Archive for the ‘Mobile’ Category
Tuesday, April 9th, 2013
 Organizations seeking to maximize the economic and productivity benefits made possible by mobile technologies must look beyond simply which devices are used and re-examine business processes and workforce needs, new research released today by CompTIA concludes.
“Rather than focus on the device level, companies will need to assess the specific needs of their workforce and match the device,” said Seth Robinson , director, technology analysis, CompTIA.
“For maximum benefit, workflow changes will need to be considered prior to evaluating workforce needs. But this is not a trivial matter and companies will need to weigh the cost of operational disruption and change management against the potential advantages.”
At this point, most companies are not taking these steps, according to CompTIA’s Second Annual Trends in Enterprise Mobilitystudy. Most of the current activity revolves around devices – provisioning, securing and allowing access to existing systems.
The majority of companies in the CompTIA study allow their employees to bring their own mobile devices to work. The most popular option is to have a mix of corporate-liable and individual-liable devices (58 percent). A full third of companies still strictly mandate which devices can be used for work purposes and do not allow any type of employee-provided device. For another 8 percent of firms, employees provide everything.
As employees bring their own mobile device into the workplace, they also want to bring their own applications and services. As a result, the field of Mobile Device Management (MDM) is rapidly shifting to include Mobile Application Management (MAM).
Companies are pursuing a range of solutions, including exploring/implementing virtual desktops (49 percent), building custom mobile apps for business systems (29 percent) and moving business applications to a cloud model that can be accessed through a browser (28 percent).
Many Parts to Mobile Ecosystem
From an enterprise perspective, the mobile ecosystem – in conjunction with cloud offerings – presents a significant shift. Rather than having tight control over the entire experience, IT architects now must contend with devices that often serve dual purposes and connect to third-party systems. The accompanying chart illustrates this challenge.
This leads to many questions:
- Who is in charge of the physical device?
- Who controls the software on the device (including the OS?)
- Who controls the way the device connects?
- How secure are the backend systems that are accessed through mobile apps?
CompTIA’s Second Annual Trends in Enterprise Mobility study is based on an online survey of 502 IT and business executives inthe United States during February 2013. The full report is available at no cost to CompTIA members. Visit CompTIA.org or contactresearch@comptia.org for details.
Tags: benefits, BYOD, changes needed, CompTIA, mobility
Posted in Best Practices, Mobile, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Thursday, April 4th, 2013
 Mobile users now account for one-fifth of all traffic — up from 1.6 percent in 2010 — while desktop traffic has decreased, according to The Content Standard. Seventy-seven percent of that traffic comes from Apple devices, but Android (16 percent) is quickly growing.
Email is no longer the dominant platform for sharing content. While it once accounted for 93 percent of content sharing in 2010, it dropped all the way to 53 percent as of February 2013.
This is due to the improved communication and interaction between brands and consumers through social media, reducing the impact of mass mailing.
“The communication is increasingly two-way and spamming is no longer tolerated,” says Uberflip CEO Yoav Schwartz .
Video another big change
Another big change is that 22 percent of users now incorporate video into their digital content, up from 6 percent three years ago.
This report points to a clear direction for the future of content marketing. First, it cements the basic rule that every brand needs a social media presence. The decline in email use is a reflection of the powerful user networks created by Twitter and Facebook and how easy they make content sharing.
It also reinforces recent arguments for brands to strengthen their mobile presence and increase video content. Look for content marketers to start making full use of Google’s new “Full Value of Mobile” calculator, which is guaranteed to evolve with increased use and data.
The study also emphasizes the need to keep a finger on the tech industry’s pulse — after all, the landscape needs only three years to change.
Here’s an infographic detailing the report’s findings:
Tags: digital content, infographic, mobile, video
Posted in infographic, Internet/New Media, Marketing, Mobile | No Comments »
Monday, April 1st, 2013
 A new study of over 1,400 consumers, from market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey, finds that while one-half of smartphone owners are familiar with mobile wallets; many who are familiar have reservations about adopting.
The research also reveals that beyond allaying security concerns, mobile wallet providers must do more to articulate the advantages of the technology over more traditional forms of payment. Additional insights include:
Mobile wallet providers who guarantee fraud and theft protection are well positioned to drive adoption among mainstream consumers—Concerns over security remain a significant barrier to adoption, but the promise of 100% fraud protection substantially increases willingness to adopt.
Notably, these security-conscious smartphone users are the most likely to identify banks and credit card companies as their preferred mobile wallet provider.
Ways to gain an advantage
Customers find the benefits of location-based services appealing, but privacy and battery life remain concerns. Respondents indicate location-based services that facilitate information gathering, like showrooming, drive adoption, but too many alerts and offers are unappealing. Providers willing to allow users to customize the number and type of offers they receive may have an advantage.
While banks and credit card companies are the clear choice for the security conscious, opportunities exist for other providers.
Compelling attributes
Convenience, features, and usability are compelling attributes for many current and prospective mobile wallet users; while banks win on security, the feature-conscious prefer tech giants—with Amazon and Google topping the list as their preferred mobile wallet provider. For those who value convenience, credit card companies hold the advantage.
