Tech Lover 9

Ignorance is not bliss. Just ask any developer who’s been shocked to find review after review of complaints. Worse yet is when users are disgusted enough to abandon or uninstall the app — a 95 percent likelihood — but don’t feel it’s worth their time to explain why in a review or in an email to the developer.

The ideal solution would be to identify problems before they irritate enough users that an app’s reputation is irreversibly shot. The good news is there’s no shortage of tools for aggregating and analyzing that information, some of which would be difficult, time-consuming or even impossible to collect manually.

App store operators are one source of analytics tools. A recent example is Google’s beta of Mobile App Analytics, which provides information such as which device models are using your app the most. That insight can be useful because Android is highly fragmented, so developers have to decide which devices to optimize for. Mobile App Analytics also tracks usage by version — helpful for tracking the number of users who have upgraded.

Some mobile operators also provide tools. One example is AT&T’s Application Resource Optimizer (ARO), which ferrets out problems such as poor use of caching.

“According to AT&T Labs Research, nearly 20 percent of all HTTP traffic volume is redundant,” says Lisa Burks, AT&T senior product marketing manager. “Nearly all the developers we’ve talked with are surprised to learn that their mobile app is not caching properly. ARO measures this in a few ways — by looking at duplicate content, cache control, content expiration, content pre-fetching and screen rotation.”

Caching isn’t a minor issue, partly because most operators have eliminated flat-rate, unlimited-use data plans. So identifying caching problems is a way to avoid the ire of users concerned about apps using up their monthly data bucket.

“Without proper caching, content will likely be downloaded multiple times,” says Burks. “In our tests of a popular news app, it downloaded the weather 11 times in five minutes.”

Would user feedback have identified that kind of flaw? Maybe — but it’s more likely that users would simply abandon the app, leaving the developer to wonder why.

Knowing what’s going on inside your app is one thing, but it’s equally important to learn about the users who are interacting with your creation. Understanding your user demographics will help you marry the app analytics with the audience you are reaching and create an even better experience.
“With Intel AppUp, we believe it is extremely important for our developers to know as much about their users as possible,” says Alexis Crowell, product marketing manager for Intel AppUp. “We provide resources for our developers to make sure they can maintain that direct connection and garner as much insight as possible.” [Disclosure: Intel is the sponsor of this content.]

App Analytics: Time is Money

Some analytics tools can be helpful for collecting and analyzing non-technical information. For example, appFigures assesses how a price change affects downloads, identifies the day of the week when your app is downloaded most frequently and tracks similar apps’ store rankings.

“Being app developers ourselves, we started appFigures with the modest goal of automating data crunching to make interesting insights easier to spot,” says co-founder Ariel Michaeli. “Since most stores don’t provide an API for reporting, we created a proprietary syncing platform that lets us securely retrieve private data (sales, downloads, updates) directly from a developer’s account. We get public information about the app (ranks, reviews, ratings) directly from the app stores in real-time or very close to it.”

Saving time is also a big part of these tools’ appeal. After all, the less time you spend collecting data and building spreadsheets, the more time you can spend acting on those insights or developing new products.

So what can developers reasonably expect to save? “It could range from 15 minutes a day for just grabbing data from one or several stores to hours or days for actually making sense of the data,” says Michaeli. “In some cases, appFigures makes information accessible, like store-wide hourly ranks and real-time reviews, which would be impractical to get any other way.”

A similar tool, AppViz 2, is designed for iOS. “The average customer can expect to save about 30 minutes a day or more just from the daily sales analysis and chart trending,” says Dustin Bruzenak, co-founder of IdeaSwarm, the company behind AppViz 2. “If you’re doing more in-depth analysis for things like marketing spend or localization targeting, AppViz can save you days of work or more.
“For rankings and reviews, we’re talking about days and days of work to track this data for all countries. Doing that work by hand would be nearly impossible to complete in a timely manner,” says Bruzenak.

Turning App Insights Into Actions

It’s one thing for a tool to collect information and flag interesting highlights. It’s another to make suggestions about how to act on those insights. The latter can help save additional time.

For example, AT&T’s ARO suggests ways to optimize how an app manages its Internet connection. “A typical [app] startup consists of an input burst, followed by a series of bursts spread out over time,” says Burks. “This approach can dramatically slow down the application’s response time and waste energy on the device. A much better approach is to download as much content as quickly as possible when opening a connection.”

This screenshot from ARO illustrates those kinds of bursts.



“In this example, if the developer had grouped these four connections more tightly, the page would have rendered at least 15 seconds faster, and the radio would be used less, leading to battery savings,” says Burks.

The Cloud computing bandwagon continues to gain acceptance in the enterprise segment. Whether it’s SaaS (Software-as-a-Service), PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) or IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service), solutions built on the cloud have proven to be effective across multiple verticals in the enterprise.

Given the rapid explosive growth of mobile devices led by the Apple iPhone and an army of Android devices, the mobile cloud is widely being projected as the next big opportunity for the enterprise. Most employees in any enterprise are BYOD (Bring-Your-Own-Device) followers. While that facilitates the notion of anytime anywhere cloud access, it poses the following key challenges for the enterprise.

