<br />[Unknown]: San Lorenzo Valley<br />What is the name of your State or Province?<br />[Unknown]: CA<br />What is the two-letter country code for this unit?<br />[Unknown]: US<br />Is CN=Ray Rischpater, OU=Development Team, O=Yoyodyne, L=San Lorenzo Valley, ST=CA, C=US correct?<br />[no]: yes<br />Enter key password for <yoyodyne><br />(RETURN if same as keystore password):<br />[cdr:/tmp] kf6gpe%</span></p><br /><p>Of course, you should supply your own identifying information to keytool's prompts.</p><p>As important as creating the key is, it's equally important that you safeguard it after it's created (or sold to you by a certificate authority). Your reputation as a professional developer hinges on the key, because it's part of the chain of trust between you and your customers. You should take appropriate precautions, including:</p><p>• Selecting strong passwords for your key and the keystore containing your keys.<br />• When using a system shell and a program like keytool to generate a key, do not specify the passwords on the command line, because they are kept in the shell's history.<br />• Do not give or lend anyone your key.<br />• Keep backups of your key store in a secure location.<br />• Use the same certificate for different versions of the same application on the same platform. Not only does this save you money, but on some platforms (Google's Android, for example) it's required for application upgrades.<br /></p><strong><p>Signing Android Applications</p></strong><p>For a phone to run your application, you must sign it. Unlike some of the other platforms discussed later, Android doesn't restrict application distribution via signing and certificates, so it's entirely possible (and quite common) to use self-signed certificates when packaging your application.</p><p>To sign an Android application, you can self-sign your application, or have a company such as Verisign provide a signed key for you to use. Be sure that your key exceeds the projected lifespan of your application—if your key expires, your application will not run. Then, follow these steps:</p><p>1. Be sure you have the jarsigner tool installed—it should have been included with the JDK required by the Android SDK.<br />2. Build your application package in release mode. (You'll be signing the resulting .apk file).<br />3. Run jarsigner, passing the name of the keystore containing either your self-generated key or the one provided by the certifying authority, the alias for the key your certificate uses, and the name of your application package, like this:<br /></p><p><span style="font-family:courier new;">jarsigner –verbose –keystore keys truncheon.apk Yoyodyne</span></p><p>You can verify that you've successfully signed your application by running jarsigner again using the verify switch; if the signing was successful, the tool will print jar verified.</p><p>After you've signed your application, you should put it through a final full test cycle before submitting it to the Android Market.</p><strong><p>Signing BREW Applications</p></strong><p>To distribute a BREW application, Qualcomm and carriers require that it undergo certification by the National Software Testing Labs. To obtain certification, your application must first be signed; to do this you need a key from VeriSign as well as Qualcomm's AppSigner tool, available from the BREW web site.</p><p>After you have a key—which Verisign provides through its Authentic Document Service and Personal Trust Agent (PTA)—and have installed the AppSigner, follow these steps:</p><p>1. Ensure that your application MIF file does not include a license; if it does, the signing process or subsequent certification may fail.<br />2. Ensure that your application is packaged.<br />3. Launch the AppSigner and click the Wizard icon.<br />4. Choose the type of application you want to sign (BREW, J2ME, PDA, Flash, or Content), and browse for the application folder containing the application you want to sign and then click Next.<br />5. A file browser will appear; indicate which files should be signed (you must sign your module, resource files, and MIF files, along with any other files destined for the handset) and which files your application is permitted to modify on the device. Once you've marked which files you want to sign, click Next.<br />6. The signature management window appears; indicate that you’d like to create a new signature file and click Next.<br />7. The VeriSign Personal Trust Agent window will appear; select your user name from the drop-down list and enter your PTA password, and click Next again.<br />8. The VeriSign Notarization server processes your request and a status screen will appear. If everything succeeds, you can proceed with packaging your application for submission.<br /></p><br /><p>Application packaging for certification requires you to organize your files in a specific way (documentation, simulator, and handset builds must be placed in different folders), and the submission process can fail if you don't do things precisely right. As a result, you should check BREW's web site for the latest "True BREW" certification test guide before submitting your application to NSTL.</p><strong><p>Signing iPhone Applications</p></strong><p>Apple follows Qualcomm's lead, requiring you to sign applications prior to submission for Apple certification and distribution through the App Store. To do this, you need to obtain a key from Apple through the Program Portal, which you obtain by completing a Certificate Signing Request and obtaining approval from Apple's iPhone Developer program. Once approved, you download the resulting key, which Mac OS associates with the system's keychain, available through the Keychain Access Utility application.</p><p>Signing an application for distribution using Xcode is much easier than with other tools, because the entire process occurs within Xcode. Follow these steps:</p><p>1. Register an application identifier through the iPhone Developer program.<br />2. Create a distribution provisioning profile for the application identifier on the iPhone Developer program web site and download it to your build workstation.<br />3. Add the resulting profile to Xcode by dropping the profile on the Xcode application icon.<br />4. Open the Project Info window. In the Configurations tab, select Release. Click Duplicate, and rename the new copy to "Distribution"; this build configuration is unique for creating commercial builds.<br />5. Choose the Distribution choice from the Active Build Configuration pop-up in the main project window.<br />6. Select the target's Build tab (open the Targets item in the Groups and Files window of the main project window) and select Distribution from the Configuration popup.<br />7. On the line labeled "Code Signing Identity," change "iPhone Developer" to "iPhone Distribution," or ensure that it reads "iPhone Distribution" if it doesn't already.<br />8. Select the distribution profile from the Code Signing Provisioning Profile popup.<br />9. Clean and build your project.<br />10. Use the main project window's Reveal in Finder menu command to find the application bundle you'll submit to the App Store.<br /></p><br /><strong><p>Signing Java ME Applications</p></strong><p>Not surprisingly, signing a Java ME application is similar to signing an Android application, because both platforms are Java-based. You begin with a key pair created by keytool, perhaps countersigned by a certificate authority (follow the steps outlined by VeriSign, Thawte, or GeoTrust). Once you receive the digital id (your countersigned key) from the certificate authority, follow these steps:</p><p>1. Create a release build of your application (creating the JAD and JAR files).<br />2. Import the digital id in your keystore using keytool (here, I'm importing a digital id certfromca.ce into my keystore named "keystore"):<br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">keytool –import –trustcacerts –keystore keystore –alias Yoyodyne –file certfromca.cer </span></p><p>3. Sign the resulting JAR file using JadTool:<br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">JadTool.jar –addjarsig –keystore keystore –alias Yoyodyne –jarfile truncheon.jar –inputjad truncheon.jad –outputjad truncheon.jad</span></p><p></p><p>You can actually sign a Java ME application using more than one digital ID; this is important if you're delivering your application on many different devices and networks, because different devices and networks may use different certificate authorities. Simply repeat these three steps for each digital id you want to use in the signing process.</p><p>Because Java ME applications can be distributed a number of ways (direct download, cable loading, operator stores, and so on), certification requirements vary (although any certification process will require you to sign your application). For details, consult the developer web sites for the carrier networks over which you want to distribute your application, as well as the Java Verified program's web site, which provides an umbrella of authorized testing centers for Java ME application certification.</p><strong><p>Signing Symbian (S60 and UIQ) Applications</p></strong><p>Today's Symbian-powered devices (including S60 and UIQ) require signed applications as well, although like Android and Java ME, applications can be self-signed. For commercial distribution, if you need a trusted signature, you must obtain a digital id from VeriSign. To sign a Symbian application, follow these steps:</p><p>1. Download and save the VeriSign digital id file.<br />2. Use the Symbian SDK's vs_pkcs utility to obtain your private key and certificate:<br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">vs_pkcs -p12 certfromca.pfx –passwd secret –key key.key –cer cert.cer</span></p><p>3.Build your application in release configuration and create the SIS file using MakeSIS.<br />4.Run signsis.exe to sign the resulting SIS file:<br /><span style="font-family:courier new;">signsis –o –s –v truncheon.sis truncheon-signed.sis cert.cer key.key password<br /></span></p><p>You don't need to certify your Symbian application prior to distribution in most cases, although access to some APIs may be restricted on some platforms if you don't obtain certification. To certify your application, go to the Symbian Signed web site and follow the instructions there. You'll need to provide a properly signed application package, an indication of which company the Symbian Signed program should engage for the application certification and documentation for your application.</p><strong><p>Ensuring Integrity and Security</p></strong><p>Application signing is more than an annoyance levied by platform vendors and network operators: it's a crucial part of ensuring the identity of the individual or organization providing an application. By signing your application with the help of a trusted certificate authority, you stand behind your application, adding security for your users and ensuring your share of the value proposition in today's mobile marketplace.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-67575383665249114002010-03-04T03:32:00.000-08:002010-08-10T01:25:21.081-07:00To Barcelona for Mobile World Congress...and back<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqszxlO9b0ZWLLyPXVuP6ai1N_n8CKN6I0YbWa-9pgaOyER0u-m5YYcYtgJyFruESQ0sRRYSDFmAySRTGGxeDlxOApW1p7J0hBm_xjEQfObqooHBgkhMHNsMWoXroy35vJKdrKgthcVgM/s1600/IMG_0217.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462512504785317282" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqszxlO9b0ZWLLyPXVuP6ai1N_n8CKN6I0YbWa-9pgaOyER0u-m5YYcYtgJyFruESQ0sRRYSDFmAySRTGGxeDlxOApW1p7J0hBm_xjEQfObqooHBgkhMHNsMWoXroy35vJKdrKgthcVgM/s200/IMG_0217.JPG" /></a>I was kind of excited about GSMA Mobile World congress at Fira De Barcelona, Spain. I finally made it for the event. The event scheduled from 15th to 18th Feb was a big event, well organized and participated by all the leading firms of Mobile ecosystem. The MWC at Barcelona surpassed my expectations..!!<br />The MWC 2010 certainly did not disappoint me. It was some of the new handsets that made headlines this year (though several cell phone manufacturers, including Nokia and LG, didn't even have booths) , however the applications/software developed on devices that stole the show.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLUnsaBBQAUqujX3LFb_8GpqX_gt0nUFhFmugYvWSpjLRcTS8qtJXgfRRMWb_ThQGA2GuBo7eP3zd0Sc8HmWBGpOF6Kj_LHve9B_onrFexYf8vRuuRGTV1t64R_r3oTyNQVirYX0OeKUc/s1600/IMG_0184.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5460391886404967954" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLUnsaBBQAUqujX3LFb_8GpqX_gt0nUFhFmugYvWSpjLRcTS8qtJXgfRRMWb_ThQGA2GuBo7eP3zd0Sc8HmWBGpOF6Kj_LHve9B_onrFexYf8vRuuRGTV1t64R_r3oTyNQVirYX0OeKUc/s200/IMG_0184.JPG" /></a> At MWC, as I understand companies like the spotlight and when it comes to shows like these, big brands always like the best faces market their products and it does pretty good for their publicity. I was part of SAMSUNG Wave booth and you could spot not only phones but also good looking faces at this booth.<br /><br />Samsung had more in its stand than new slim and shiny Samsung wave, the first handset to run on new BADA operating system. Besides displaying a gallery of handset they displayed range of business applications on their new devices. (Omni II and Scala). It also had suite of consumer apps including social networking, Location aware services to games at its booth. Samsung also unveiled its SAMSUNG Beam, the first android phone with built in projector that caught the attention of all the vistitors.<br /><div><div><div><div><div>Indeed, MWC 2010 is a great opportunity to take stock on the state of the mobile ecosystem, and to see what’s coming, both in the coming year and beyond.