“These findings reveal that consumers are still in the early stages of understanding the uses and benefits of mobile wallets—there remain many elements (players, features, positioning, etc.) that will evolve over the next 12 to 18 months,” says Jim Garrity, SVP of Chadwick Martin Bailey’s Financial Services practice.
“With security concerns a key hurdle to adoption, banks are well-positioned as trusted providers of secure financial services, but this window of opportunity won’t remain open for very long. Consumers already have the technology at their fingertips; and as familiarity increases, other entrants are proving that they are secure, reliable, and offer clear advantages that drive adoption.”
Tags: adoption, banking, financial services, fraud, mobile wallets, Security, theft
Posted in Mobile, Security, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech life/Culture, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Monday, April 1st, 2013
 What is the most important thing you want from your wireless service provider? Cost? Reliability? Speed?
In a recent survey of U.S. consumers, iGR questioned over 1,000 wireless subscribers about their current use of mobile phones and wireless technologies, and specifically inquired about their service provider, their wireless data and voice service experience, and what improvements they would like to see in their wireless service.
iGR found that cost of service and voice network quality are the factors consumers consider most when rating their operator.
However, iGR also found that the quality and speed of the data service is rapidly becoming as important as the quality of the voice service.
The number of U.S. consumers who considered the speed of the data service when rating their wireless service increased 29 percent from September 2012 to March 2013.
“In this survey, iGR used a net promoter score as a way to rate the wireless service providers,” said Iain Gillott, president and founder of iGR, a market research consultancy focused on the wireless and mobile industry.
“Through this method, we found that there is a wide range of consumer satisfaction with providers and that consumers consider cost, voice service, and increasingly, data service when determining this score.”
Tags: cost, iGR survey, speed, wireless service
Posted in Internet/New Media, Mobile, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Friday, March 29th, 2013
 Never mind talking: For more than half of all mobile device users, the number one function via their internet browser is search.
In the past nine months, the total number of visitors to search navigation sites conducted via mobile devices has jumped by more than 25%, with local searches playing a particularly important role – nearly 86 million people now seek local business information on their mobile phones in the United States alone.
More than half of those who conduct local business searches said they use mobile phones for searching because they are on the move. In fact, 56% of those who use local search sites primarily for local business information use these sites on a weekly basis across all devices.
Tip of the iceberg
That is just the tip of the iceberg uncovered in the Neustar Localeze and 15miles Sixth Annual comScore Local Search Usage Study, which analyzes a target sample of more than 3,000 users of local business Internet search.
“What we can clearly see is that the local search market is maturing – what we previously described as a Social, Local and Mobile (SoLoMo) revolution is now embedded in consumer behavior,” said Jeff Beard, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Neustar Localeze.
“Tablet adoption is growing at a blistering pace: It took smartphones nearly a decade to reach 40 million users, while that number was crossed only two years after the iPad arrived. This market is set to keep growing, and businesses need to fundamentally rethink the way local customers are going to find them.”
Mobile and Tablet Searchers Continue to Sky-rocket:
 The study demonstrates that the total number of U.S. searchers on mobile phones grew steadily last year – from 90.1 million mobile phone visitors to search/navigation sites or apps in March 2012 to 113.1 million in December 2012.
Tablets also grew as a source for online searches, with 19% growth between April 2012 and December 2012. Both mobile phone and tablet searchers find accuracy of information to be more important than depth of content.
However, tablet searchers are placing more importance on depth of content over time, while mobile phone searchers are placing less importance on this measure. Additionally, mobile phone searchers are more likely to cite maps, driving directions and distance as key information, while tablet searchers are more likely to find consumer reviews and online promotions most helpful.
Successful local business searches conducted via mobile phones are most likely to result in an in-store visit when compared to the outcomes of searches conducted on other devices.
Online mobile phone and tablet searchers, however, are more likely to continue searching and conduct multiple searches than PC/laptop users. Even more significantly, local business searchers using a mobile phone or tablet have a 78% and 77% likelihood, respectively, to make a purchase as a result of their last search, with tablet searchers skewing toward more expensive purchases.
Search via Apps is on the Rise – Facebook and Google Maps Dominate:
 The study also offers a telling glimpse into other current trends, from application usage to social media. Application-based local search nearly doubled in just the past two years, significantly outpacing the SMS and browser markets.
More specifically, of the mobile phone searchers who said they use applications to search for local businesses, 35% use Google Maps. Finally, turning to social media, 92% of those who searched for local business information on social networking sites from all devices used Facebook for that purpose in 2012.
Here’s an infographic detailing some of the study findings:
What are Consumers Searching for?
There are also clear patterns in the choice of local search categories. The healthcare industry in particular needs to take note: pharmacies lead the pack with 86% of consumers looking for a specific pharmacy, while doctors and hospitals rank second with 75%. Banking and finance are not far behind (69%), followed by restaurants (65%). In fact, 23% of those surveyed said the last local business they searched was a restaurant.
“The greatest impact of the Internet is to offer access to information on a global scale, yet it’s equally important in driving business at the neighborhood level,” said Gregg Stewart, President, 15miles. “Consumers now expect accurate, easy-to-absorb information on local businesses on a variety of computing platforms, and those companies that can adapt to this new world have the most to gain.”