1. Security

Since enterprises deal with sensitive data, security is of paramount importance. Most cloud platforms offer robust built-in security measures as well as provide the option to enable external security via SSL and digital certificates. As for mobile devices, security remains a key concern for users as well as enterprises alike. If a device gets stolen or misplaced, crucial data may be compromised.
Thankfully, most mobile manufacturers and wireless carriers offer the option to remotely wipe mobile devices to prevent data misuse for stolen/ misplaced devices.

2. Interoperability

Enterprises which allow the BYOD policy typically need to deal with interoperability challenges. It’s reasonable to expect an assorted mix of mobile devices including iPhone, Android phones, BlackBerry and others being used by employees in an organization. Depending on the nature of cloud applications being used, interoperability can prove to be a major challenge in pulling/ pushing data across multiple devices.

3. Collaboration

Irrespective of whether it’s private, public or hybrid, a cloud-based offering facilitates collaboration among the key stakeholders in an enterprise. Whether it’s the engineering and sales teams updating a document hosted on the Cloud (such as Google Docs) or the development and IT teams coordinating deployments, the cloud’s inherent architecture is tailor made for collaboration. However, when it comes to accessing the cloud via mobile devices, collaboration can be a challenge.
For example, several mobile platforms lack sophisticated document editing tools. Similarly, there are limited platform specific options to do multi-party video conferencing with document sharing over the cloud.

4. Integrity

Enterprise users typically need to sync their devices with the cloud to maintain data integrity. While this is a routine task for small operations, it can be cumbersome for complex workflows and large datasets. If a user pulls off a document of the cloud, updates it and fails to sync it back to the cloud, it creates a discrepancy and other users who retrieve the document from the cloud will get an older version, thereby creating inconsistencies and causing a data integrity risk for the enterprise as a whole.

5. Access

It’s challenging to provide multi-platform access to private cloud networks, especially if it’s dependent on native mobile platform features. While enterprises can add a security shield to public and hybrid networks using firewalls and VPNs, providing access across complex private cloud architectures can often be daunting task.

None the less, despite those challenges, the mobile cloud paradigm is gaining momentum in the enterprise segment.

The development of a new chip which will help to manage the connectivity of cloud-based devices is to begin at Toumaz after the company was able to raise an unprecedented £11.2 million in a round of investment held this month.

Toumaz Microsystems, a smaller part of the group as a whole, will be receiving most of this money in order to fund the creation of new cloud technology which should help improve the quality of the wireless communication between cloud-based applications available on the devices of the future.

The researchers foresee that these chips will subsequently be available in a wide range of gadgets, from those dealing with home automation and wireless media streaming to platforms which are more useful in the healthcare industry and the world of commerce.

Toumaz is seeing the Far East as a potentially significant market for the cloud chips developed thanks to the investment. Part of the benefits of the creation of this chip will be its ability to operate across a multitude of standards without encountering compatibility issues, so different cloud platforms and hardware setups should be able to incorporate it with ease.

Power consumption is a real concern for any chip which could end up powering applications on portable devices and spokesperson Chris Toumazou explained that the company would be taking this into consideration, eventually providing precisely the kind of technology which the market is calling out for.

Cloud computing is becoming an increasingly important feature of mobile technology, largely because the burden of processing is taken away from the device itself and placed on a server farm where constraints like battery life are of little concern.

The result is that end users are beginning to see portable gadgets having access to far more complex capabilities than would originally be possible using the hardware at hand because the cloud allows for applications to run remotely. These are then streamed wirelessly onto the device, enabling real time interactivity.

Cloud gaming provider OnLive has recently been expanding its efforts in this area, announcing that it would be allowing tablet owners to access a full Windows operating system experience through its application.

Videos showing a Windows 7 desktop running on an Apple iPad 2, albeit with the processing and compatibility handled on the cloud, have emerged in recent weeks. The work of companies like OnLive and Toumaz will continue to have an impact on what you can achieve using a tablet PC and cloud computing.

Samsung was one of the world`s most successful mobile manufacturers in 2011 and it is hoping to repeat the its success in 2012, with a range of new smartphones slated for launch in the first half of the year.

This week it has emerged that yet another new model aimed at the lower end of the mobile market is on its way from the South Korean firm, although there are those who would argue that it is saturating the sector with entry level handsets to a degree that might turn against it in the future.

The handset in question is the Samsung Galaxy Mini 2, an incrementally improved model that will probably be getting its first public showing during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona this month.

In terms of hardware the Galaxy Mini 2 is hardly anything to write home about, packing in an 800Mhz processor, 3GBs of storage space and a three megapixel camera.

However, anyone who is looking for an Android-powered smartphone which will do all of the things you would expect from a modern handset without the associated astronomical price tag might well fall for the Galaxy Mini 2.