</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3T1P8reEi7uvS-4ix_2qB-PB2NR5BhRhhqq9kCI3IRe6fCfWa9I83VD1zX1gCE6csyaLU-D90CIBp7I1zKLtcrCs45p0yFcCvJ11ijZMGIGVi6chnx93Yb6Me_eHEDRdsCGydsfsnx0/s1600/IMG_0206.JPG"><img style="WIDTH: 150px; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5462513611374097234" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr3T1P8reEi7uvS-4ix_2qB-PB2NR5BhRhhqq9kCI3IRe6fCfWa9I83VD1zX1gCE6csyaLU-D90CIBp7I1zKLtcrCs45p0yFcCvJ11ijZMGIGVi6chnx93Yb6Me_eHEDRdsCGydsfsnx0/s200/IMG_0206.JPG" /></a></div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div></div></div></div></div>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-73175914876286381222009-12-28T05:38:00.000-08:002009-12-28T05:39:43.643-08:00Enterprise Mobility Market outlook :2010<Strong>Mobility trends for year 2010</strong><br /><p></p><br /><u>by Purushottam Darshankar </u><br /><p></p><br /><p>Demand in mobility solution is exploding in all industry segments as businesses have started leveraging the enhanced power, ability and reach of the mobile to come up with innovative user-friendly applications. Organizations are only now starting to see mobility as a strategic differentiator. Though diverse device technology landscape may present some challenges, technically savvy small and medium businesses will continue to go for business-on-the-go solutions supporting their mobile workforce.</p><br /><p>Smartphone sale will continue to skyrocket and carriers are going to realize that their ARPU will be driven by data revenues. Both business and consumer users never expresses interest in surfing the web on their phone but the acceptance of social networks like Twitter, Facebook and Myspace have pushed the web as must-to-have feature and carriers will figure out the ways to generate revenue other than the data plan.</p><br /><p>Apple’s iPhone first shook up the mobile industry in 2007, but Google is slowly starting to become a contender; there are already around 12 Android phones across 32 carriers in 26 countries. In US it will eventually be distributed by all four major U.S. wireless carriers, while Apple is exclusive with AT&T. So although the future for Android looks incredibly bright, let’s not forget there are about 10 million iPhones and growing on the market and over 100,000 applications in the App Store to compete with. Microsoft announcement of WM 6.5 at MWC created big hype only to realize that upgrade is superficial cosmetic overhaul and is incapable of handling the mobile market’s stiff competition. Windows mobile 7 is due next year, why not just wait?</p><br /><p>As consumer applications in B2C surges, browser will become a dominant delivery mechanism for reach mobile applications. Though thin client solutions built on HTML5 are paving the way for richer mobile application, smart client applications are not going to go away anytime soon. The recent announcement of the Chrome OS by Google, which is basically a browser on a netbook, that is supposed to ship next year will inevitably put the companies in deeper competition.</p><br /><p>2010 year will see the emergence of cloud or SaaS based enterprise mobility offerings. According to IDC report ““almost 40 percent of organizations plan to deploy a SaaS-based mobile solution in the next 12–18 months.” The OEM’s and Telco’s will give a serious look at hosting mobile middleware platforms for connecting enterprise application to mobile devices and offering such services as pay per use model. The platform needs to be multitenant, scalable, secure and flexible to cater to diverse needs of enterprise market. With security and performance enterprise-ready, the cloud is enabling businesses to be more agile, more productive and more flexible. Businesses also benefit from lower IT, energy and real estate costs through data center virtualization.</p><br /><p>Companies will develop more innovative applications that get them closer to their customers, employees and partners. As business users have started using their personal devices for business use, Business intelligence (BI) will be increasingly mobilized. Executives will be glued to their mobile screens for the latest statistics on their business.</p><br /><p>The focus will be on green, as organizations are sensitive and more aware of reducing their carbon footprint via different methods like reducing paper consumption, reduced power usage, reducing travel etc. Mobility has been well positioned in providing the underlying foundation for more eco-friendly society.</p><br /><p>The adoption of mobility solution looks quite impressive but enterprise mobile application market has not yet reached the critical mass. , still plenty of work has to be done, gaps to be bridged, and problems to be solved. With much on the agenda, it's safe to say that 2010 promises to be an exciting year for enterprise mobility.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-5879499304873074292009-10-14T05:27:00.000-07:002009-10-14T05:28:07.598-07:00Meet the founders of OnMobile, IMI Mobile and several other cool mobile companies @ Mobile Apps Conference (October 31, 2009 . Bangalore)Hey,<br /><br />Just wanted to let you know about an exciting event siliconindia is organizing on October 31st (Saturday in Bangalore). This is a full-day conference that will explore the new opportunities that are emerging and ask the larger questions of the industry leaders within mobile space, shedding some light on where the industry is headed and how entrepreneurs and developers can take advantage. <br /><br />Come listen to some of the brightest minds in mobile technology discuss the future of mobile technology. <br /><br />SPEAKERS <br />Arvind Rao, Chairman, CEO and Co-founder, OnMobile <br />Vishwanath Alluri, CEO,Chairman and Founder IMImobile <br />Vishnu Sunderam, Co-founder CEO, Interchain Solutions <br />Selvamuthiah Somasundaram, Sr. VP & Co-Founder, Satnav <br />Raj Oswal, Founder & CEO, O'interface <br />Dilip R Mehta, IIM Bangalore, Ex-MD RPG Cellular and HMV Saregama <br />Prashant Dogra, Customer Marketing Manager, Navteq <br />Shanker Janakiraman, Director & CEO - India, Symbioun Technologies <br /><br />TOPICS: <br />Mobile applications explode. Who wins and who loses? <br />Carriers and handset makers want a piece, too: Where will they go? <br />LBS Challenge: Maximising Revenue and Engaging the Consumer <br />Mobile Payment Services: The Road Ahead <br />Mobile Marketing <br /><br />Sponsors: Nokia, Sun, Navteq, Satnav <br />Exhibiting companies: Eterno, iPath, MapmyIndia, Mobikwik, OnMobile, ObjectSol, Satnav, ShortHand, Symbioun, Tencube, Trakut, Trademarkia, Vassoft, Wirkle <br /><br />WHEN: October 31, 2009 (Saturday) <br />TIME: 9 AM to 6 PM <br />WHERE: NIMHANS Convention Center, Near Diary Circle, Bangalore <br /><br />To attend this event, register FREE at http://www.siliconindia.com/mobileconference/register.phpP Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-89093678094416625902009-09-30T07:59:00.000-07:002009-09-30T08:00:53.276-07:00Choose right device platform for your Enterprise needs<u>by Purushottam Darshankar</u><br /><p>Businesses are continuously looking for cost effective and faster ways to deliver critical functions to their mobile workforce and one of the biggest barrier to its successful adaption has been security consideration. Banking, insurance, investments, retail, healthcare cannot afford to deploy mobility solutions that could possibly compromise on their critical data.</p><p>The first step towards making solution secure is to choose the device that exhibits high level of inherent security. The article explores on how BlackBerry, iPhone and Windows Mobile device score on some of the key criteria necessary in selecting the device for enterprise use.</p><p>There are different components that make the device platform safe and secure for business use. The most important amongst it is authentication. The robust IT policy would prevent from unauthorized person from accessing the enterprise data. BB (BlackBerry) allows the IT department, through use of the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) tools, to set a policy mandating the user to log in to the device via a strong password. The iPhones require connection to a PC running iTunes for its initial activation with carrier and creates a complete image, including all of the data on the device, thus posing a potential security threat. Windows Mobile does provide for password locking of the device and does support a number of third party applications that create two-factor authentication (e.g., Biometric reader, card readers).</p><p>Data storage on the device and external SD card is a key requirement for mobile workforce to access business critical information in offline mode. BB provides ability to encrypt all data on the device, including data stored on SD cards enabling full protection to critical data. The iPhone does not provide data encryption mechanism on the device, either for selected files or for the entire data store. So if an unauthorized user is able to get beyond the password, then all data is exposed to that user. Windows Mobile provides the ability to encrypt peripheral SD cards, although the main memory of the device is not so encrypted.</p><p>Enterprise-grade mobile platform should include a method for assessing signatures of application that, when checked by the device, can determine an authentic, non-tampered application from one that has been modified. BB provides an inherent mechanism for verifying the signature of each installed application to assure the application has not been tampered with. Further, IT may enforce policies to allow or disallow individual applications from running on the device.</p><p>For iPhone, applications require a digital certificate issued by Apple and to obtain the certificate the company must register with Apple. A Distribution Provisioning Profile must then be created and loaded to each device through end user intervention. There is no direct OTA mechanism for corporate to download the application. Loading applications to the iPhone requires either uploading that application to Apple’s App Store for delivery, or by connecting each device to a PC and “side loading” the application through iTunes. This process requires users to initiate any downloads to the device from their PC or requires that IT retrieve each iPhone and “side load” through a master PC within IT control. However, a “Jailbreak” program is available on the Internet that bypasses the iPhone security and allows unsigned applications to run on the device and thus represents a significant threat to the security of the device.</p><p>Windows Mobile has limited ability to verify individual applications. It does allow the “signing” of executables and setting specific policies to limit which applications can run on a device. Windows Mobile does provide for OTA downloading of applications through third party applications, and IT departments can deploy applications on their own without intervention.</p><p>A device that cannot be remotely managed will add significant amounts of TCO and additional support burdens to organization deploying it. Businesses evaluating devices should examine whether the device OS offer hooks to manage all aspects of the platform such as device setup, monitoring, uploading, display of device characteristics, asset management, lock-down, software upgrades etc. If such capability is not inherently available within the OS, it is highly unlikely any security and/or management tools will be able to competently manage all aspects of remote management. BB has been designed to be managed by a set of policies that can be easily created and deployed through the standard BES. Polices are delivered OTA directly to the device and configured automatically without user knowledge or intervention required. Data of each device in terms of its memory use, battery condition and overall health is available for analysis. iPhone and Windows mobile has to rely on third party management application for providing the remote management capabilities. Windows mobile 6.0 does make some log files and other hygienic data available to IT administrator.</p><p>Many industries require that devices be validated and approved by governmental agencies to ensure that they meet stringent security testing and specifications before they can be deployed to mobile workers. BB has attained numerous validations/certifications for its devices and has the ability to select the most common encryption algorithms (e.g., AES, 3DES) to protect the data on the device, and provides a complete remote device wipe capability as well. Windows Mobile 6 device do provide encryption capability for a variety of common standards (3DES, AES etc.) and do provide for remote device wipe through the ActiveSync capabilities.</p><p>While each may have strengths and shortcomings, the most secure platform for business use is the BB platform. Windows Mobile has continued to improve over a period of time and with third party applications one can enhance security majors and consider the platform for mobility deployment.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-4988421712103815262009-08-03T06:28:00.000-07:002009-08-03T07:15:02.255-07:00Usability guidelines for websites on mobile devicesMore and more mobile phones users are browsing and searching the Internet on their handsets. The UK, for example, has neared saturation for mobile phones and many handset browsers can now handle sites designed for viewing on computers. Indeed 20% of UK mobile phone users now use the Internet on their mobile devices (source: 3G.co.uk14).<br /><div><div></div><br /><div>If you design websites for PC viewing then you need to consider how your sites will look and work on mobiles. The bar for mobile specific sites has been raised by some good sites and others need to close their gap. As the mobile Internet has developed savvy users have come to expect higher standards when browsing on their handsets.</div><div></div><br /><div>These guidelines are based on actual user research conducted with mobile phone users. Users were asked to carry out typical tasks on popular websites using a mobile phone browser. The issues they encountered were used to produce these guidelines.