For more information on the survey, click here.
Tags: facebook, functions, Google, local business search, Maps, mobile, navigation sites
Posted in Google, infographic, Internet/New Media, Mobile, Tech life/Culture | No Comments »
Thursday, March 28th, 2013
 Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $3.8 trillion in 2013, a 4.1 percent increase from 2012 spending of $3.6 trillion, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc.
Social, mobile and cloud and information trends are reshaping spending across the business and consumer landscape, the report says.
The Gartner Worldwide IT Spending Forecast is the leading indicator of major technology trends across the hardware, software, IT services and telecom markets.
For more than a decade, global IT and business executives have been using these highly anticipated quarterly reports to recognize market opportunities and challenges, and base their critical business decisions on proven methodologies rather than guesswork.
Shocks should be short-lived
“Although the United States did avoid the fiscal cliff, the subsequent sequestration, compounded by the rise of Cyprus’ debt burden, seems to have netted out any benefit, and the fragile business and consumer sentiment throughout much of the world continues,” said Richard Gordon, managing vice president at Gartner.
“However, the new shocks are expected to be short-lived, and while they may cause some pauses in discretionary spending along the way, strategic IT initiatives will continue.”
Worldwide devices spending (which includes PCs, tablets, mobile phones and printers) is forecast to reach $718 billion in 2013, up 7.9 percent from 2012 (see Table 1). Despite flat spending on PCs and a modest decline in spending on printers, a short-term boost to spending on premium mobile phones has driven an upward revision in the devices sector growth for 2013 from Gartner’s previous forecast of 6.3 percent.
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Table 1. Worldwide IT Spending Forecast (Billions of U.S. Dollars) |
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2012
Spending |
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2012
Growth (%) |
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2013
Spending |
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2013
Growth (%) |
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2014
Spending |
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2014
Growth (%) |
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| Devices |
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665 |
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9.0 |
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718 |
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7.9 |
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758 |
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5.7 |
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| Data Center Systems |
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141 |
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1.9 |
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146 |
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3.7 |
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152 |
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4.0 |
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| Enterprise Software |
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279 |
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3.5 |
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297 |
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6.4 |
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316 |
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6.7 |
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| IT Services |
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878 |
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1.5 |
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918 |
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4.5 |
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963 |
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4.9 |
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| Telecom Services |
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1,655 |
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-0.4 |
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1,688 |
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2.0 |
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1,728 |
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2.4 |
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| Overall IT |
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3,618 |
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2.1 |
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3,766 |
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4.1 |
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3,917 |
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4.0 |
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| Source: Gartner (March 2013) |
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Calm ocean hides turbulent currents underneath
 “The global steady growth rates are a calm ocean that hides turbulent currents beneath,” said John Lovelock, research vice president at Gartner.
“The Nexus of Forces — social, mobile, cloud and information — are reshaping spending patterns across all of the IT sectors that Gartner forecasts. Consumers and enterprises will continue to purchase a mix of IT products and services; nothing is going away completely.
However, the ratio of this mix is changing dramatically and there are clear winners and losers over the next three to five years, as we see more of a transition from PCs to mobile phones, from servers to storage, from licensed software to cloud, or the shift in voice and data connections from fixed to mobile.”
Data center spending to grow
 Inside Facebook’s air-cooled data center in Forest City, NC. The outlook for 2013 for data center systems spending is forecast to grow 3.7 percent in 2013, down 0.7 percent from Gartner’s previous forecast. This reduction is largely due to cuts to the near-term forecast for spending on external storage and the enterprise in the economically troubled EMEA region.
Worldwide enterprise software spending is forecast to total $297 billion in 2013, a 6.4 percent increase from 2012.
Although the growth for this segment remains unchanged from Gartner’s previous forecast, this belies significant changes at a market level, as stronger growth expectations for database management systems (DBMS), data integration tools and supply chain management compensate for lower growth expectations for IT operations management and operating systems software.
While the outlook for IT services remains relatively unchanged since last quarter, continued hesitation among buyers is fostering hypercompetition and cost pressure in mature IT outsourcing (ITO) segments and reallocation of budget away from new projects in consulting and implementation.
The global telecom services market continues to be the largest IT spending market and will remain roughly flat over the new several years, with declining spending on voice services counterbalanced by strong growth in spending on mobile data services.
Tags: 2013, cloud, Gartner, growth, information, IT spending, mobile, social
Posted in Cloud, IT, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 27th, 2013
 Mobile app downloads fell in February as the app economy returned to a steadier, more normal after-holiday level. User acquisition costs also fell.
The Fiksu Cost per Loyal User Index continued its downward trajectory in February, decreasing 17 percent, or 27 cents, to $1.29, from January’s $1.56.
February presented a bargain period for mobile marketers who held back on holiday advertising, preferring instead to spread out their spending over several months to maximize impact.
The “new normal”
The Fiksu App Store Competitive Index (which measures the average aggregate daily download volume of the top 200 free U.S. iPhone apps) dropped 13 percent, or 810,000 downloads each day, to 5.20 million daily downloads in February, from January’s 6.01 million.
“On the heels of a record-shattering holiday season, February presented a more consistent ‘normalized’ and valuable landscape for mobile app marketers,” said Micah Adler , CEO, Fiksu.