Anyone who embraces an outdoor lifestyle or a job which requires them to eschew the office in favor of fieldwork might prefer the Samsung Galaxy Xcover Extreme, which is essentially a more rugged alternative to the Galaxy Mini 2.

It is rated to offer IP67 protection, which means that you can keep it underwater for up to an hour at a depth of one meter and it will not suffer any harmful effects. It also has a 3.65 inch display covered with toughened glass to prevent scratches and smashing from occurring, as well as a resistance against dust, dirt, mud and all sorts of other hazards which will harangue you from day to day.
 
With an 800Mhz processor, 150MB of storage space and a screen resolution of 480×320 the Galaxy Xcover Extreme is essentially identical to the Galaxy Mini 2, albeit with less room for data and a slightly larger, if not crisper, display.

Both models will have Wi-Fi connectivity on-board along with 3G and GPS for mobile internet access and location-based services respectively.

Android Market downloads will fill up each phone with new applications and games to keep users informed and entertained whilst on the move. Meanwhile the TouchWiz interface will make the most out of the available screen area. Both models will of course be well equipped for the mobile cloud.
Although Samsung has yet to officially announce the Galaxy Mini 2 it looks like it is almost certainly on the way for MWC. Meanwhile the Galaxy Xcover Extreme is already available to buy, so if you use a service which offers cash for phones in order to trade in your old handset you could raise some funds and upgrade today rather than waiting for a few weeks.

If you own a Blackberry or an iPhone, you have probably figured the title out already. Both phones have started to cause what can only be described as office wars. It’s the question on everyone’s mind; one that could start “work-ageddon”.

The choice between taking a corporate-like Blackberry or an intuitive iPhone is one that is, although easy to make, the topic of much debate. Why is it that a choice so simple has to cause so much debate? The question is better analyzed if you look at the differences in the phone themselves.
The Corporate Image

Quite possibly the biggest reason most people buy a Blackberry is because of its corporate image. Before all of the iPhonehype and the changing times, practically anyone who was in an executive or senior position in a company had a Blackberry. We all know this to be true.

Despite the iPhone trend, it seems that the image has still carried forward. However, with cheaper, more functional and smarter phones available, who would not want to bring them to work? Although an iPhone may not have a corporate image, it does many corporate tasks faster and more efficiently than a Blackberry.

Most people claim that Blackberry is the ORIGINAL corporate phone and they will not let go of it. IPhone owners take advantage of this fact more often than needed.

Productivity

The large screen of an iPhone and its lightening fast processors are more than capable of increasing your productivity at work. Whether you are sending an email or using one of the many apps, the iPhone really does do the trick in a short amount of time.

On the other hand, the Blackberry has many features that did make it really popular. Push emails, a QWERTY keypad, easy navigation and the ability to set appointments. Sure it is a great phone. However, all of these features (and upgraded variants) are now available in an iPhone.

So you can either have a (perceived) simple and obsolete phone with a small screen and keyboard or a lightning fast phone with hundreds of features and a big screen – One BIG debate.

Security

Quite possibly the biggest reason to get a Blackberry is for its security. Whether you are using the Blackberry messenger, your lightning fast internet provided by one of the many wireless internet service providers or sending a message or an email, the security provided by a Blackberry phone is unmatched.

On the other hand, there is the iPhone. Many people think that an iPhone is not as secure as a Blackberry many digress. With the technological advancements that have been made in the 21st century (and recently), an iPhone has become safer than ever before.

When you are accessing your files from your office’s server, it is important to have maximum security. This ensures that sensitive information does not get into the wrong hands. In this regard, blackberry owners really have an advantage – one they boast about in the office.

Just More to Do

iPhone apps are one of the reasons why apple and iPhones have become such success stories. The applications available on Apple’s appstore are of a very high quality. An iPhone can be your best friend during long office hours or when you need a small break from work.

A Blackberry just does not have that capability. There are very few games for a Blackberry and none are as entertaining or as playful as those found in Apple’s appstore. This preference is why many workers prefer an iPhone instead of a blackberry.

Additionally, the many features that come jam packed into an iPhone are really starting to win many workers over. These facts are causing many problems in the workplace.Blackberry users feel as if they have no extra leverage over iPhone users in their free time – a fact reminded by iPhone users.
Unless both have identical features, it seems that the fight will rage on. Whether the argument is about the features, the “corporate” image, the messenger services, the security, the app store, the screen size or even trackballs vs. touchscreens,there is always a reason for one Blackberry user to start an office war with an iPhone user.

2011 was a defining year for cloud computing and this year is expected to be even bigger.  Cloud computing platforms such as Salesforce, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google App Engine (GAE) are fast gaining acceptance worldwide. Coupled with the rapid proliferation of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets as well as increased acceptance of social media, it is believed that the mobile-social-cloud computing triple play will take off big time in the enterprise segment this year. Let’s take a look at these triple play components from an enterprise perspective.