</div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div></div><div><u><strong></strong></u></div><div><u><strong></strong></u></div><br /><div><u><strong>Meet users' needs quickly</strong></u></div><div>Mobile and PC users can have different reasons for visiting the same site. Mobile users are more likely to want information to help them at that location or time, such as finding directions or finding out what's going on nearby. Also, they might want quick entertainment to pass away a short period of time, like something to read on the bus or while waiting to meet a friend. For your site, predicts users' needs and fulfil these as quickly as possible. Exceptions to this are items people download to keep on their phones (e.g. buying ringtones). </div><div></div><div></div><br /><div>Yahoo! does this effectively with its new mobile oneSearchTM service. Searching for 'Cinema' produces a list of cinemas near users' location showing their address and phone numbers. Clicking the 'Call' link next to a number opens a call dialogue box on the phone. A further enhancement would to be enable users to click through to a map of a venue.<br /></div><br /><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iQ7punL_XuAxbQvwHCODhuGzHEwAxoipdikxC8NPxeQ3oC_NFb-YjZIFWpwPpMrW_epH-IrZqXVVje2po2ONjRXrwHDbMEQXg7tPYoPmcvlVA0xSUVjxyYJjPIcst3bVwIsbVAIgI0A/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365736802225450674" style="WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iQ7punL_XuAxbQvwHCODhuGzHEwAxoipdikxC8NPxeQ3oC_NFb-YjZIFWpwPpMrW_epH-IrZqXVVje2po2ONjRXrwHDbMEQXg7tPYoPmcvlVA0xSUVjxyYJjPIcst3bVwIsbVAIgI0A/s320/1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><div>- Yahoo!'s oneSearch predicts what users are searching for and tailors results to their location.</div><div><u><strong></strong></u> </div><div><strong><u></u></strong> </div><div><u><strong>Don't repeat the navigation on every page</strong></u></div><div>Usable websites designed for PCs usually repeat the navigation on every page. However, screen real estate is precious on a mobile screen and navigation can push content off screen. BAA's navigation, for example, takes up the whole screen so users have to scroll down far on every page to get to the main content.</div><div></div><br /><div>For your website on a mobile, only display the navigation on the homepage. On other pages only include links back to the homepage and back to the last important point along the path users have taken. Show these links at the top and bottom of the page so they're never too far away. BBC Mobile does this effectively with a clickable breadcrumb trail at the top and a list of links at the bottom.</div><div> </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9cdqnIfP4pAs3-0AhJSTuDvxdMn6EXPksTBTFh0lRdyYymoky86iGeceQdPcZdzBze7a75jBn0MKL2-22VDo_lVAnxpVdXW5pFBDeotfTnSq4YUD_WkfyTuajfmX7zhemHFCzkzEEfGM/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365731266446529250" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9cdqnIfP4pAs3-0AhJSTuDvxdMn6EXPksTBTFh0lRdyYymoky86iGeceQdPcZdzBze7a75jBn0MKL2-22VDo_lVAnxpVdXW5pFBDeotfTnSq4YUD_WkfyTuajfmX7zhemHFCzkzEEfGM/s320/1.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>- The BBC's breadcrumb trail saved space and was an effective substitute for repeating the navigation.</div><div><u></u></div><div><u><strong></strong></u> </div><div><u><strong>Clearly distinguish selected items</strong></u></div><div></div><div>Mobile phone users tend to have poor cursor control. This is because moving the pointing device down (with the joystick or direction buttons) simultaneously scrolls the page and highlights links, buttons and form fields. Due to this lack of control it's important to clearly feedback to users what item is in focus. This can be done by changing the appearance of an item to make it stand out from everything else. For example, you can change the font and background colour of links and buttons.</div><div></div><br /><div>For example, O2's mobile portal doesn't highlight buttons well. It adds a blue border on a lighter blue background that isn't noticeable. Users have to move the joystick around to find the cursor. Worse still, Thomson Local only distinguishes form fields by making their border slighter thicker. In contrast, their highlighted links stood out because the font and background colour was changed and contrasted strongly against the page's overall white background.</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Cn_OKAw3hD7orZVMwURx_rN9Z2ldB_ZY13s96_huthSp4pFf72U8UthNZF5sqrfEY2oB5r5CDVRMAUPodRbnpppBgcprWm22jvflNAaeRz1-9neB7bdSrZ593lZP22BmVdvPpiy95Zw/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365737907292546946" style="WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 230px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3Cn_OKAw3hD7orZVMwURx_rN9Z2ldB_ZY13s96_huthSp4pFf72U8UthNZF5sqrfEY2oB5r5CDVRMAUPodRbnpppBgcprWm22jvflNAaeRz1-9neB7bdSrZ593lZP22BmVdvPpiy95Zw/s320/1.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt4-H9aP5Uf1ZGj3DyDJ8PKCvHYaOT33WyRuWnkGyMNPMg6GSbcA-v28NAAQWVzyYCWQFsB9LUH_dj86V4YYch_xfQnKuIJh0vz80i1FszUBQhtQvm_6GvltRgjPRfIAwdWm7DQGrlvuM/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365732268962412514" style="WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 230px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt4-H9aP5Uf1ZGj3DyDJ8PKCvHYaOT33WyRuWnkGyMNPMg6GSbcA-v28NAAQWVzyYCWQFsB9LUH_dj86V4YYch_xfQnKuIJh0vz80i1FszUBQhtQvm_6GvltRgjPRfIAwdWm7DQGrlvuM/s320/1.JPG" border="0" /></a> <div></div><div> </div><div>-O2's highlighting needs to be stronger to be noticeable. Simple page designs allow for more effective highlighting on Thomson Local.</div><div><u></u> </div><div><u><strong>Make user input as simple as possible</strong></u></div><div>Allow users to input information by making selections instead of entering free text (or at least provide this as an alternative method). Entering text on a mobile phone can be painfully slow and error-prone on the typical 12 button mobile keypad. Mobile users are more likely to make mistakes (due to misspelling or mistyping) or take shortcuts. Sets of well thought out links on quick loading pages can be very usable.</div><div> </div><div>On Thomson Local, for example, it isn't possible to browse businesses or locations. Users tend to abbreviate search terms (i.e. business type) which leads to inappropriate search results. The Odeon's mobile site allows users to find a cinema by searching or browsing. Users that search often make more mistakes than those that browse, the latter usually finding what they're after by only selecting 2 links.</div><div> </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenPQWTQbx7M1YsAKco6cRYG2QVrYx_P980Qab5rvUrk-SW1_mex4vw1bMaxsOg3OHg4xSbAnbgMKVxSKFg_CYaHU1D9YLLLcJcyXk5ElHFX2BjHFHZdAWpNfIZnQsuScqY4UlV_vxd6M/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365732922799619554" style="WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 230px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhyphenhyphenPQWTQbx7M1YsAKco6cRYG2QVrYx_P980Qab5rvUrk-SW1_mex4vw1bMaxsOg3OHg4xSbAnbgMKVxSKFg_CYaHU1D9YLLLcJcyXk5ElHFX2BjHFHZdAWpNfIZnQsuScqY4UlV_vxd6M/s320/1.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifgom-rRjPSItDLEk569Y1DNeXr_Ly7_F6FNU9fB1Ay9i4xi2E6JXJtGaHYIvyH01ylSeotiTsRjGYBInxGpf9D0uJti7g69CHFiOAjnbJoUGyJVmsHYdlTuWApaEaZHBSSKjIdfp8tWM/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365733184892180994" style="WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 230px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifgom-rRjPSItDLEk569Y1DNeXr_Ly7_F6FNU9fB1Ay9i4xi2E6JXJtGaHYIvyH01ylSeotiTsRjGYBInxGpf9D0uJti7g69CHFiOAjnbJoUGyJVmsHYdlTuWApaEaZHBSSKjIdfp8tWM/s320/1.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div> </div><div>- Users make errors when trying to type long text on Thomson Local.<br />- Users can however quickly browse to the right cinema using Odeon's Cinema List.</div><div><u></u> </div><div><u></u> </div><div><u><strong>Only show essential information</strong></u></div><div>Mobile phone screens are of course tiny and have only a fraction of the area or pixels on most PC monitors. Be sure to identify page requests coming from mobiles and only send down the most essential of information. Otherwise, important content might be pushed down or difficult to find amongst everything else on the page.<br /></div><div>Also, most mobile phone users aren't on flat rate data packages so the larger the page the more users have to pay. Users become frustrated if they have to pay to download page content they don't want.<br /></div><div>Header links on the BAA and Thomson Local websites take up lots of screen space and make important information hard to find. 'About BAA', 'Help' and 'Advertise with us' aren't priorities for mobile users.</div><div> </div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGdz4g6YuKN8BTqif-0wPOiuadTOqyPXqH4VJam8zpb9G2I96KVXfbn0omzxhwPzHF9xGafPAq_7yxcx-u4_gqWnV0FraQnlMEWzSzk9KxHNPC8IB7TbTMhDcalbs5QxGgSQlNwmwG3Qc/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365733681688041794" style="WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 230px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGdz4g6YuKN8BTqif-0wPOiuadTOqyPXqH4VJam8zpb9G2I96KVXfbn0omzxhwPzHF9xGafPAq_7yxcx-u4_gqWnV0FraQnlMEWzSzk9KxHNPC8IB7TbTMhDcalbs5QxGgSQlNwmwG3Qc/s320/1.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxgWqibTj5TbgWgJCJs7lHzBP2aQSMCs7uYRazEtV0o9QgUrir4vNfj6RuITw4r8pApLaBPIVJtukQTDyMOn2l3rDXjjtDedHiPieDlmsSBiRnBOJMe5KzlVZzbWmAFo657T-YLVKRHU/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365734614020036754" style="WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPxgWqibTj5TbgWgJCJs7lHzBP2aQSMCs7uYRazEtV0o9QgUrir4vNfj6RuITw4r8pApLaBPIVJtukQTDyMOn2l3rDXjjtDedHiPieDlmsSBiRnBOJMe5KzlVZzbWmAFo657T-YLVKRHU/s320/1.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div> </div><div>- Unnecessary content pushes down Thomson Local's search box and BAA's main content below the fold.</div><div><u></u> </div><div><u></u> </div><div><u><strong>Place basic browsing controls on the page </strong><br /></u>To save screen space, mobile browsers often don't display basic controls such as 'Back' or they display the web page in full screen mode. As such, always include a 'Back' button on every page other than the homepage.<br /></div><div>Transport for London's mobile journey planner places basic controls, such as 'Next page', 'Back to results' and 'New journey', at the bottom of each page.</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9WZAsauGkTWCxwa8M1f4fQ05tmmh9Uibmb_llMdIdNFfPZsRq5NmVAcN_rDqi3nwA3cWgv64nkCkQMSgsIe2WaddLtoREwyj99a8ieJJO8-RXTcT-4BxvuJ2ZcMLsKgMcxkqRzNXLsM/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365734993383748610" style="WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgI9WZAsauGkTWCxwa8M1f4fQ05tmmh9Uibmb_llMdIdNFfPZsRq5NmVAcN_rDqi3nwA3cWgv64nkCkQMSgsIe2WaddLtoREwyj99a8ieJJO8-RXTcT-4BxvuJ2ZcMLsKgMcxkqRzNXLsM/s320/1.JPG" border="0" /></a></div><div> </div><div>-TFL's site was easy to navigate because basic controls appear on the page.</div><div><u></u> </div><div><u></u> </div><div><u><strong>Design mobile-friendly page layouts</strong></u></div><div>On your website, make sure you design the page to present content in the right order and render well on mobile screens. Website layouts for large landscape PC screens usually don't work well on small portrait mobile phone screens. Furthermore, mobile browsers and page transcoders usually vertically stack pages suitable for portrait display.<br /><br />It's often best to have completely different page designs to meet mobile users' needs. If mobile phone users are a big part of your business then you should consider creating a site just for mobiles. Sites that are designed for mobiles perform significantly better with users than those that aren't.<br /><br />For example, BAA's website renders very poorly on a mobile screen. Page sections don't appear where intended relative to each other and pages look poorly designed. Single word link text can be wrapped over 4 lines making it difficult to read. Conversely, Transport for London's mobile homepage contains simple categorised lists of links. Users find this easy and quick to use.</div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVC90IcTExwt6UlD5w3SlKJdAoz-emlHb5OzkENj5rUIceyD-dI_Od3iBiDfFhJ_zqtPSNwJmXS8n8DJMRE_J2IAZiKRxCSOJVuRWog4p6LyGep-N9TfMZ05qB65LRi6e5uw7ZYKQGVo/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365735408653864258" style="WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWVC90IcTExwt6UlD5w3SlKJdAoz-emlHb5OzkENj5rUIceyD-dI_Od3iBiDfFhJ_zqtPSNwJmXS8n8DJMRE_J2IAZiKRxCSOJVuRWog4p6LyGep-N9TfMZ05qB65LRi6e5uw7ZYKQGVo/s320/1.JPG" border="0" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ619KdAje_qC_tJ2iwcf-rbnfFT1ot-MantQRaTxZ0zroY7OBrbDxyFg21nNZ-UKkzzMUQMimkQbA8QeZJD9BaZONpYNlU6i3LP_05w8JnimM_72WbSSw8K8-c-SKoyNqbLk10loHmKU/s1600-h/1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365735721336738530" style="WIDTH: 174px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 231px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ619KdAje_qC_tJ2iwcf-rbnfFT1ot-MantQRaTxZ0zroY7OBrbDxyFg21nNZ-UKkzzMUQMimkQbA8QeZJD9BaZONpYNlU6i3LP_05w8JnimM_72WbSSw8K8-c-SKoyNqbLk10loHmKU/s320/1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div>- TFL's mobile site renders well on mobile screens. BAA's site doesn't appear to be designed for mobiles and renders poorly.<br /></div><div><br /><strong><u>In a nutshell</u><br /></strong>Don't neglect your current and/or potential users by not designing for mobile phones. Follow these guidelines but don't forget to usability test your website on mobile phones. Real usability testing will always capture things that can't be covered by general guidelines.</div><br /><div>source :- <a href="http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-usability/mobile-guidelines.shtml">http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-usability/mobile-guidelines.shtml</a> - by Abid Warsi</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-30598449376901879992009-07-14T01:08:00.000-07:002009-07-14T01:10:26.273-07:00Enterprise Mobile Web or Mobile Application? – Which way to go?