Kevin's Mobility News Weekly - October 28, 2010

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

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Microsoft Corp's resident visionary and departing software chief, Ray Ozzie, has urged the company to move on from its Windows and Office roots and imagine a "post-PC world" of simple, global Web devices.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69O5AN20101026

Kevin's M2M News Weekly - October 27, 2010

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

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A new smartphone app aims to bring a little peace of mind to parents this Halloween. This yearly ritual can also be a source of anxiety for parents as they let older kids traverse the dusky neighborhoods on their own.

http://www.connectedworldmag.com/latestNews.aspx?id=NEWS101026143444527

Kevin's Mobile Retailing News Weekly - October 26, 2010

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

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Retailers are hitting up consumers the way they are most likely to pay attention: with that ringing, vibrating gadget that's always close by.

http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/10/24/1768832/mobile-deals-grab-shoppers.html

Facebook and Mobile Retailing Applications

For about a month my Facebook wall was invaded by friends involved in raising money for their schools.  It seems Kohls' retail stores were running a program that would award a few schools with $500,000 each toward projects if their schools were able to get the most people to visit Kohl's website and "check in."

I most often browse Facebook from my iPhone or iPad.  By simply clicking on the Facebook link I would be sent to Kohl's website and encouraged to browse.  The browsing, however, was for a good cause.  The students, parents, families and friends all encouraged their networks of contacts to visit Kohls website and browse.  Although it got kind of old after receiving the 133rd Facebook message reminding me to visit Kohl's website to benefit the school, it was effective in getting thousands to visit.  I found the approach and program interesting. 

The Power Behind a Mobile Retailing Application


Mobile Retailing Apps
Most significant mobile applications are integrated with a powerful database application.  At the SAP TechEd conference last week SAP demonstrated an iPad business solution that considered the weather forecast in various regions as indicators of sales.  At TecEd I also met with Ed Krufka, EVP of Solution Services at Smartsoft Mobile Solutions.  He shared some of the complexity of applications he has been working on in the mobile retailing space.

These mobile applications are powered by sophisticated business intelligence solutions that are used to help sell more products to retail customers.  They use knowledge of the customer's history, buying patterns, the weather, locations etc., to change and customize the content on mobile applications.

Mobile Data Collection is a Different Breed of Mobile Application

There is a whole category of mobile applications that is easy to overlook.  It is the mobile data collection category.  Many of these solutions are project specific.  That means a large utility, contractor or government agency needs to collect data on mobile devices in the field for a project, but there is no existing databases to store this data and/or to create reports on it.

When I was the CEO of a mobile software company I was surprised by how much database work my team ended up doing.  We were a mobile applications company, but since there were no existing backend database applications to store the data, we ended up developing those as well.  Once the database was developed, our customers would often want browser access and reports.  Good development work, but it could quickly divert your focus away from mobility.

SAP Mentor John Appleby on SAP Enterprise Mobility Plus News and Thoughts

Fellow SAP Mentor John Appleby published a terrific and well thought out article summarizing his views on the current state of SAP enterprise mobility.  He works as a technical consultant in the UK for Bluefin Solutions Ltd., so has a much more technical view than I can provide.  I recommend reading it.

I do have a question that has been in the back of my mind this week.  If mobility is so important to SAP, where were all their mobility executives at SAP TechEd?  Where was John Chen, Bob Stutz, Kevin Nix, etc, which are the folks responsible for SAP enterprise mobility?  There were over 5,000 attendees.  My session on the Future of Enterprise Mobility had over 200 registrants.  It seems in hindsight, that SAP should have brought the big boys of mobility to the show.

Thursday at SAP's TechEd 2010 - Enterprise Mobility

Today (Thursday) I was able to finally get enough time to sit down in the Innovation Center with SAP folks and see demonstrations of their new enterprise mobility applications.  I saw the following applications:
  • SAP Prove - Workflow approvals (expense approvals)
  • SAP CRM Mobile
  • SAP Expense Reports
I loved the SAP Prove application because of the GUI.  It was an image of a desk with a crumpled piece of paper on it that had an expense request written on it.  Next to it were two rubber stamps.  One that said Approved, the other Rejected.  By tapping one or the other it would stamp the paper.  I loved it.  I kept stamping all of them with Reject, Reject, Reject.  I could do that all day.  What power!

Super Secure Environments and Enterprise Mobility

At SAP TechEd 2010 this week, I learned about a very interesting mobility project.  A large manufacturer is so concerned about the security of their data, that they have special requirements that all components of computers and servers be cleaned and verified as clean and secure before they are assembled.  All steps in the server manufacturing process are audited and verified as clean.

This manufacturer is concerned that a worm, or other malicious bug can be introduced to the system during the installation of software, or the manufacturing of memory or hard drives.  Wow, I have just not thought this issue through.  They point to the example of the Iranian Nuclear plant that was infected by a worm that was introduced by someone bringing in a flash drive to the secure environment.

SAP Enterprise Mobility Vendor Chooses Sybase's Unwired Platform

When SAP announced they were going to acquire Sybase, the SAP enterprise mobility market paused.  Now it is moving again and SAP's mobility partners are aligning with SAP's mobility strategy and announcing support for the Sybase Unwired Platform as this announcement today demonstrates - ClickSoftware Partners With Sybase to Deliver Best-in-Class Mobility for the Service Sector.

Here are some interesting excerpts:

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