Mobile

Traditionally, enterprises applications focused on two primary channels – desktop and web. Till a few years back, mobile was considered “nice to have”. However, the ongoing technology revolution triggered by smartphones (Apple iPhone, Android devices) and tablets (Apple iPad) has firmly established mobile as the enabler for anytime-anywhere application access strategy. For an enterprise, mobile plays a key role in facilitation communication across geographical barriers and extending the reach of products and services beyond conventional computing devices.

Social

Social is the new buzzword for enterprises. While social networks were originally meant for personal usage, they are now widely perceived as an innovative means of connecting the key stakeholders in any organization – employees, customers and partners. Enterprise social tools such as Salesforce Chatter and Jive are being used to streamline communication, automate workflows and improve overall organizational productivity.

Cloud

Cloud adoption is steadily rising in the enterprise. Private clouds (aka Enterprise clouds) have put the safety and security concerns to rest. On the other hand, public and hybrid clouds continue to gain momentum among SMEs and the public at large. From an enterprise perspective, cloud computing offers the following key advantages as compared to traditional storage/ hosting.

• Cost Effectiveness
• Robust
• Scalability
• Flexibility
•  Maintainability

Mobile Social Cloud

So, what makes the mobile social cloud triple play an enticing proposition for the enterprise? While mobile extends the overall reach of enterprise apps enabling multi-device access thereby fulfilling the “always connected” goal, the social aspect improves the overall user experience and improves productivity. Last but not the least, the cloud aspect provides robust, scalable and low maintenance infrastructure. Combined together, these aspects facilitate organizational collaboration and promote safe information access among enterprise users.

Salesforce Chatter is one of the best examples of how enterprises can leverage the mobile social cloud triple play to improve productivity. Dubbed as the “Facebook for the Enterprise”, this enterprise social app is a part of the Salesforce cloud platform. Salesforce Chatter offers mobile apps for all leading mobile platforms thereby facilitating access from a variety of mobile devices.

The Challenge

There’s no denial that mobile social cloud forms a formidable ecosystem for the enterprise. However, it faces the following key challenges at the moment.

• Bandwidth constraints (mobile)
• Interoperability (cloud)
• Privacy & Security (social)

Mobile carriers and cloud providers are already working on these key challenges and given the technology advancements in the recent times, I strongly believe that these concerns will be laid to rest thereby triggering widespread adoption of the mobile social cloud triple play this year.

It’s no surprise that many cloud experts predict that mobile cloud computing will become increasingly important in 2012. Given the numbers of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices shipped every day, more and more users are relying on the cloud as the main driver for satisfying their computing needs, whether it is data storage, applications or infrastructure.

A simple Google search for smartphone sales in 2012 quickly reveals booming sales expectations, not least in growing markets like India and China. One of the main reasons for the growth is the availability of affordable devices across all platforms including Windows, Android and Bada.
Secondly, the application of smartphones in industry and corporate settings is supporting increased sales. Previously, the Blackberry was virtually the only accepted corporate smartphone platform. This is changing fast, as both iPhones and Android (and presumably Windows Phone) are being adopted in corporate settings.

Although security issues are still creating many concerns, perhaps especially for the Android, this trend shows no signs of slowing down. This is especially interesting as Android has already captured half of the global smartphone market share, according to Gartner. Whether this is a bomb waiting to explode is hard to determine, but it is clear that malware is growing at an exponential rate, although most users are still unaffected.

According to a Maravedis prediction, Android will continue to be the leading smartphone OS in 2012, accounting for approximately 50% of worldwide market share, followed by iPhone with 18%, Windows with 13% and Blackberry with 12%. Symbian will be largely discontinued by the end of the year.

Tablet sales display a similar picture. Sales are expected to surge in 2012. Although Apple iPad is still the market leader, it is closely being followed up by several Android designs – most notably from Samsung and Acer and increasingly the budget-friendly Amazon Android Kindle Fire.

These factors contribute heavily to the increasing mobile cloud emphasis. It is however not due only to increasing availability of smartphones and tablets, but also standards and cloud services that support remote data access, storage and apps. Prominent examples include Apple iCloud, Microsoft SkyDrive and DropBox, to name a few. Users are getting used to upload and access their data from the cloud – and increasingly from a mobile device.

In fact, “Visiongain” expect mobile cloud services to reach $45 billion in 2016. The greatest revenue contributions will come from mobile cloud apps, driven by increasing smartphone penetration, growth of 3G network coverage across the globe and deployment of 4G/LTE services. Furthermore, technology enhancements such as BONDI, OneAPI and HTML5 will further enhance the development of cloud based mobile applications.

From the predictions above it certainly seems that mobile cloud computing has a bright future ahead. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are likely to enter the domain with carrier-cloud services that are poised to compete with some of the public cloud offerings through service differentiation and network quality levels. This will further help to advance the mobile cloud in industry and corporate settings whereby customers can receive improved service levels and service guarantee.

This is the second article from my conversation with a UK-based consultant regarding mobile network operators (MNOs) and their position in the cloud computing and third-party data center market.

This article is the first of two about our conversation and is a general description of how I see MNOs currently positioned to the cloud. The second article will be somewhat more technically inclined.