“In the absence of major events or device launches during the month, the February Indexes provide early indication of what we can expect the ‘new normal’ to be for marketers this year.”
Tags: 2013, app downloads, February, Fiksu index, user acquisition costs
Posted in IT, Mobile, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 26th, 2013
Mobile apps now represent 84 percent of traffic, up from 45 percent two years ago, according to March MobileSTAT from Jumptap.
Two factors contribute to this rise: consumer preference for speed and browse-ability of apps, and the explosion of apps available. The time consumers spend with apps each day has already surpassed the time they spend with PCs online.
As a result, advertisers are shifting budgets to play catch up to consumers who have already dramatically shifted their content consumption to mobile.
“Consumer mobile media consumption has increased across the board, and with the rise of tablet ownership, we’ll see time spent continue to grow,” said Matt Duffy, VP of Marketing at Jumptap. “The next step for advertisers is to ensure that they are delivering a holistic message, regardless of medium, and targeting audiences with relevant messaging from screen to screen.”
March MobileSTAT Findings:
- Galaxy Tab Shines; Kindle Fire Loses Glow: Data from the Jumptap network show that iPad still sits atop the tablet market with 57 percent share. While Apple won’t lose its top position anytime soon, Jumptap predicts that Samsung – with 16 percent share – will narrow the gap this year, riding the success of its Galaxy line.
- Amazon Kindle Fire, which has lost some of its share since it burst onto the scene, will continue to struggle against the iPad mini and other mini-tablet competitors.
- Advertisers looking to reach consumers as they multi-screen during the NCAA tourney and other events should include Samsung and Amazon tablets in the mix, which represent one-third of the U.S. tablet audience.
- College Basketball Fans MAD for iPod Touch: Although iPhone is the number one smartphone among U.S. mobile customers, the top devices of choice for March Madness fans are the iPod Touch (12 percent of mobile traffic) and Samsung Galaxy 3 (9 percent of mobile traffic). Leveraging data from third-party partners in its Audience+ Insights Platform, Jumptap finds that March Madness fans skew slightly younger and less affluent than the overall mobile population – characteristics that are consistent with the demographics of iPod Touch users. Advertisers looking to reach March Madness spectators should include the iPod Touch and Samsung Galaxy S 3 in their media mix this season.
 March Madness Campaign Slam Dunk for National Food Chain: In 2012, a national restaurant chain tasked Jumptap to help it engage with college students and drive foot traffic to key store locations during the NCAA tournament. By leveraging Jumptap’s third-party data targeting, the campaign saw spikes during key points early in the tournament, and had an overall click-through rate of 160 percent above industry benchmarks.
MobileSTAT (Simple Targeting & Audience Trends) is a monthly glance into targeting and audience trends in mobile advertising through Jumptap’s network of over 46 billion impressions, 171 million U.S. users and 51,000 apps and websites. MobileSTAT contains analysis of dozens of terabytes of log data, powered by the scalable, efficient Jumptap technology. To download the full Jumptap MobileSTAT, click here.
Tags: advertising, app-happy, iPod Touch, Jumptap, Kindle Fire, March Madness, mobile apps, Samsung, tablets
Posted in Digital Devices, Internet/New Media, Mobile, Tech life/Culture | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 26th, 2013
 Near field communications is likely to become much more prominent in the near future. The number of NFC-enabled devices in use will exceed 500 million in 2014, according to a new report.
ABI Research’s “NFC Devices, Strategies, and Form Factors” calculated that a minimum of 285 million mobile and consumer electronics devices will ship in 2013 as OEMs continue to drive the market for NFC as mobile operators struggle to gain control and bring their services to market.
Mobile manufacturers moved ahead with NFC in 2012 whilst MNOs were still largely focused on payments, where they have struggled to deliver tangible services. This has allowed predominantly Android OEMs to seize the initiative as they have delivered new services and features for connecting devices, sharing data and content, picking up information, and utilizing tags.
“NFC has reached the point of no return,” commented John Devlin, practice director. “It all hinged on handsets; and next year we will see half-a-billion devices in the hands of consumers as it becomes more widely integrated. Up until this point banks and other service partners were holding back from committing to MNOs and it has always surprised me that they did not drive this forward themselves and invest to take charge of this market’s potential.”
Brands taking different paths toward NFC
Companies such as Blackberry and Samsung have developed and implemented clear strategies around NFC. They are differentiating themselves as they look to generate new service-based revenue streams utilizing NFC. Other brands, such as LG and Sony, are taking a different path as they horizontally integrate NFC across their broad product portfolios.
“Put simply the OEMs have innovated and made use of the simple abilities that NFC offers to increase interaction of people, devices, and their immediate environment. This is not just in mobile; tablets, PCs and peripherals, speaker docks, televisions, cameras, gaming and domestic appliances are all increasingly incorporating NFC,” Devlin added.
These findings are part of ABI Research’s NFC Research Service (http://www.abiresearch.com/research/service/nfc/).
Tags: banks, Blackberry, MNOs, NFC, OEMs, Samsung
Posted in Digital Devices, Mobile, smartphones, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 20th, 2013
The number of mobile phones worldwide is expected to exceed the world’s population by 2014, with overall penetration rates reaching 96 percent globally by the end of this year.