<u>by Purushottam Darshankar<br /></u><br />Enterprise mobility is now moving from the early adopter stage to become a mainstream focus for enterprises and their IT departments. Enterprises are beginning to understand how they can use mobile technologies to improve business process and optimize their mobile worker performance.<br /><br />Factually, lots of enterprises are in dilemma in terms of choosing a right option – a mobile website or a downloadable application that run on the handsets. The best answer is, it depends on what the enterprise wants to accomplish.<br /><br />Web applications traditionally have been valued for its ease of distribution; faster release cycle, decreased barrier to entry etc. Coming to mobile, web development has long suffered from a rigid platform and the inability for mobile browser to keep up with current web technologies. With many handset manufacturer attempting to clone the iPhones usability and appeal, the mobile web applications are getting better, the browser more robust and the devices more capable in terms of supporting Javascript and other web technologies such AJAX, flash etc.<br /><br />The mobile web allows you to develop on a single platform and target the broadest set of handsets. On the flip side, the mobile web application cannot access the advanced features of the phones such as contact list, location information, camera, bluetooth etc. The interfaces on mobile websites are quite poor and clunky resulting in less than desirable user experience due to browser fragmentation and varied form factors. For better usability, vendors such as Volantis (Multi-channel Server), Mobileaware (Mobile Interaction server) etc. have come up with middleware that manages rendering of web pages to different devices based on device capabilities.<br /><br />If enterprise has an existing high traffic web destination, developing a mobile version makes sense as site already has a brand attached to it and loyal followers.<br /><br />Today’s mobile handsets are more than just a phone and improved native capabilities of phone can be better utilized with smart client mobile applications. The mobile application provides ability to better control user interactions and user interface via possible inputs such as touch, voice, keyboard etc. The smaller footprint of database allows user to store reasonable amount of data directly on handset giving offline functionality to user. The offline functionality, the important differentiator, could become a major decision factor for enterprises in deciding which way to go.<br /><br />Mobile device fragmentation at platform, device, firmware and operator level may lead to further confusion for enterprises to choose best suit for their business needs. Additionally, the porting efforts to other platforms and testing applications on physical handset add to overall cost of developing rich mobile application when compared to web site development.<br /><br />If enterprise has need of extensive data management and interactive user experience on device and also requires access to device functionalities such as location, contact list etc., developing mobile application makes sense.<br /><br />In conclusion, if enterprise is targeting the mobility to reach out to their customers- a wider audience, mobile web may be better choice compared to native application development, as they do not have a direct control over the mobile devices, personal devices being used by them. If enterprises are thinking of improving the business process or optimizing the mobile workers performance, mobile application would be better choice as enterprise are in better position to manage and control the devices. And, if enterprise believe in mobility as a strong medium for marketing, business process improvement and operational efficiencies, consider investing in both mobile application and mobile friendly web site to utilize the best of these two technologies.P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-83826905199777601022009-06-29T23:10:00.000-07:002009-06-29T23:12:16.441-07:00Six things that may disappoint business users in iPhone 3GSHere are the 6 things that may disappoint business users in iPhone 3GS.<br />1. Battery life<br />For business users one of the top priorities in a smartphone is a good battery life. Though Apple iPhone 3GS has improved battery life, many analysts still feel that the model fails to match up to most BlackBerry models.<br />iPhone 3GS provides up to 5 hours of 3G talk time or Internet use. Apple claims that the new model supports up to 12 hours of talk time, 30 hours of audio, 9 hours of Wi-Fi and 10 hours on video playback.<br />BlackBerry Storm supports battery life of up to 15 days (standby time) and up to 5.5 hours (talk time).<br />2. Security weaknesses<br />In terms of security too iPhone 3GS has gone several notches up over its predecessor, however, the new device still leaves lot for improvement.<br />According to many web reviews, iPhone has been hacked far too many times to be considered a secure platform. iPhone's new operating system, OS 3.0, reportedly includes 46 security patches. The majority of the patches are for the iPhone's Safari browser and the WebKit open source browser engine.<br />On security front, one of the most loved features in the new device is the Remote Wipe which allows users to erase all data from an iPhone that has got lost.<br />3. No physical keyboard<br />Another big miss for corporate users is the absence of a physical keyboard. Though the new software includes a landscape keyboard for Mail, Messages and Notes, however, most business users feel that a slider-style QWERTY keyboard would have been more handy.<br />Research In Motion's (RIM's) BlackBerry phones pack QWERTY keyboard for easy typing.<br />4. Video conferencing<br />Though Apple has fulfilled a long time wish by enabling the device to record videos, however, iPhone 3GS still lacks front-facing camera for video conferencing.<br />This means the device is not capable of sending videos across a Wi-Fi or cellular network in real time. This comes as a big disappointment especially for business users in the age of video conferencing.<br />5. No editing in Word Document<br />Another dampener for business users is absence of editing support for Word documents. This means while iPhone users can read Word documents, they cannot edit it. This again is an area where Apple needs a bit of rethink especially while targeting the device in the business segment.<br />Unlike iPhone 3GS, most smartphones let users edit Word documents to make changes and send them. However, there are a couple of third-party solutions that may solve this issue.<br />6. No Flash<br />iPhone 3GS also disappoints corporate users looking forward to Flash support in the new version. The latest iPhone too offers no Flash support.<br />This is a big miss for users who may want to see those multimedia files that require Flash or browse through Web pages with Flash on their iPhones. Earlier, Apple had said that Flash would run too slowly on the iPhone.P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-45250925159766842502009-06-05T06:51:00.000-07:002009-06-05T06:54:20.677-07:00Mobile Applications for all your different needs<p><strong>Popular Mobile Apps<br /></strong><br /><strong><u>by Purushottam Darshankar</u><br /></strong><br /><strong>Social networking-</strong><br />If you are an intrepid Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Photobucket, YouTube or Friendster fan, wish to blog, share video or geotag photos, want BBC or CNN, iTV or NowPublic on your phone...make the ShoZu mobile app (<a href="http://m.shozu.com/">http://m.shozu.com</a>) your single-window social media hub.<br /><br />Check out Fring (www.fring. com) too. It’s a dependable app for instant messaging (IM) and free calls across Skype, MSN Messenger, GoogleTalk, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo! and AIM. As backup, you can also install Nimbuzz (www.nimbuzz. com). It’s a neat mobile messenger that allows you IM as well as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) across several services.<br /><br /><strong>Google mobile app</strong><br /><a href="http://www.google.com/mobile/default/app.html">www.google.com/mobile/default/app.html</a> You’ve probably heard of all the apps from this stable—Gmail, Search, Maps, News, YouTube, Latitude and other Google gurgle. But did you know that some of these are directly accessible from your phone without any browser bumming? You can download the mobile Gmail to quickly check your mail on the go. You can also use Google Sync on several phones to synchronize your Google Contacts and Calendar with your hand-held. Latitude will let you broadcast your current location on a map to friends and family.<br /><br /><strong>Nokia Beta Labs</strong><br /><a href="http://betalabs.nokia.com/betas">http://betalabs.nokia.com/betas</a> The Nokia Beta Labs’ landing page has several interesting Symbian S60 tools. The best of these include Wellness Diary, a personal journal that helps you record and track health parameters such as weight, eating habits, exercise, blood pressure, etc., and Sports Tracker, a phone-centric GPS-based activity log that automatically records workout distance, routes, speeds and time in your training diary. It even allows you to share the information with others via a website.<br /><br />You may also want to try Handwriting Calculator, and Ovi Contacts applications from this stable. But remember, before you download these; check out if they are compatible with your handset.<br /><br /><strong>Web browsers</strong><br />The Opera Mini (<a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.opera.com/mini/">www.opera.com/mini/</a>) browser is fast and furious. It features several advanced and user-friendly features, including personalized skins, YouTube video playback, bookmark sync, page saving for offline browsing and user-defined shortcuts, etc.<br /><br />If you have a Sony Ericsson handset, try the full-fat, albeit slower Ozone (<a href="http://www.o3mobi.com/">www.o3mobi.com</a>) Web browser. Though it runs on a very limited number of handsets, Ozone offers a more desktop-like browsing experience.<br /><br /><strong>Internet radio and podcasts</strong><br />One of the best things about listening to Internet radio over your phone is not having to use those constantly tangling earphone sets. Small and easy to install and run, Nokia Internet Radio (<a href="http://www.s60.com/life/application/displayDetails.do?appId=320">http://www.s60.com/life/application/displayDetails.do?appId=320</a>) gives your phone access to hundreds of Internet radio stations over Wi-Fi as well as GPRS. You can pick the quality of your connection according to your ambient network.<br />Check out Spodtronic (<a href="http://www.spodtronic.com/en/specialpage.html?pid=3">http://www.spodtronic.com/en/specialpage.html?pid=3</a>) too. Another free Internet radio app, it lines up a wide variety of audio entertainment for your phone—including podcasts and mood-based personalized radio. You can also get download-and-play-later podcasts from Nokia Podcasting at <a href="http://europe.nokia.com/get-support-and-software/product-support/podcasting">http://europe.nokia.com/get-support-and-software/product-support/podcasting</a>.<br /><br /><strong>Reading</strong><br />If you are an avid reader and don’t mind your mobile phone’s small screen, Wattpad (<a href="http://www.blogger.com/www.wattpad.com/download">www.wattpad.com/download</a>) is a good option. Download the app and plunge into community-driven categories ranging from biographies to business, sci-fi to sports, tech to travel. You can also upload your stories, ruminations and essays to jokes, and share it with the Wattpad community.<br />For audio books, install the Nokia Audiobooks (<a href="http://betalabs.nokia.com/betas/view/nokia-audiobooks">http://betalabs.nokia.com/betas/view/nokia-audiobooks</a>). For free audio books, go to Librivox.org. You can use the Nokia Audio Books Manager to convert and transfer them to your phone.<br /><br /><strong>WidSets</strong><br /><a href="http://www.widsets.com/">www.widsets.com</a> WidSets is a collection of around 4,000 widgets (mini apps), including games, fun, news, sports, weather, utilities, games, social content, videos and much more. So, instead of diving in and out of sites looking for interesting apps, you can check out this one-stop site and fire your searches. It’s currently compatible with over 300 phones—we wonder what will happen after WidSets metamorphoses into the Nokia App Store in June.<br /><br /><strong>Dr Jukka apps</strong><br /><a href="http://www.drjukka.com/index.html">www.drjukka.com/index.html</a> This is another stockpile of various Symbian S60 applications available in one place. Most people will be able to make good use of Y-Browser, an uncomplicated phone file manager and Y-Alarms, a multi-alarm utility. 50 Widgets comprises an expansive collection of games and puzzles.<br /><br /><strong>Yahoo Go!</strong><br /><a href="http://mobile.yahoo.com/go">http://mobile.yahoo.com/go</a> If Gmail is not your cup of tea, you can check out Yahoo! Go. This all-in-one download gives you real-time access to email, news, search, stock quotes, Flickr photos, maps, etc. You can build your own menu according to your interests. Depending on whether you are interested in MTV or eBay auctions, Hollywood gossip or bull runs in the market, you can add or delete what you want.<br />Not convinced? Visit the Yahoo! Go homepage on your PC before downloading it and take the app for a spin through an interactive demo.<br /><br /><strong>Miscellaneous<br /></strong><br /><strong>Money Lite</strong><br /><a href="http://www.flyingbirdsoft.com/freeware.html">www.flyingbirdsoft.com/freeware.html</a><br />This light app helps you track your expenses, deposits, transfers and other transactions.