Telecoms are late entering the cloud domain

Companies bring different perspectives to cloud computing, depending on their market, location, jurisdiction, and industry. In addition, the “cloud” has a very open meaning and encompasses a variety of configurations, mainly public, private and hybrid clouds.

Generally it has been said that SMEs and startups are more inclined to go for public cloud services (web servers, storage, etc.), while larger companies move more cautiously and either prefer to establish a private cloud environment or a hybrid context. When it comes to software as a service (SaaS), it‘s clear that companies of all sizes are already moving a lot of services into the cloud, including CRM (Salesforce), email and office applications (Office365, Google Apps, etc). I believe this trend will continue. These services and some others that do not entail sensitive data have been successfully delivered cross-borders and continents, without even enterprise customers necessarily knowing the exact location of data or data centers origin.

When it comes to telecoms and data centers or cloud services, I think they are in a unique but fragile situation. Many telecoms already possess large and distributed data centers that have been used for hosting and colocation services for many years. However, compared to cloud services, these have generally been expensive, closed and slow in service provisioning. Most telecoms are late in entering the cloud ecosystem that already offers agility, self-service, pay-as-you-go and other cloud characteristics. However, there is also difference between geographical markets. For example, U.S. telecom providers like Verizon have been very keen on deploying enterprise-class cloud services, especially though their acquisition of Terremarkearlier this year.

Telecoms still have some important advantages, especially through existing, and often strong, customer relationship, billing expertise and customer services. All these are important for companies wanting to deploy cloud services in one way or another. Having said this, telecoms, through their existing customer relationship, can offer various bundling of cloud and telecom and/or network services making it still more feasible for customers to retain and expand their business with their telecom service provider. Also, industries that are moving cautiously to the cloud, including financial services and the health-sector, may be more likely to trust their current provider that can guarantee network performance and proximity of data.

When it comes to colocation services in particular, I believe these will gradually be replaced with “remote private cloud” services, like those Amazon and Rackspace are already offering. Companies can obtain a reserved infrastructure and extend their local network into a remote data center that can be accessed through secure and managed networks like MPLS via VPN, IPsec or similar. I am not fully aware how far telecoms have gone in offering remote private cloud services, assuming full web-based self-service and immediate access to infrastructure.

Mobile operators and the cloud

I personally do not think that mobile operators (MNOs) will be particularly strong in running data center based cloud applications and services. Their effort will mostly be gocused on the delivery of cloud service. through the core mobile network and the radio network itself.
However, to provide an improved service delivery, they may select to deploy managed network connections to any of the important cloud providers, but not rely totally upon Internet connections. Another issue is to “fetch” content that is being replicated and made accessible near to the end-user. This is already being done in increased manner through Content Delivery Networks like Akamai and Limelight Networks.

MNOs could possibly develop a strong proposition as cloud brokers, delivering selected cloud services and bundling with others services and billing – similar to telecoms perhaps. Although possible, this is not a straightforward approach, especially since the leading smartphone platform makers (Apple, Google) tend to shape the ecosystem according to their own strategy.  MNOs and telecoms are not exactly known for their agility and software prowess, compared to many others.

However, as the mobile core and radio network are domains of the MNOs, delivery and service quality can be managed up to a certain degree. Still, latency and congestion will continue to occur, but not necessarily within the mobile network, but perhaps somewhere in the backbone, such as in the Internet.When it comes to LTE (long term evolution), the mobile network will have the ability to deliver cloud services better and faster with an increased bandwidth capacity of up to 100Mbit/s within each cell – and a pure IP-based traffic all the way to the handset. It should still not be forgotten that the bandwidth is a shared medium, so the service delivery can vary according to the number of users and usage pattern in each cell.

Backhaul in 4G mobile networks should not necessarily be a limiting factor, as LTE will mostly be restricted to cities and largely populated areas where network capacity and bandwidth are normally in abundance. As for proximity to cloud services, I believe these will increasingly be solved through CDNs as is already happening. Popular content is being replicated or cached to the edges, making it faster to deliver to end-users.

Just over a year ago, HP acquired Palm together with its webOS smartphone operating system and a few new smartphones. HP had some ambitious plans of leveraging its innovation culture and marketing channels to firmly establish itself as an important player in the mobile technology ecosystem.

HP discontinues developing smartphones and tablets

How times have changed. Last week, HP announced that it will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS driven smartphones. The reason is disappointing sales and low market share in a domain dominated by Apple and Google with their iOS and Android platforms.

Unfortunately for HP, its plans to become the third force, after iPhone and Android driven devices, in the smartphone arena failed miserably, even though HP’s webOS-driven TouchPad received positive critique from several analysts. Instead, HP plans on continuing developing its webOS and seek new business models including licensing.

Whether that strategy will be more successful remains to be seen. Microsoft uses the licensing model for its Windows Phone OS, included in several handsets from manufacturers like HTC, Samsung and LG. Still, Windows Phone market share is puny compared to iOS and Android. It will be interesting to see if the deal with Nokia from earlier this year will change the momentum for Windows Phone, with new Nokia smartphones running on Windows Phone. The first handsets are expected to be launched later this year.