Consistent with the widespread adoption of mobile devices, Kroll Ontrack, data recovery and ediscovery software firm, saw a 55 percent increase in mobile device recoveries for phones and tablets from 2010 to 2011, and a 161 percent increase from 2011 to 2012.
With more and more people storing valuable personal and business data on their mobile devices, there is no doubt the demand for recovery when something goes wrong will continue to climb.
“For mobile devices, physical damage is the most common cause of data loss we see, representing about two-thirds of data recovery cases,” said Todd Johnson, vice president of operations, Kroll Ontrack.
“Inherent in their purpose, mobile devices are simply on the go, and therefore more susceptible to human error, including drops, which can cause electronic failure, and water damage. The other third are from logical failures, such as accidentally deleted files, corrupt software, password lockout and OS upgrade issues.”
Mobile device failure breakdown
Ontrack Data Recovery engineers report that in 2012, for recovery resulting from physical failure, 31 percent of cases were electronics-related physical damage, 23 percent were the result of water or moisture damage and seven percent were related to damage to the exterior of the device.
For recovery resulting from logical failure, 26 percent were the result of deleted files, seven percent were software corruption and six percent were cases of password lockout.
Across all types of recovery scenarios, Kroll Ontrack has found that data loss incidents are platform independent and occur within iOS, Android, and Windows devices.
Mobile device recovery process
“In most cases, recovery can be attained by way of physical repair or bypassing a corrupted OS,” said Greg Olson, senior vice president of data storage and recoveries, Kroll Ontrack. “Once repair or OS bypass is successful, Kroll Ontrack specialized software tools are then used to target critical files and provide customers with comprehensive evaluations and detailed file reports of the files that can be recovered.”
Specifically, in instances of physical damage, Ontrack Data Recovery engineers open the device within a cleanroom environment and assess the physical condition of the circuit boards and parts through a comprehensive diagnostic process.
The mobile device’s printed circuit board (PCB) parts are examined and repaired as needed to get the device to a state where the data can be read. When there is logical failure, such as a corrupt operating system or failed OS update, engineers use specialized software to bypass the identified issue and then access and extract the data.
“When my son dove into a pool with his iPhone in his pocket, he lost hundreds of contacts and two years’ worth of photos that were very important to our family,” said James Smith.
“We had never made a backup of his phone and thought the data was forever lost. With Kroll Ontrack’s expertise in mobile phone recoveries, all his data was recovered and restored to his new phone for a very reasonable price and we backed up the information to our family computer.”
Tips for handling data loss
The most requested data to be recovered from mobile devices are photos/videos and contacts, followed by notes and text messages. To promote the best chance of success in recovering this valuable data, Kroll Ontrack suggests the following:
- Time is of the essence. Power off the mobile device immediately and get it to a reputable data recovery provider. The longer you wait, the more likely critical data will be overwritten (deleted files) or the drive will corrode (physical damage such as water).
- Backup, backup, backup. Before disaster strikes, back-up your data to another device, such as a laptop, the cloud or an external drive. If you get an operating system error, this backup is often the saving grace in the recovery process.
- Know what you want. The key to recovering data quickly is to know what data to target. Communicate to your data recovery provider what data is most critical to better ensure a timely and accurate recovery.
Tags: backup, data loss, data recovery, mobile phones, tips
Posted in Best Practices, Digital Devices, Mobile, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 20th, 2013
More than 30 percent of developers are spending more time developing mobile and cloud-based applications, according to data from a new joint study from Dr. Dobb’s and Forrester Research.
TheGlobal Developer Technographics Survey, Q3 2012 analyzes results from a survey of more than 500 platform-agnostic, programming-language-independent developers from Dr. Dobb’s audience base that collectively represent the full software development community.
Respondents were queried about the types of applications they are writing and how they are writing them and about the state of application development.
The survey turned up trends that could have major implications:
- 35% of developers surveyed are spending more time developing mobile and cloud-based apps. This growing number shows that mobile and cloud are rapidly getting traction in all businesses and that developers are increasingly being asked to adapt their software to new client front ends and cloud back ends. This trend demonstrates how much IT will change in the future — with both ends of its processing pipeline shifting to new platforms — and how organizations’ reliance on developers will only increase.
- 84% of developers use open source software (OSS) products. The greatest adoption rate was in infrastructure, such as operating systems (56%), web servers (52%), and relational databases (47%). Development tools were the next largest categories, with IDEs (41%), SCM (33%), and build tools (22%) being the most popular categories.
- Surprisingly, open-source NoSQL databases (such as Apache Hadoop and MongoDB) were used by 13% of developers, suggesting that the NoSQL phenomenon is real and not just hype. With nearly one in seven developers currently using NoSQL, it’s likely to become a standard part of enterprise software development going forward.
- 75% of developers program outside of their work responsibilities. This not only proves that programmers have a genuine love for programming, but indicates that their motivation for programming on their own time is to explore new technologies.
- Developers must continually learn about cutting-edge technologies and the new ways to use existing products because the rate of change in their industry continues at a rapid pace.