<br /><br /><strong>FlipSilent<br /></strong><a href="http://flipsilent.com/">http://flipsilent.com</a><br />Stop fumbling for the Silent button. Flip your phone over to mute the ring or refuse a call. Needs an accelerometer and works on limited handsets.<br /><br /><strong>Phling!</strong><br /> <a href="http://www.phling.com/">www.phling.com</a><br />Phling! connects you to all podcasts and pictures stored on your PC.<br /><br /><strong>Pocket Express<br /></strong><a href="http://pocketexpress.com/">http://pocketexpress.com</a><br />Get zippy access to news, sports, weather, stocks, travel, entertainment and other updates on your phone without deploying a browser.<br /><br /><strong>Qik</strong> <br /><a href="http://www.qik.com/">www.qik.com</a><br />A video-streaming app that enables you to share your life in real time with family and friends from your mobile phone.<br /><br /><strong>GyPSii</strong></p><p><a href="http://www.gypsii.com/">www.gypsii.com</a><br /> It automatically captures geotagged pictures, video and audio on your phone and lets you share these with friends in real time.<br /><br /><strong>Zyb</strong> </p><p><a href="http://www.zyb.com/">www.zyb.com</a> </p><p>Terrified of losing the contact numbers on your phone? Zyb backs up and syncs and updates your contacts to the Internet automatically.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-37080263380410517102009-05-21T23:57:00.000-07:002009-05-21T23:58:09.277-07:00Do Businesses require a Mobility App Store?<Strong>Future businesses to take a bite of an apple</strong><br /><p></p><br /><u>by Purushottam Darshankar </u><br /><p></p><br /><p>It all started a year back, when Apple launched its App Store for the iPhone 3G, and ever since then, there has been enormous interest across the mobile ecosystem to emulate this model. The technology advancements in mobile computing- 3G networks, high resolution displays, battery life and more- are paving the way for a new generation of enterprise mobility applications. Needless to say, the future is mobile, as next phase of business mobility will go considerably beyond e-mails. The concept of App Store fundamentally changes the way in which the applications are made available on the mobile handset and have enormous implication on how the revenues are likely to be distributed across the value chain.</p><br /><p>Following its popularity, many device vendors made their own software stores for their mobile platform. Palm published the “Application Store” similar to app store; Microsoft announced the “Windows Market place for Mobile” for windows mobile devices. RIM has launched its application store “BlackBerry App World” and Nokia announced the “Ovi Store” for its S60 and S40 devices.</p><br /><p>The new trend in mobile enterprise market shows that businesses are not willing to purchase the middleware platform that connects mobile users to back end systems. Instead they are looking for prepackaged hosted solution where return on investment can be gained by improving the operational efficiencies of field service personnel.</p><br /><p>But for the most part, hosted mobility services have not been popular because businesses want to keep the critical information in-house rather than allowing it to reside outside the firewall. Enterprises also need to think more about how mobility integrates with the existing enterprise infrastructure and what can be pushed into mobile environment as an application for their field personnel.</p><br /><p>The most widely used mobile operating systems in business mobility are BlackBerry and Windows Mobile, with European enterprises often supporting Symbian as well. However, it is no surprise that iPhone has started making its presence in enterprise mobility market. Some of the enterprise mobility applications were hit and made its presence felt at App Store. Few of these applications require the involvement of company’s IT department as specific software needs to reside on organizations IT infrastructure.</p><br /><p>At App Store, Oracle Business Approvals for Sales Representative/Managers allows user to review sales quotes and approve or reject them, and chart sales forecasts, quotas, and actual numbers. Salesforce.com recently posted an updated version of Salesforce Mobile for the iPhone to give salespeople access to contact and account information in Salesforce.com. JAMF Software's JSS Mobile lets IT pros manage their companies' Mac systems from their iPhones. Applications developed through the Enterprise Program are exclusively for institutional use which allows businesses to develop more proprietary applications not for public release.</p><br /><p>In business mobility app store space, security issues are a top concern among organizations that must address strict security, regulatory requirements when implementing mobile device and application solutions. There will be few takers from banking, financial services and insurance firms for such service. As a result, it is believed that business app store will be more popular among SMBs, which typically don’t have as strict IT requirements as large enterprises. The other advantage is its low risk high ROI proposition as such application services will be charged to businesses on usage based i.e. “On-Demand” pricing or fixed payment for each user.</p><br /><p>In general, the Business mobility app store will appeal more to the small and medium businesses than the bigger organization. The horizontal solution will be more successful as it will see more users cutting across the verticals than domain specific solution which heavily depends on the backend applications at organization IT infrastructure.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-32586325574453953152009-04-15T03:56:00.000-07:002009-04-15T03:58:22.253-07:00Business model innovation for managed mobility services<strong>Telco managed revenue shared model for enterprise mobility</strong><br /><br /><u>by Purushottam Darshankar</u> <br /><br /><p>Today’s mobile devices with their significant processing power, multimodal communication and large storage capabilities are fast proving to be a productivity improver by enabling the business users to make better decisions by using up-to-date enterprise information, wherever they are working.</p><br /><p>While field services and sales applications are the largest opportunities for mobility solutions, CIOs, CXOs, technical managers are busy working on ROI estimates to take go, no-go decisions. On one hand it brings direct benefits in terms of productivity improvement and few indirect benefits such as increased employee satisfaction, improved customer satisfaction that could save business thousands of dollars. On the other hand, there is ever increasing diversity of mobile devices and costs associated with managing and integrating these devices into organizations IT infrastructure, training, support, networks and recurring costs of data connectivity. There needs to be balance between the operational efficiencies and costs. The TCO of mobility solution may vary depending on the functionalities, middleware, type of architecture and deployment. The decision needs to be taken strategically and not purely on traditional ROI and TCO model.</p><br /><p>Given the underlying complexities of mobility solution, it is necessary to have pilot-run prior to full scale all functionality deployment. Also, it is necessary to take serious look at the duration of productivity plateau, when it will be necessary to upgrade the solution and finally when it will be time to retire the solution.</p><br /><p>With the economic slowdown enterprises want to stay lean. Faced with tight budget constraints and stretched operating budgets, every business is looking to cut the initial capital investment and recurring operating costs of the mobility solution. This has led to emergence of new business model of managed mobility services that uses a common platform to integrate, support and manage the mobility solution.</p><br /><p>The current telecom market is very competitive and operators are constantly looking for new revenue sources. As a result, many telecom operators are now adapting to provide managed mobility services with revenue share model to add new revenue source. They are encouraging the solution providers to use their network resources to provide services to businesses and share the revenue earned. Solution providers are also attempting “non linear growth” to increase their revenue by investing in building the vertical solution for various verticals.</p><br /><p>There are compelling financial and technical reasons why businesses will move from premise based services to hosted shared services model. The businesses can save on their capital investment as they stay away from purchasing, operating and maintaining any IT infrastructure for mobility solution. Telco managed shared services provides high reliability, security and uptime so that businesses can more focus on their core competency.</p><br /><p>It is important that appropriate security infrastructure be in built into such shared services model. If proper measures are taken, shared services can offer a safe, secure and reliable means of communicating sensitive information and provide businesses with a mobile service infrastructure that is as secure as any organization's “traditional” IT infrastructure.</p><br /><p>The pricing model for such services is usage based “On-Demand” pricing, fixed monthly payment for each user. The business does not bear any risk of losing the money. The telecom operators have required flexibility to scale-up or scale down based on rapid fluctuations in its customer demands and needs.</p><br /><p>The hosted shared services model provides opportunity to businesses to pilot-run their services to demonstrate their ROI for decision making. Once successfully adapted by their end user the managed service model will place the businesses on longer term benefit.</p><br /><p>Whether launching new mobility services or to manage the existing one , businesses can always look at managed mobility services option provided by operators that manages all part of mobility solution and also offers flexible per-user pricing option.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-54483268054443841162009-03-10T21:19:00.000-07:002009-03-10T21:31:51.993-07:00Mobile Web or Mobile Application ? - which way to goPosted by Amit , <a href="http://fivemobile.com/development/mobile-web-mobile-apps">http://fivemobile.com/development/mobile-web-mobile-apps</a><br /><br />Having been in the mobile space for a number of years, I’m often asked by prospective customers whether they should develop a mobile website or create a downloadable application that runs on the handsets. The short answer is, it depends on what your trying to accomplish.<br /><br /><u>Developing for the Mobile Web</u><br /><br />Web development on mobile phones has long suffered from a very rigid platform and the inability for mobile browsers to keep up with current web technologies. This is slowly changing, partially due to the recent spikes in Smartphone handset sales. With many handset manufacturers attempting to clone the iPhone’s usability and appeal, a larger focus has been placed on the content on mobile phones, which in turn, requires better software to render this content. For example, both the iPhone and Blackberry Bold browsers can view HTML pages and process JavaScript. Technologies such as Flash have been rumored to be coming in the near term, but it will take some time before its supported on a large number of devices.<br /><br />The “Pros” for Developing Mobile Web Applications<br /><br />- The cost of supporting a mobile web application is relatively cheap in comparison to a downloadable application<br />- Accordingly, the speed at which a mobile website can be created is relatively quick<br />- If you have an existing high traffic web destination, developing a mobile version makes sense as your site already has a brand attached to it and a loyal following<br />- Higher-end devices are beginning to support existing desktop browser capabilities thus making the delta between your mobile and desktop browser experience smaller<br />- Deployment of a mobile website is quite simple<br />- The mobile web allows you to develop on a single platform and target the broadest set of launched across all handsets<br /><br /><br />The “Cons” for Developing Mobile Web Applications<br /><br />- Currently, mobile websites are unable to take advantage of device specific features<br />- Ex: For the same reasons you can’t use a website to burn a CD, you cannot use a mobile website to access your phone’s contact list<br />- This is why high traffic sites such as Facebook will create both a mobile website and downloadable application<br />- Relatively speaking, interfaces on mobile websites are quite poor and clunky resulting in a less than desirable user experience<br />- Currently, support for AJAX and DHTML technologies is quite limited<br />- Despite developing for a single platform, developers must take into account mobile device idiosyncrasies across different handsets, firmware versions and operators<br />- Users must be connected at all times… there is no concept of an “offline mode”<br />- With the increase in mobile handset vendors, there has also been an increase in browser fragmentation<br />- On the web, typically developers are focused on Firefox, Opera, Internet Explorer and Safari<br />- In the mobile space, there are 10+ relevant browsers and many more in development<br />Mobile website owners must rely heavily on 3rd party sources such as Device Atlas to understand device characteristics<br /><br /><br /><u>Developing Mobile Applications</u><br /><br />Similar to the mobile web, the native capabilities of handsets have improved and so have the associated SDKs. If you’re watching how Apple markets the iPhone, its all about letting users know that their device is more than just a phone. Specifically, they showcase applications created for the handset that leverage it’s unique capabilities. In general, Apple has done a fantastic job of making users feel comfortable in downloading content to their handsets. It’s not only helped them, but it’s opened up the floodgates across other platforms.