Clearly, HP faced tougher competition than anticipated in a market that is largely driven by apps. The number of apps available for webOS is only a fraction of those for iOS and Android devices, making it difficult for buyers to choose webOS devices. The same largely applies to the troubles at RIM. The BlackBerry App World is relatively small compared to Android Market and Apple App Store.

Who will become the “third wheel” in the ecosystem?

While many analysts agree that there is definitely room for the third platform, together with iOS and Android, it’s still unclear whether that place would be filled by webOS, Windows Phone, RIM’s BlackBerry or something else.

Considering HP’s heritage as a company primarily focusing on the enterprise market, its decision of discontinuing developing smartphones and tablets may be understandable. With its dynamic changes and special traits, the consumer market is profoundly different.

However, this is something that HP clearly knew and understood when acquiring Palm in the first place, perhaps making a miscalculated decision in its effort of establishing a “mobile strategy” – admittedly a necessity for every technology vendor in today’s market. Hence, whether HP will be successful in finding a lucrative business model for its webOS platform needs to be seen, although currently it seems unlikely.

Apart from Apple and Google, it seems that Microsoft has a good position for becoming the third large player in the ecosystem, especially after its deal with Nokia, and due to its capacity and bundling options. While Apple and Google have certainly managed to do some clever bundling and integration of the mobile platforms with some of their other services such as Gmail, Microsoft can certainly do the same when it comes to Windows Phone including MS Exchange/Outlook and Office 365.

Although most agree that mobile cloud computing holds a great promise for delivering cloud solutions to individuals and even critical corporate applications to employees by enabling access from anywhere, there are still several barriers that need to be addressed to elevate its usefulness and capabilities. For mobile cloud computing to reach its full potential, the following three critical challenges need to be addressed, as detailed in a recent article by Bryan Betts:

• Lowering network latency to meet application and code offload interactivity
• Increasing network bandwidth for faster data transfer between the cloud and devices
• Providing adaptive monitoring of network conditions to optimize network and device costs against the user’s perceived performance of cloud applications

 A new survey called the “Q2 2011 Mobile Developer Report” conducted by Appcelerator and IDC holds some interesting information about the mobile cloud and smartphone platforms.
According to the survey, interest in the Android platform among mobile app developers has recently plateaued, primarily due to concerns around fragmentation and disappointing results from early tablet sales running Android. At the same time, momentum is shifting back toward Apple and its iPhone and iPad. Furthermore, the survey reveals increased interest in the mobile cloud and mobile web that partially addresses the problem of fragmentation.

Fragmentation is a Drawback for Android

Interest in Apple iOS remains high, where 91 percent of survey responders say they are “very interested” in iPhone development and 86 percent in iPad development. However, reported interest in Android phones fell to 85 percent and to 71percent for Android tablets. Almost two-thirds of respondents claimed that device fragmentation in Android poses the biggest challenge to the platform.

At the same time, other mobile platform providers like Microsoft and Research in Motion (RIM) are expected to have a hard time catching up with market leaders Apple and Google. Two-thirds of responders think it‘s simply impossible at this point for any mobile platform to reverse the significant momentum advantage that iOS and Android now have.

From mobile app developers point of view, the greatest challenge lies not just in the Android handset fragmentation but in fragmentation of skills, e.g. Objective-C vs. Java, and the fragmentation of capabilities, e.g. iOS vs. Android vs. WP7).

The Mobile Web/Cloud Resolves the Fragmentation Issue

When it comes to the mobile cloud, most agree that it has a rosy future. Over 80 percent of mobile app developers said they are building or plan to build mobile websites this year. The theory is that the mobile web will solve the cross-platform and cloud fragmentation dilemma.

However, the mobile cloud growth will be restrained at least as long as the user experience still favors mobile application, i.e. applications running natively on the handsets. End-users are already used to downloading native-apps to their handsets. In essence, the preference for mobile web favors reach, ease and speed over market opportunity and customer demand. However, the economic model strongly favors mobile apps as developers see a path to direct monetization with apps that is missing from the mobile web.

Still, the mobile web can also be seen as a good way to quickly get cross-platform coverage that is additive to mobile apps as a complement, not as a replacement. Therefore, a mobile strategy could be about a mobile-optimized website rather than necessarily a mobile app – as a complimentary channel.
Clearly, a lot has still to be figured out when it comes to mobile cloud deployment, especially mobile apps. It seems logical and beneficial from a business point of view. For example, as many businesses are in the position of determining a mobile strategy in the light of increasing complexities and fragmentation of mobile platforms and devices, the mobile cloud promises a way to overcome these limitations. Certainly it would be simpler to consider developing for the mobile cloud rather than fragmented platforms and devices. However, it still might be some time until this strategy becomes mainstream.

Microsoft’s deal to buy Skype for $8.5 billion is the largest acquisition in the history of the company. After reportedly outbidding Google and Facebook, Microsoft has a number of solutions that can potentially benefit from this acquisition. But does Microsoft have the right strategy?