Tags: apps, cloud, developers, Dr. Dobb's, IT, mobile
Posted in Cloud, IT, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech life/Culture, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Friday, March 15th, 2013
 Discounts are the most important reason consumers sign up receiving brand emails and the number of people reading and responding to them on mobile devices is increasing, according to the 2013 Consumer Views of Email Marketing report: www.bluehornet.com/ConsumerViews2013.
 BlueHornet Networks’ 2013 Consumer Views of Email Marketing report revealed that in 2013 consumers are likely to simply delete an email if it doesn’t display properly on a mobile device, up more than 10% over 2012. (Graphic: BlueHornet Networks) Among the key survey findings:
- Email-enabled mobile device usage increased by eight percent since 2012, and 43 percent of consumers say they read emails most often on a mobile device.
- Sixty-three percent of consumers say they may buy from an email read on a mobile device, while the number who may unsubscribe due to poor mobile display exceeds 30 percent (graph 1).
- Nearly 84 percent of consumers report discounts as the most important reason for signing up to receive emails and 74.2 percent will redeem a discount by showing their mobile device to a cashier.
- Nearly 70 percent of consumers open emails from familiar brands whose products they already consume.
- In 2013, seven percent more consumers will consider opting down instead of unsubscribing when given the choice compared to 2012.
In addition to analyzing 2013 survey results, the report includes year-over-year comparisons of consumer research conducted by BlueHornet in 2012.
“By surveying similar demographic groups and asking several of the same questions each year, we’ve been able to identify shifts in how consumers view email marketing,” said Susan Tull, vice president of marketing for BlueHornet.
To discuss the survey results in more detail, BlueHornet will host a live webinar on Thursday, Mar. 21, at 10:00 a.m. PDT/ 1:00 p.m. EDT. The webinar will showcase video interviews with consumers and highlight examples from retail email programs that support key takeaways and recommendations. Register atwww.bluehornet.com/ConsumerViews2013Webinar.
Tags: consumer attitudes, email, Report
Posted in Marketing, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Friday, March 15th, 2013
 WeatherBug for Android won the 2013 Appy Award for Best Weather App at an awards ceremony held during the SXSW Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas.
The annual Appy Awards are produced by MediaPost Communications — a media, advertising and marketing news and events publishing company based in New York.
The awards aim to acknowledge extraordinary mobile, social or Web-based applications that are carefully chosen by MediaPost’s Executive Jury among thousands of entrants in all imaginable categories.
WeatherBug for Android previously received the 2011 Appy Award for Best Weather App.
WeatherBug for Android uses real-time neighborhood-level weather information to create better forecasts and provide the fastest and most targeted mobile warnings for where people live and work.
Powered by Earth Networks, the operator of the largest weather monitoring and lightning detection networks, WeatherBug for Android lets users Know Before with live weather data – in addition to hourly and extended forecast information for favorite locations – and customized weather tools to keep mobile users informed and alerted.
According to the Appy jury, WeatherBug for Android “presents just about everything one could want or need to know about current and forecasted weather” while allowing users to “glide easily from a look at the temperature, wind speed and a five-day forecast to a map showing precipitation and on to a deeper dive into what’s to come.”
More than 125,000 reviewers have rated WeatherBug 5 out of 5 stars on Google Play, and over 50,000 have given the app a four-star rating.
WeatherBug for Android (ad supported) is available at no cost on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aws.android.
WeatherBug Elite for Android (without ads) is available for $1.99 on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aws.android.elite.
Tags: 2013, Android, Appy award, WeaatherBug
Posted in IT, Mobile, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Friday, March 15th, 2013
Mobile business intelligence (BI) has been around for at least a couple decades, but has been slow to gain traction mainly due to technology limitations.
However, bandwidth expansion and the arrival of new mobile device technologies is turning IT consumerization into a very real trend, one that includes mobile BI.
Where is the mobile BI market today? Where is it headed? Which vendors have pulled ahead of the pack due to innovative product development strategies?
According to a new study, the global mobile business intelligence market is set to grow at 27.47% CAGR through 2016.
One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increasing adoption of smartphones and tablets.
The Global Mobile Business Intelligence market has also been witnessing the increasing usage of mobile business intelligence for sales activity. However, the incompatibility of mobile business intelligence applications with the mobile devices could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.
The report, “Global Mobile Business Intelligence Market 2012-2016″ discusses market landscape and growth prospects. It also provides profiles of the key vendors operating in this market including: IBM Corp., Information Builders Inc., MicroStrategy Inc., Qlik Tech Inc., and SAP AG.
Learn more and request free sample pages from the full report at http://www.giiresearch.com/report/infi263279-global-mobile-business-intelligence-market.html
According to “Solutions Guide: Mobile Business Intelligence“, mobile appears to be riding an adoption wave aided by the perfect confluence of three underlying factors: a readily available selection of high-performance mobile devices, network infrastructure that allows for rapid sending and receiving of data, and the increasing need for businesses to quickly respond to changes to stay competitive.
Tags: DI, Mobile business intelligence market, Ovum, Report
Posted in Analytics, Mobile, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Thursday, March 14th, 2013
 In an era of frequent and seamless device upgrades, it’s easy to ditch an old handset and move on to the next. However, chances are the old device has personal information lingering on it, putting consumers at a greater risk of identity theft.