<br /><br />The “Pros” for Developing Mobile Applications<br /><br />- Mobile applications can interact directly with the device obtaining useful information such as location, contact lists, accelerometer functions, etc. This is critical for a “mobile” application<br />- Having the ability to control exactly what is displayed on screen allows for customized (and optimized), rich user interfaces directly on the device<br />- User interactions can also be directly controlled via the possible inputs (touch, voice, keyboard, etc)<br />- In your mobile application, you are able to store reasonable amounts of data directly on the handset in a secure manner as opposed to storing everything on a remote server (slow!)<br />- Performance can typically be optimized for each handset and platform<br />Mobile (Smartphone) development platforms are improving quite rapidly<br />- Developers can create a consistent look and feel throughout their application<br />- Measurement in terms of how users interact with an application is possible<br /><br /><br />The “Cons” for Developing Mobile Applications<br /><br />- Unless proper design measures are taken, upkeep and continued portability of your application is difficult to maintain.<br />- There are 5-6 relevant mobile application development platforms to choose from, and understand which ones best suit your needs can be confusing<br />- Within these platforms, additional fragmentation exists at a per device, firmware and operator level<br />- Typically, developing rich mobile applications is more costly than creating a mobile website<br />- Mobile applications may require porting to additional platforms and this takes up front consideration<br />- A single, publicly available source for data across all mobile handset characteristics and attributes as they relate to the individual SDKs does not exist<br />- Testing can be time consuming and costly as mobile applications must be tested on the physical handset<br />- One needs to understand the various carrier requirements if an “on deck” strategy is preferred<br /><br />In conclusion, it very much depends on your organization’s goals with regards to the mobile application. If it’s simply an extension of your mobile website, is heavily content focused and does not require an interactive user experience, then the mobile web may be a better choice. If one requires access to device functionality such as location or the contact list and have an appropriate development and porting strategy formed (either internally, or through a partner) that will help minimize the effects of device fragmentation, then developing a mobile application makes sense.<br /><br /><a href="http://fivemobile.com/development/mobile-web-mobile-apps"></a>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-39385865172579661522009-02-25T03:34:00.000-08:002009-02-25T03:41:33.616-08:00Mobility advantage of dual mode phones to enterprises<u>by Purushottam Darshankar</u> <br /><br /><p>Dual mode phones that are capable of communicating with more than one form are increasingly becoming popular as organization seeks to be more productive. From an enterprise market point of view, having this ability is of great advantage as it makes organization more agile and more responsive to emerging market opportunities and to support increasing customer demands.</p><br /><p>The dual mode handset market is picking up fast and according to a new report from Juniper research, the worldwide revenues of dual mode phones are expected to reach over $82bn by 2012.</p><br /><p>In order to build the capability for mobile employees to stay connected over dual mode phones, infrastructure side will want to support both cellular and WiFi-type voice application and phone manufacturers will want their devices to work over both networks. There have been some challenges for seamless roaming between cellular and WiFi environment. There’s a lot of interference that eats into your WiFi network capacity, causing things such as retransmissions and jitter. If you’re just running data you won’t necessarily notice it, but when you start to run real-time applications such as voice, you suddenly realize that your WiFi network is not as tuned-up as you had hoped. Security and interoperability between different access point, gateway, and devices like WiFi/GSM handsets may be an issue.</p><br /><p>The phones that do not support multitasking such as iPhone may drop your ongoing VOIP call when cellular call arrives. The Google Android phone does not expose adequate information through the WiFi API to allow the VOIP client to take hand-off decisions. The Java environment on most of the devices does not expose enough functionality for application developer to develop the voice over IP (VOIP) client. Nokia includes a SIP stack in their E-series and N-Series phones to support this technology in their dual mode phones.</p><br /><p>Use of SIP – Session Initiation Protocol- provides multimodal communication capabilities that provide faster and secure communication. The presence capability can help to know employee presence availability status, thereby deciding the mode of call before user makes the call. The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) has been accepted as the protocol of choice for voice over IP calls.</p><br /><p>The enterprises are quickly seeing the advantage of such devices as not only their workforce becomes more mobile, but it also brings a cost advantage to them. It has been observed that 30% of office calls are now received on mobile phones, instead of desktop phones, even if the employees are in office. Also, a study by the International Teleworking Association found that between 50 to 70 percent of office space is unoccupied during normal business hours. To provide the ultimate in on-premises mobility, enterprises are complementing hotdesking practices with on-premises wireless LAN (WLAN) networks ensuring mobile access to all types of enterprise information. This improves customer responsiveness, improve productivity and save office space costs as organizations are going for shared desk policy.</p><br /><p>The enterprises don’t have to pay carriers if they are making calls working of their premise over Wi-Fi. It is easy to justify the cost benefit at enterprise level; the resistance has been from the carriers as they do not see how they can really make money on them.</p><br /><p>Advanced features and services that up-to-now have only been available to the desk are now broadly available to enterprise users everywhere due to the potential of the dual mode mobile console. This is a new class of enterprise mobility.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-65580306419047744762008-12-31T03:03:00.000-08:002008-12-31T03:04:04.517-08:00Enterprise Mobility Market Outlook: 2009<strong>Enterprise mobility predictions: 2009</strong><br /><br /><u>by Purushottam Darshankar</u> <br /><br /><p>Amidst the gloomy economic scenario, year 2008 saw companies of all sizes, in many vertical markets, and across various geographic regions identifying enterprise mobility initiatives as key priorities, and that is unlikely to change dramatically in 2009. Organizations still face the challenge of tracking and managing decentralized workforces and reducing operational costs. Concerns around mobile security continue to inhibit the uptake of mobile solutions, especially among financial services organizations, however, the mobilization of enterprises is growing, from simple applications, such as email, to more complex one such as mobile SCM.</p><br /><p>In 2008, Forrester’s survey results show that between 40% and 60% of enterprises in North America and Europe identified more mobility support to employees, implementation of fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) solutions, and formalization of a mobile strategy as critical priorities.</p><br /><p>The iPhone launch in 2008 caused a mobile operating systems war which will continue in year 2009. The mobile device market will still continue to remain fragmented across BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Symbian, iPhone and Android smartphones. The launch of iPhone has increased user interface expectation of end users as touch screen interface based phone will continue to dominate in 2009. As a result, iPhone will make a more significant dent in the enterprise mobility market, primarily among SMBs. However the BlackBerry will continue to lead the enterprise mobility market, knowing the security that BalckBerry offers. In 2009, vendors will develop devices that will address the dual needs of personal and professional use of mobile devices as well as implications on device size, battery life, keyboard requirements, and form factors.</p><br /><p>In recent months, a number of major industry players that includes handset makers, and operators, have announced their concerns about handset volumes in 2009. According to IDC, total mobile phone volumes will be 1.9 percent lower in 2009 than 2008, the first downturn in annual shipment volumes since 2001. Lower prices will make converged mobile devices an attractive choice for consumers despite the fact consumers may choose to hold on to their current devices rather than replace or upgrade them.</p><br /><p>In 2009, there will be rise in mobile application deployments in Asia Pacific region, particularly for mobile information applications such as email, calendar, and personal information. 2008 saw very interesting Location-based services applications for employee productivity improvements or worker efficiency. LBS will continue to remain a key component in variety of other applications including business, social networking and advertising domain. With 3G services to be rolled out in India, 2009 will see more advanced and data-heavy mobile applications and services on employee’s mobile device. These would require more sophisticated mobile middleware platforms to monitor and mange the applications.</p><br /><p>Currently the enterprise mobility ecosystem is fragmented – companies offering mobile applications, mobile device management, mobile security solutions, mobile content etc. Many of these vendors have focused on developing specific type of application or services – such as SYBASE for mobile middleware, Pyxis mobile for financial market solution etc. In 2009, we will see mobility vendor consolidation as system integrator and mobile middleware vendors snatch up small players in the ecosystem, in order to expand their breadth in overall enterprise mobility service and solution capabilities.</p><br /><p>As we look ahead to the challenging economic environment of 2009, the service providers, device makers, software vendors and mobile application developers will focus on their strategy to fulfill the demand for enterprise mobility solutions and the competition for products and services.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-51927593984960304892008-12-11T05:59:00.000-08:002008-12-11T20:45:24.958-08:00Event 2 : 3G: The Next Wave - KochinASSOCHAM in association with Ericsson had organized the "3G: THE NEXT WAVE" on 4th - 5th December, 2008 at Le Meridian, Kochi, India. Siddhartha Behura Secretary, Department of Telecommunication and Chairman, Telecom Commission was the chief guest on the occasion.<br /> The event was attended by all the leading telcos in India, content providers , content aggregators, entertainment channel providers and device vendors. The event had a lot of significance at the backdrop of government decision to auction 3G spectrum. The auction that is slotted for January’09 created lot of debate during the event.<br /> This conference had coincided with the well known “Formula One Sport of Ocean Racing – the Volvo Ocean Race” at Kochi- Kochi hosting this 1st time.<br /> After the welcome address by Balaji VP, Ericsson India , Gowton shared his views on Global 3G trends and its relevance to India, Sanjeev Aga, MD of Idea Cellular during his keynote address requested the DOT to conduct the auction in healthy manner and to think beyond the objective of revenue generation.<br /> Jithu Niruthambath, Director of Wireless business at Texas Instrument emphasized on the importance of User experience and soon to launch devices such as MID (mobile internet devices) that would cost ~ 150 USD will bring revolution into a consumer applications such as MobileTV etc.<br /> Jaikishan Rajaraman, Sr. Director at GSMA gave a brief of GSMA contribution to the telecom world and shared the global trends in Telecom market.<br /> Before we head for a Gala night, the DOT gave on regulatory environment and overall auction process of 3G spectrum. <br /> After having back-to-back session participants were in desperate need of some cocktail break. The evening couldn’t have been better and the site more electrified with good music, food and drinks around.<br /> The second day all started with a “New revenue Doors” – a prospective from pioneers of entertainment providers in India viz. Sony and NDTV. In their view, Telcos due to lack of flexibility in business model have failed to provide the value for their content. Telcos have merely gone for acquiring the subscriber and have also retained a major share of revenue earned through content services. Sanjay Trehan, CEO NDTV emphasized on the need to synergies so as to tap the potential of mobile content.<br /> The two day conference concluded with a memorable tour to VOR race village. The experience shared by the Ericsson crew who was on voyage kept us spellbound…!!!P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-58357678303293791022008-12-11T04:52:00.000-08:002008-12-11T20:45:59.678-08:00Event - 1 : ESRI's GIS ENVISION Series SeminarESRI who are the market leader in the field of GIS and Geospatial solutions had organized the "GIS ENVISION SEMINAR" at Hotel Pride Pune on 25th November.