Skype Has Terrific Exposure

Skype has almost 700 million registered users globally, most of them using the free chat, voice and video services from PC-to-PC, or from one Skype account to another. However, many users also purchase voice-minutes, or Skype-credit, for making calls to regular phones and mobiles or sending text messages.

Skype also has solutions for businesses, such as the Skype Manager, a tool to create accounts for employees, allocate credit and assign features; and Skype Connect, which provides connectivity with SIP-enabled PBX‘s, allowing businesses to use their existing phone system to make cheap Skype calls. Skype already has apps available for mobile platforms, including Android and iPhone.

Microsoft communication products

Microsoft, on the other hand, launched last year a cloud-based unified communications system. Microsoft Lync is a comprehensive business communication platform which includes features such as Instant Messaging and Presence, Audio, Video and Web Conferencing, Mobility and Enterprise Voice. The voice capabilities provide a centralized call system, phone features, supplanting corporate PBX‘s, enabling video chat and unifying other communications systems of a corporate environment. Essentially it is a software based VoIP/SIP PBX that can run on a standard Windows server.

With its mobile Windows Phone platform, Microsoft has big ambitions in the mobile domain as well. Several handset manufacturers have already incorporated Windows Phone into their smartphones, including the HTC HD7 and Samsung Focus. Windows Phone has received relatively positive reviews and appears to be a serious alternative alongside Android and iPhone, perhaps especially after Nokia announced its plans to incorporate the Windows Phone platform as its primary smartphone platform.

How can Microsoft benefit?

So how does the Skype acquisition benefit Microsoft from its current position? From the perspective of the Lync communication platform and Windows Phone, there are several interesting strategies Microsoft can pursue.

• It seems likely that Microsoft will integrate Skype business features with its Lync communication platform. With this strategy, Microsoft will enter the domain of the communication service provider, i.e. not only offering business grade communication platforms, but also by providing communication services, the stronghold of Telcos and VoIP service providers, including Skype itself. This will enable businesses to make low-cost calls using their Lync platform with features like integrated billing and account management.
• Microsoft will provide a close integration of Skype into its Windows Phone platform. Hotmail and IM integration will be a given, and users will be able to send IP- SMS messages directly from their Hotmail account – similiar to the current Skype client. Users will simply choose the account they are calling from and see in real-time the cost of current phone call, and a myriad of other possibilities will be enabled.

The Skype acquisition, although expensive, can provide Microsoft great leverage. Not only does Skype have a huge market penetration that Microsoft can exploit with tight integration to existing solutions, but Skype already has well established processes and billing mechanisms that Microsoft can use for up-selling and cross-selling while entering the communication business both for individuals and corporate markets.

A new survey of mobile cloud computing does a good job in defining mobile cloud computing and how it is going to impact cloud computing in general. Firstly, mobile cloud computing is defined as cloud computing extended by mobility and a new ad-hoc infrastructure based on mobile devices. In essence, mobile users are provided with data storage and processing services on a cloud computing platform rather than on the mobile devices themselves.

A branch of cloud computing

According to the survey, mobile cloud computing is emerging as one of the most important branches of cloud computing, and is still in its infancy. Therefore it‘s highly relevant to clarify the confusion that has arisen around mobile cloud computing.

From a simple perspective, mobile cloud computing can be thought of as infrastructure where data and processing could happen outside of the mobile device, enabling new types of applications such as context-aware mobile social networks. As a result, many mobile cloud applications are not restricted to powerful smartphones, but to a broad range of less advanced mobile phones and, therefore, to a much larger subscriber segment. From a smartphone perspective in particular, mobile cloud computing opens up possibilities for a new class of applications by leveraging handset centric features and network related information, such as GPS and/or cell-based location information, etc.

Special characteristics of mobile cloud computing

The survey recognizes the potential opportunities from utilizing available mobile handset features and “to harness collective sensing, storage, and computational capabilities of multiple networked wireless devices to create a distributed infrastructure that supports a wealth of new applications.”
Furthermore, mobile cloud computing extends cloud computing by providing enhanced service availability and by exploiting information about a user’s location, context and network intelligence, thereby considerably improving user experience. Leveraging the mobile device storage, sensing and processing resources for optimizing cloud-based application also adds to better user experience.

Measures to address bandwidth limitations

The obstacles facing mobile cloud computing include limitation of wireless bandwidth capacity and fluctuations in network service delivery. Mobile technology assumes a shared bandwidth capacity, so that users within any particular mobile cell share the available bandwidth while accessing the data network, e.g. the Internet. To overcome this intrinsic limitation, and to address the increasing bandwidth demand, wireless networks are continuously being upgraded – with the IP-based 4G wireless broadband network technology as the ultimate long term goal.

However, other means are also being developed and implemented. One interesting alternative involves instantiating resource-intensive applications on distributed cloudlets, or cloud servers, and then using that service over a wireless LAN. Also, HTML5 data caching capabilities enable applications to work offline, bringing mobile Web applications closer to parity with native applications. By offering offline data caching, cloud-based applications can operate much the same as their device-based counterparts, i.e. if the Internet connection goes down, the application keeps on working. HMTL5 also presents a host of other features that can be deployed in mobile applications making them platform independent.