“Think about all the personal data stored on your phone: text messages, emails, even intimate photos of you or your significant other,” said Tony Anscombe, senior security evangelist at AVG.
“Consumers are now carrying more and more personal information on their devices, and AVG wants to ensure everyone is well equipped to wipe out that data when the time comes. Your identity is essentially yours to lose, so take every precaution possible to stay safe.”
While the factory reset button seems like the logical place to start, numerous industry and security experts report that even after consumers carry out this exercise, personal information often remains.
The following tips will help ensure private information is erased:
- Remove the memory and SIM cards. Both store personal data and are best kept safe in your possession or destroyed.
- Use a data removal application to ensure data really is deleted. Android users can use AVG AntiVirus Free, for example. For other platforms there is a list of apps available on the CTIA web site. Personally, we installed this on our Android tablet when we first fired it up and it seems to have been effective so far.
- Once the data is deleted, then run a factory reset. Instructions can be found on manufacturers’ or carriers’ websites.
- If you are going to simply throw away your mobile phone, older handsets can contain toxic materials. Consult your local authority or drop it off at a mobile phone retailer, where they will be able to dispose of it correctly. Additionally, there are specialist companies that will take it apart and recycle each component.
- Of course, recycling or handing it on for use is a good option; there are many charities and organizations that redistribute old phones and will even send you a pre-paid postage box to send it in. Just search on the Internet for the many options!
Tags: AVG, mobile devices, privacy, removing data, Security, tips
Posted in Best Practices, Mobile, Security, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 13th, 2013
 Mobile promotions, which persuade shoppers to travel farther within a store, can significantly increase unplanned spending.
So says a recent study published by theAmerican Marketing Association, Professor Sam Hui of the NYU Stern School of Business and co-authors Jeffrey Inman at theUniversity of Pittsburgh’s Katz Graduate School of Business, Yanliu Huang at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business and Jacob Suher at the University of Texas at Austin
Retailers have long held the belief that encouraging customers to travel more of the store will lead to increased purchases. One age-old example is how supermarkets stock milk at the rear of the store. Until now, that assumption has never been formally tested. In the first study of its kind, Professor Hui and his co-authors used radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking to collect in-store consumer path data and conducted a field experiment to examine the effect of in-store travel on unplanned spending.
They found:
- On average, shoppers travel approximately 1,400 feet in a grocery store.
- Traveling an additional 55 feet in the store generates around $1 in additional unplanned spending.
- Simulations based on the researchers’ estimates suggest that strategically promoting three product categories via mobile promotion may increase unplanned spending by more than 16 percent.
- The research team conducted a field experiment to assess the effectiveness of mobile promotions and found that a coupon that requires shoppers to travel farther from their planned path results in a substantial increase in unplanned spending ($21.29) versus a coupon for a product near their planned path ($13.83).
The paper entitled, “The Effect of In-store Travel Distance on Unplanned Spending: Applications to Mobile Promotion Strategies,” will appear in the March 2013 issue of the American Marketing Association’s Journal of Marketing.
So what opportunities does this create for marketers?
“As smartphones proliferate and apps, such as FourSquare and Local Response, become ubiquitous, marketers are seizing this moment to enhance their location-based mobile marketing strategies,” explains Professor Inman. “Retailers have the ability to target their promotions in ways that weren’t possible before, and our study provides a roadmap for mobile marketers who seek to increase unplanned spending in stores,” adds Professor Hui.
Tags: in-store travel, mobile marketing, unplanned spending
Posted in Marketing, Mobile, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Monday, March 11th, 2013
The mobile payment industry is growing, offering revenue generating solutions throughout the market and potentially generation $1 trillion in global transactions by 2015, according to the latest report fromHeavy Reading Mobile Networks Insider, a subscription research service.
No Idle Chatter: Payments Add Value to Mobile Ecosystem examines the mobile payments market, analyzing the most lucrative verticals in mobile payments, the drivers in the market and challenges the industry faces.
From cool to disruptive
“Mobile payments have gone from being a cool-to-talk-about concept to a disruptive technology in a relatively short time frame,” says Denise Culver , research analyst with Heavy Reading Mobile Networks Insider and author of the report.
“MNOs and payment vendors should be looking at different ways to drive demand for mobile payments, which have the potential to create significant revenue throughout the entire mobile ecosystem.”
According to some statistics, the mobile payment industry is forecaste to account for as much as $1 trillion in global transactions by 2015, Culver says.
“Consumers, who already are accustomed to paying bills and buying goods online, are driving much of the move toward mobile payments. As the proliferation of mobile phones, smartphones and tablets continues, it’s only natural that those same consumers feel the desire to use those devices to make purchases,” she continues.
“The mobile technology market is quite aware of the movement, with MNOs and vendors creating several exciting technologies and partnerships to further develop mobile payments.”
Key findings of the $1,595 No Idle Chatter: Payments Add Value to Mobile Ecosystem report include the following:
- Although consumers like mobile payments, retailers will drive demand for mobile payments.
- One of the biggest drivers over the next two years will be enabling mobile payments vendors and providers to enable targeted services to users, which will improve customer service.