<br />The day long event was attended by Indian Government bodies & offices, content and map providers and IT service providers.<br />The winter season that had just begun in Pune delayed the welcome address by an hour . Vatsal Dave took the audience through ESRI vision, its market share, product suite and service offerings.<br />Brd. Khanzode, Director Symbiosis Institute of Geoinformatics gave a keynote address. He highlighted on the importance of GIS in different sectors such as tourism, disaster management, utilities etc. As per his opinion, lot more can be done by different stake holders in GIS space in order to give a secure and better quality of life to common man.<br />Seema Joshi took the audience through the GIS overview and range of ESRI products viz. Desktop GIS, Server GIS and Mobile GIS.<br />Her session on "What's new in ARCGIS 9.3" was lively with some good demos which kept the audience on their toes. <br />The day long event was concluded by Nagarajan Murali who conducted a good session on ArcLogistics that provides routing and scheduling solution for fleet management. Pilots being run in Delhi with Tele Atlas Kalyani India Ltd. providing all the Map data for this solution.P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-53680768920123972972008-11-28T02:06:00.000-08:002008-11-28T02:07:51.417-08:00Scaling Enterprise Mobility deployment against challenges<strong>Enterprise mobility deployment drivers and inhibitors</strong><br /><br /><u>by Purushottam Darshankar</u><br /><br /><br /><p>To win in today’s competitive world, businesses are finding new ways to optimize the business process, shorten cycle times and empower the employees to better serve their customers by deploying mobile technologies. This enables greater supply chain efficiencies and accuracy thereby increasing the operating margins and greater customer satisfaction.</p><br /><p> Although some enterprises are considering the widespread adoption of mobility solution, the evidence suggests that enterprise adopt a low risk strategy and focus on solutions which have proven ROI. The main inhibitors of enterprise mobility deployment are (source: Telsyte, 2008)</p><br /><p>- Integration with existing IT systems & solutions</p> <br /><p>- Understanding the future of mobile technology</p> <br /><p>- Cost / ROI / business case justification</p> <br /><p>- Mobile network / carrier selection</p><br /><p>- Ongoing management / maintenance</p><br /><p>- Security concerns</p><br /><p>- Business process reengineering & realignment</p><br /><p>- Mobile device selection</p><br /><p>- Lack of organizational capability</p><br /><p>- Mobile application vendor selection</p> <br /><br /><p>The benefits of mobility solution is immense, however realizing its full potential can introduce a significant IT challenge. Today’s enterprise mobility solutions are connected to backend system using ad –hoc system and management of this complex system is important. Management of these deployments is usually an afterthought, if not addressed properly, may result into increased deployment and support cost, under performing systems, increased organizational risks.</p><br /><p>A standard enterprise mobility deployment may include several hundred mobile devices, access points and backend technologies – complexity of these environments make the device and network rollouts, updates / maintenance and support more difficult. Existing network management tools available in market lack in dealing with roaming devices, intermittent network connectivity and wireless security.</p><br /><p>Ensuring the uniformity of software versions on mobile devices across hundreds of devices, provisioning and configuration of mobile devices and wireless network is of paramount importance. Proper version control of application, OS and firmware is necessary using OTA push to keep the mobile workers up-to-date with latest application and updates.</p><br /><p>The trained technical staff to support the mobility solution is as important as the solution itself. However, hands-on technical staff required to support large-scale enterprise deployments is expensive, both in the number of and the cost per technician. The ability to support remote diagnostics and remote problem resolution is critical. Integrated management tool is required to respond to the problems encountered by field worker with their mobile devices.</p><br /><p>A mobile device inherently has limited processing power, battery life and memory which makes collection and processing of field data difficult. The intermittent connectivity and bandwidth limitation compound this problem. This makes the data synchronization with enterprise database a complex procedure. The alternative ways of data synchronization either over USB cable or Bluetooth should be made available to avoid loss of data.</p><br /><p>The enterprise mobility is still dogged by security concerns. Remotely locking of lost or stolen devices to restrict access to data and device functionality is must if data is sensitive. The recovered devices again need to be unlocked for continued usage quickly to avoid loss of productivity.</p><br /><p>The enterprise mobility solution should not be developed considering specific operating system and device in mind. The solution should provide flexibility to add new devices with minimal changes in application and its provisioning. If multiple devices with a variety of operating system and screen size are being used by field force, the system should posses the inventory of such devices for better technical support.</p><br /><p>The IT department should be capable of supporting different peripheral devices such as RFID, barcode, camera, GPS, printers and other data collection accessories used by field force. The IT department should keep the necessary spares coupled with well laid procedures of logging support/repair calls for replacements/repairs of devices and accessories. After all, it is the IT department that is likely to own the company’s mobility roadmap and is responsible for technical aspects of mobility deployment. As with other IT projects, it is important that organizations have a “buy in” from top executives to ensure the success of enterprise mobility deployment.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-10335598067687223392008-10-30T03:06:00.001-07:002008-10-30T03:07:53.267-07:00Enterprise Mobility - a way to deal with economic downturn<strong>A way to navigate your business through economic downturn</strong><br /><br /><u>by Purushottam Darshankar </u><br /><br /> <br /><p>Economic downturn is a reality and there is no escape from reality of economic crisis, as we see businesses across the world facing a recession. It calls for an action and innovation to successfully navigate through economic downturn. While economic downturn creates formidable obstacles to businesses that are trying to survive and grow, an economic downturn can open up opportunities. The key is to focus on your core competencies, reduce operating expenses and manage more proactively, rather than reactively. In order to reduce operational expenses, one needs to improve the productivity through increased efficiency. How can businesses provide more services per person at lower administrative costs and reduce expenses while at the same time providing quality work and good customer services?</p><br /><p>A broad economic downturn forces companies to seek new sources of improving productivity while leveraging existing investment in IT. Proper Enterprise mobility initiative that is consistent with the overall stated corporate objectives can bring in required transformation for businesses. They can use enterprise mobility to develop more productive business process while maintaining budget discipline. The significant impact of enterprise mobility could be felt in field service automation. Some of the following business initiatives would be of significant importance for businesses during economic downturn.</p><br /><p>To be more productive and effective, make available all the required backend enterprise data (work order information, product information etc.), user manuals, trouble shooting manuals to remote service technician at jobsite to minimize on communication cost, wasting time and excess fuel driving back and forth to the office.</p><br /><p>The poor scheduling and routing is another area that can be looked upon. Location intelligence of service people could enable businesses to improvise on their decision support, operation and planning. Planning and scheduling of work could be done based upon the location, parts and expertise needed. Sending service technicians to a distant location, when another service technician is closer and ready to take up a task leads to wastage of time and fuel. Can you use GPS tracking on the vans to better know the location of all service technicians so you can dispatch the closest and best service technician for the job? Use of Location aware field force automation solution would dispatch the right work orders to field technicians on their handhelds that can improvise your productivity, operational efficiency and better customer satisfaction.</p><br /><p>Tight control over inventory is another important area. Improvise on visibility of parts needed, the location of inventory and parts used in each of the service ticket. GIS integration with inventory management system can help improvise the utilization of spares stored and managed from across the different locations.</p><br /><p>Poor Cash collection and management at jobsite can be further improved using POS based handheld devices. You can collect money, swipe credit cards and print receipts from handheld device. You can reduce wastage of time, paper and avoid postage expenses and sending out invoices weeks after the work was completed.</p><br /><p>The administrative costs can be brought down by automating work order scheduling and dispatching using enterprise mobility solution that reduces cost of data entry and administrative staff. The management visibility into the work done in the field is essential to ensure quality of services and customer satisfaction.</p><br /><p>Slow economic time motives each of us to be smarter and more efficient. There is growing demand of enterprise mobility solution as a service ( SaaS model)- “on Demand” service. The entire functionality bundles could be delivered as services hosted by independent service provider. Business users of these plug-and-play offerings would pay a monthly fee and in turn be able to demand quality of service. For business, not only the TCO (Total cost of ownership) is low but the ROI (return on the investment) is also quickly realized and quantifiable.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-47840094018968115982008-09-16T07:04:00.000-07:002008-09-16T07:30:22.180-07:00Device Selection for Enterprise Mobility solution<strong>How to zero in on target device for your enterprise mobility solution ?</strong><br /><br /><u>by Purushottam Darshankar</u><br /><br /><p>One of the most critical part of enterprise mobility solution is the selection of appropriate commercial or ruggedized mobile device. Inevitably the environment in which the devices would be used should drive this decision; however, there is trend of deploying commercial grade devices in traditional rugged markets. Leading factors driving the selection of commercial over ruggedized device include, among others, the lower upfront investment, access to more current technology and short replacement requirements.</p><br /><p>Though the TCO (Total Cost of ownership) is low with commercial grade devices, the ruggedized devices provide superior cost profile to commercial grade solution in select environments. For example, in harsh field environments such as accident sites, property damage sites, supply chain/transportation and public safety, the annual TCO of a mobile rugged device is as much as 35 percent lower than for non-rugged devices.</p><br /><p>On average, 4 percent of rugged mobile computers installed to support enterprise mobility applications in “harsh” environments fail per year. Conversely, the annual failure rate for commercial grade devices in similar harsh environments rockets to 36 percent. End users need to anticipate device failure rates into their deployment plan. The critical issue is effectively managing failure rate and downtime to minimize impact on the operation.</p><br /><br /><strong>Handheld Mobile or Tablet PC?</strong><br /><br /><p>The key to choose between the two is whether or not the user has to work while standing or walking around. A mobile has a significant advantage over a tablet PC by being able to be used while the user is truly mobile. When a pen tablet is used at a desk in a mini-dock, its capability is essentially identical to that of an ultra-portable notebook.</p><br /><p>There are two types of Tablet PCs: slates and convertibles. A slate-style device is in essence an LCD with a built-in PC motherboard and hard drive. This type of Tablet PC is most frequently used by health-care workers and others in specialized fields. A convertible device can be used like a slate or, when the screen is swiveled and raised, like a traditional notebook with a keyboard. The display lays on top of the keyboard when it is used in slate mode.</p><br /><p>Being able to write on the Tablet PC's screen with a stylus--which works like the Graffiti handwriting recognition on a Palm OS device--makes "all the difference”. While at a home site, user uses the Tablet PC's pen-based input to fill in forms and add drawings to digital photographs that he takes during inspections. At the office, he plugs the Tablet PC into its docking station, which connects it to an external monitor and keyboard that lets him use the computer as he would a desktop PC.