- The market is exploding with a complex ecosystem of stakeholders and new entrants comprised of handset manufactures, mobile network providers, retailers and consumers.
- Consolidation of solutions and a more compelling value proposition for merchants and consumers will drive growth in all markets.
- New industry partnerships will take place, in which billing providers, financial institutions and carriers team up to bring new solutions to the market.
Tags: consolidation, drivers, forecast, Heavy Reading, mobile payment industry, transactions
Posted in Mobile, Money, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Friday, March 8th, 2013
 A recent study of financial industry leaders by Bill.com showed a growing trend towards mobile financial management, with more than 66 percent of respondents now processing transactions from their devices.
In January 2013, Bill.com surveyed 510 CFOs and finance managers across multiple industries who have automated their payables and receivables process in order to better understand their usage of mobile technology for business financial transactions.
The study discovered that a majority of financial professionals are moving to conducting business via the Cloud and mobile devices.
More efficient, competitive
While many respondents only used devices to process transactions while still clinging to manual processes for cash flow management, those who had embraced the Cloud wholeheartedly and moved to mobile financial management have found themselves to be more efficient, effective and competitive.
Indeed, 44 percent of respondents said that the ability to process mobile transactions is a business requirement.
When asked what percentage of financial transactions were being conducted via their mobile devices, 30 percent of mobile users are processing more than 25 percent of their transactions on mobile devices while 11 percent are processing more than 50 percent of transactions on their mobile devices.
In contrast to past conceptions of mobility, 70 percent of respondents felt that the reliability of mobile financial transactions is good or excellent. In addition, 83 percent found mobility to be secure.
Due to this increased confidence in the security and reliability of mobile computing, almost half of the respondents stated that they wanted to expand the use of their mobile devices beyond approving transactions to sending reminders, adding notes to documents stored on the cloud and, most importantly, managing their cash flow.
No check CEOs using game-changing tech
The survey shows that 43 percent already see managing cash flow from their mobile device as important and, as the nations increasingly moves into an economy run by “No Check” CEOs, the comfort level and need for comprehensive financial solutions on mobile devices will become more and more critical.
“No Check” CEOs are a new generation using game-changing technology to replace time-consuming paper processes with fast, efficient cloud-based systems everywhere in their businesses.
These “No Check” CEOs aren’t tied to their offices, but free to manage their companies from wherever they need to be, with instant, real-time access to their business and financial data from anywhere, 24 hours a day.
Tags: cash flow management, financial industry, mobile, no check CEOs
Posted in Internet/New Media, Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports, Telecommunications | No Comments »
Friday, March 8th, 2013
More and more people are signing up for mobile broadband – a good sign for firms investing in mobile marketing.
Subscriptions to 3GPP mobile broadband technologies (HSPA and LTE) grew 50 percent in the Americas region to 274 million connections in one year ending December 2012, based on data from Informa Telecoms & Media.
“3GPP mobile broadband subscriptions grew 50 percent year-over-year to end-2012 and now account for 32 percent of all 3GPP subscriptions in the Americas,” stated Kristin Paulin, Senior Research Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.
“Although GSM still accounts for the bulk of 3GPP subscriptions in the Americas, the GSM subscription base decreased 2 percent year-over-year to end-2012. Users are actively migrating to LTE and UMTS- HSPA, which grew by 467 percent and 34 percent respectively.”
Western Hemisphere – All Americas – Year-End 2012
- 848 million 3GPP subscriptions; 81 percent market share
- 236.5 million HSPA mobile broadband subscriptions; quarterly addition of more than 13 million subscribers
- 274 million HSPA-LTE subscriptions; annual addition (12 months) of 91 million subscriptions for 50 percent annual growth
- LTE subscriptions grew from 6.6 million at year-end 2011 to 37.67 million at year-end 2012
Chris Pearson, President of 4G Americas, emphasized the importance of mobile broadband in the region with North America’s leadership position.
“The North American market has more than half of all global LTE connections with 55 percent market share at the end of 2012 and 23 commercial networks to date. LTE is opening up a wide variety of mobile applications and services in consumer and enterprise markets while operators are investing heavily in major network expansions.”
 North America – U.S. and Canada – Year-End 2012
- 195 million 3GPP subscriptions; 53 percent market share
- 160 million HSPA-LTE mobile broadband subscriptions; annual addition of 51.6 million subscriptions
- 37.6 million LTE connections; quarterly addition of 14 million LTE connections; 55 percent of global LTE connections
- 23 commercial LTE networks launched to date, including Bell Mobility and Rogers Wireless in Canada and AT&T, MetroPCS, Sprint and Verizon with affiliates in the U.S.
- 200+ million LTE connections forecast by 2017
“Latin America is coming on strong with HSPA+ and LTE deployments offering connectivity to the internet and data services to a wide portion of the region,” Pearson added.
“Tremendous investment and economic impact is being created by leading operators who have contributed significantly to broadband throughout the region.”
Tags: 2012, 3GPP, 4G, HSPA, mobile broadband, subscription growth
Posted in Mobile, Studies, surveys, reports, Tech life/Culture, Telecommunications | No Comments »
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We’re increasingly in a mobile world and Upside Learning in India says that on the job training and education offers a significant mobile opportunity.