</p><br /><p>However, with mobile devices becoming more and more sophisticated, they certainly bring advantages when it comes to harsh field environment such as accident sites, property damage sites. They are much handier and are always connected. Few of the points where mobile can score over table PC are</p><br /> - Cost of Mobile device based on its capability can be lower than tablet PC cost and may be important factor if it has to be rolled out on massive scale.<br /> - Besides Data, use of Voice or SMS services used from mobile device may become user friendly & time saving.<br /> - Inbuilt camera feature of Mobile which will enable field force person to capture various field details in seconds for select applications.<br /> - SFA/FFA Mobile Applications supported by GPS & Navigation will increase the Field employee’s performance by assisting him for better route optimization.<br /><br /><strong>Device Platform</strong><br /><br /><p>The next important consideration is device platform. Microsoft's Windows Mobile platform and Research in Motion's (RIM) Blackberry have emerged to dominate the landscape of enterprise mobility. While Blackberry devices are generally used more prevalently for mobile messaging, Windows mobile devices are better positioned for an expanded suite of mobilized enterprise applications.</p><br /><p>From a device selection perspective, it might be considered beneficial to have the bundled applications, such as web-browsing and email, Pocket word, excel etc. The Windows Mobile platform offers a more consistent experience between devices.</p><br /><br /><strong>Wireless Connectivity options</strong><br /><br /><p>Connectivity options play an important role in device selection. Some of the enterprise application provides offline functionalities and need to synchronies large data once the connectivity is made available. Choices range from very limited connectivity in the base models to highly connectable devices at the top end. Within each class of device already outlined, i.e. rugged, commercial, Pocket PC, RIM etc, the full range of connectivity options are available.</p><br /><p>Connectivity options include Infra-red, Serial Connection, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPRS etc.</p><br /><p>Practically all models will have an infra-red and serial connection available. The serial connection may be via cable or via cradle. Bluetooth may be useful for connecting with a mobile phone, headset, or some other personal devices. When used with a mobile phone, Bluetooth can be used for remote data synchronization.</p><br /><p>WiFi connectivity is useful in a controlled environment, such as a warehouse, that can be fully covered by wireless access points. This method offers cheap, reliable, and fast synchronization.</p><br /><p>A packet-switched network such as GPRS, that offers “always-on” functionality may connect to a static IP address at the synchronisation gateway, or again through a VPN, thus offering better security. It is important to note that it is possible for synchronisation to occur without the need for any wireless connectivity. Users may simply connect via a cable or a cradle hosted by a computer that has a connection to the synchronisation gateway.</p><br /><br /><strong>Peripheral Device support</strong><br /><br /><p>The selected device may require built in functionality to support the peripheral devices such as Barcode scanners, Printers, GPS receivers, Cameras, Magnetic stripe readers, RFID readers etc. The SDIO slot, Compact Flash slots, or other expansion slots may be used either for memory expansion or for connecting the peripheral device.</p><br /><br /><strong>QWERTY Keyboard or Stylus input</strong><br /><br /><p>Device may feature the keyboard and/or stylus for entering data. Keyboards may be numeric or complete QWERTY. Some devices offer handwriting recognition and transcription as an alternative.</p><br /><p>The choice between an actual keyboard and stylus input depends a lot on the design of the user interface for the enterprise mobile application. Application user interfaces should tend towards using drop-down lists or numeric-only fields, in place for simple text-entry fields. If there are a great number of text-entry fields appearing in the application, then an actual keyboard might be preferable.</p><br /><br /><strong>Battery life</strong><br /><br /><p>Battery life depends on the battery technology and on the quality of the battery itself. How long device would function between battery recharges will depend on the typical usage patterns of the device. Heavy consumers of battery power are the device backlight, and radio circuitry. Any device running Bluetooth, WLAN, or a mobile phone will require a radio to be operating in the device. Of these, Bluetooth is the lightest consumer of power, due to its short range. It is important to consider what will happen to a device, should the battery become fully exhausted.</p><br /><p>Some devices offer a back-up battery. In this case, when the main battery has been completely drained, a message is displayed to the user, telling them that the back-up battery is now being used. In this way, no data is lost, and the user is advised to recharge the main battery as soon as possible.</p><br /><p>If all battery power for the device fails, then normally the data and even the applications in the device memory would be lost. However, some vendors offer non-volatile memory. This type of memory retains its data when power is lost, and remains intact during even a hard reset. Some devices will feature this type of memory internally.</p><br /><p>Another way of keeping data beyond power loss is to save it on SD memory cards. Applications may access the card just like another folder.</p><br /><p>The other considerations for device selection include size, weight, accessories, and even button placement on the device. This area is often underestimated in how important it can be in the overall success of a mobile solution.</p><br /><p>By taking into consideration all of the factors discussed here, it should be possible to arrive at a shortlist of devices that are suited to a particular mobile solution. Lastly, Don’t forget to lab test the short listed device using a prototype of the enterprise mobile application.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1667032500942852775.post-46291851582648290362008-08-13T04:47:00.000-07:002008-08-13T04:51:06.947-07:00Evolving security needs for Enterprise Mobility<strong>Enterprise Mobility Solution– How secure are they?</strong><br /><br /><u>by Purushottam Darshankar</u><br /><br /><p>In today’s marketplace, enterprise mobile solutions have become necessary for businesses as competitive advantage and as a productivity improvement tool. With traditional low end monochrome devices giving way to sleeker high resolution handset packed with high processing power and high memory, the enterprises have started using these devices beyond voice calls and SMS and focus on delivering the critical front-end application for mobile workers.</p><br /><p>Safety and security are of paramount concern for any enterprise in an increasingly uncertain and unsafe world, and have both a financial return in terms of cost of avoidance towards lost time, litigation and compensation, regulatory compliance, repair cost etc. as safety improves and intangible benefits related to improved working conditions for the workforce.</p><br /><p>The wireless medium through cellular network has certain limitation over the wired medium such as open access, limited bandwidth and system complexity. These limitations make it difficult although possible to provide security features such as authentication, encryption, integrity and confidentiality. Since the communication is on the wireless channel, there is no physical barrier that can separate the attacker from the network. The principal sources of attack could be either end terminals or operator’s own backbone network. Issues may arise in mobile device OS which might open security holes that can be exploited. If a device is stolen or lost, it needs to be protected from unauthorized access to confidential and sensitive information such as enterprise data, e-mails, contacts etc.</p><br /><p>Due to open access to cellular network and in turn to enterprise IT system, there are variety of attacks the infrastructure is open to. Denial of Service (DOS) is most potent attack that can bring down the infrastructure network, caused by sending excessive data to network, more than the network can handle, resulting in users being unable to access the network resources. Unauthorized access, if proper method of authentication is not implemented, provides free access to attacker to enterprise IT system and can use it for services that he might not be authorized for.</p><br /><p>If data communication between handheld device and backend server is not encrypted then the attacker can eavesdrop and intercept sensitive communication such as e-mails, documents, other critical enterprise data etc. The attacker can sit in between the handheld device and access station of cellular network to intercept the message in between and change them. Going further, the attacker can hijack an already established session, and can act as legitimate user to gain the access to enterprise IT system.</p><br /><p>While there are several security mechanisms available in Wireless network, continued research is going on to provide new and even more secure mechanism for cellular security as we look forward to 4G next generation services.</p><br /><strong>Enterprise Security Strategies</strong><br /><br /><p>Every enterprise should have a security strategy to protect the availability, integrity and confidentiality of data in an enterprise’s IT system. Organization needs to decide on how much time, money and efforts need to be spent in order to develop appropriate security policies and control. Listing the threats helps the security team to identify the various methods, tools, and techniques that are used in an attack and can then develop proactive as well as reactive strategy.</p><br /><p>The proactive or pre-attack strategy is a set of steps taken to minimize existing security policy vulnerabilities and develop contingency plans. Determining the amount of damage that an attack will cause on an IT system and the weaknesses and vulnerabilities exploited during this attack helps in developing the proactive strategy.</p><br /><p>The reactive strategy or post-attack strategy helps security team to assess the damage caused by the attack, repair the damage or implement the contingency plan developed in the proactive strategy, document and learn from the experience, and get business functions running as soon as possible.</p><br /><strong>Enterprise Security Goals</strong><br /><br /><p>The enterprise mobile solutions that run on the handheld devices are developed by independent software vendors that distribute these as freeware or license ware. The IP address of the servers which hosts these applications, for user download, are advertised so that they can be accessed by the intended users. However, it can be downloaded by any consumer over-the-air on the device without any control by operator. This may become a launching pad for attack on operator network as well as enterprise’s IT system.</p><br /><p>Every enterprise mobile solution must provide a bundle of security functions that assure the security of system and can be referred as the goals of security system.</p><ul><br /><li><div>Authentication - Before the data is being exchanged between the receiver and sender, their identity must be verified.<br /></div></li><li><div>Secrecy or Confidentiality-Only authenticated users based on their privileges should be able to access and interpret the data.<br /></div></li><li><div>Integrity - Data being communicated is assured to be free from any type of modification between the end points (sender and receiver).<br /></div></li><li><div>Non-repudiation- will ensure that neither the sender nor the receiver can falsely deny that they have sent certain data.<br /></div></li><li><div>Service Reliability- Since the systems usually get attacked by intruder, which may affect it availability. The IT system should be robust enough to provide a way to grant their users the quality of service they expect.<br /></div></li></ul><p>Most of the mobile middleware’s available in the market provides the secure connectivity between handheld and backend server that supports HTTPS connection. The OMA device management specification suggests the use of client credentials (ID, Password and nonce) and server credential to confirm the authenticity and integrity of data being exchanged. Additional encryption algorithms (DES, AES or RC4) could be used to secure the data between sender and receiver by using either symmetric or asymmetric encryption. However these techniques slow down the enterprise application performance and balance has to be struck between security and usability.</p><br /><p>The enterprise should ensure the proper end user registration and enrollment procedure to allow access to enterprise services. The end-users need to initially authenticate through a self-service registration web portal using their username and password credentials. Once authenticated, users are provisioned for enterprise application and are provided with a pin code that is used during the download of the enterprise application from the device browser. In addition, the firewall and IDP (intrusion detection and prevention) system can be used to tackle the security threats.</p><br /><p>Enterprises must develop a security strategy and build policy that reflects this strategy. Security must be the responsibility of the entire user community and appropriate communication needs to be put in place to emphasize its importance. The expansion of mobile devices such as PDA’s, phones, and converged devices into the enterprise present several challenges to IT managers regarding security and manageability. A balance of security and usability must be reached considering the limited processing power of handheld devices.</p>P Darshanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12639788338623912471noreply@blogger.com0