In summary, mobile cloud computing has emerged as a new paradigm and extension of cloud computing and will undoubtedly grow very quickly in the coming months and years.

From a security standpoint, it seems inevitable that the mobile cloud is going to be an important enabler. Mobile device platforms, especially open-source smartphone platforms and tablets , are under increasing pressure from hackers and potential virus threats. The first security threats became visible in the mobile domain in 2004, but have been growing ever since. Earlier, mobile phones had limited feature sets and were relatively protected within the operators “walled gardens.” With the proliferation of smartphones this has changed enormously. There are now virtually hundreds of viruses and malware that can potentially infect smartphones and tablets.

Smartphone security vulnerabilities

To protect users, trust and confidence in the mobile platform, it is essential to protect user privacy and security of applications. This is not an easy task. In its “Threat Report: Fourth Quarter 2010”, McAfee indicate that the mobile malware trend is on a sharp uprise. According to the report, new instances of malware targeting mobile devices detected last year were up 46 percent over levels recorded in 2009. McAfee predicts that cyber criminals will increasingly target mobile devices with botnets, and exploits utilizing both Flash and PDF vulnerabilities.

One of the more widely-cirulated malware was the Android/Geinimi, a Trojan inserted into legitimate mobile applications and games for the Android platform. As the number of Internet-enabled handheld mobile devices continues to grow (including smartphones and tablets), web-based threats will continue to grow in number and sophistication. Not just viruses and botnets, but also phishing from malicious domains and social networks, identity theft and spam.

So the question remains: What can be done to protect mobile Internet users from these types of multiple and sophisticated security threats?

How the Mobile Cloud Can Help

Mobile cloud computing platforms represent a more secure way for provisioning applications and online services to users over mobile networks. Mobile cloud provisioning takes advantage of the inherent benefits of cloud computing though its monitoring, security detection and malware-prevention capabilities to protect its mobile customers.

That’s not to say that cloud-based applications and services are completely free from potential malware, but that it is more difficult for hackers to manipulate cloud service providers and their services than it is to distribute malware by creating and infecting individual applications in the various app stores. Having apps and services residing in the cloud mitigates the need for installing and maintaining highly complex virus-scanning and malware protection on the handsets themselves – although some on-device malware protection should always be considered.

Mobile cloud security

To prevent unauthorized access to mobile devices and to provide cloud-access protection, there are certain measures that can be taken, especially by organizations that maintain a number of smartphones for employees:

• Cloud-access protection: To use strong authentication to ensure that only personnel with authorization can access cloud-based services. By using one-time passwords, rather than locally stored passwords on the handsets, it’s possible to maintain a higher security level in the mobile cloud.
• Embedded device identity protection: It’s possible to embed an personalized configuration profile on each employee mobile device, thereby implementing a personal security token or credential on each mobile device. Hence, only employees with trusted devices that comply with corporate security policy can access corporate applications and data, e.g. in a private cloud setting.

These and other security features and policies can be enforced to maximize the security of mobile devices, especially in a corporate context. The mobile cloud is certainly an enabler for improving the security levels for smartphones and tablets that become increasingly more prevalent in business and everyday use.

This month, Amazon Web Services (AWS) turns five years old. As a leader in infrastructure as a service (IaaS), its impact can hardly be overestimated especially as an cloud enabler for SME‘s, new SaaS providers and, increasingly, an option for large companies that want to migrate infrastructure and services to the cloud.

In retrospect, it’s amazing to see the number of services that AWS has added to its portfolio in the past five years. The original offering that provides basic compute infrastructure and storage services has been expanded into additional compute products like Auto Scaling, networking products like Virtual Private Cloud and deployment tools like Beanstalk and, the latest, CloudFormation. In fact, these products have widened AWS’s approach into becoming a platform as a servce (PaaS) provider as well as an IaaS provider. AWS’s success can also be corroborated through demanding users like Netflix that run on AWS.

Revenue growth

AWS revenues have been growing at a relatively steady rate both in North America and internationally and, according to Trefis Forecast, are expected to reach about $1.7 billion in 2011 and to pass $5 billion by 2017. Despite this immense revenue growth, same sources estimate that AWS is only accountable for about 3 percent of Amazon’s business and will remain limited compared to the online retailing business – which provides an interesting context for the success of the online retail business!

AWS latest service – CloudFormation

With its latest service, the CloudFormation, AWS continues to make it easier for businesses and developers to provision resources without worrying about sequencing and interdependencies. CloudFormation allows users to run templates based on JSON scripting language that include the description of resources and the order n which they should be activated.

AWS offers several pre-made templates that e.g. include “stacks” of resources like compute (EC2), auto scaling, elastic load balancing, storage (EBS, S3), etc. and describe the software packages that are automatically installed, e.g. LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) and WordPress. The primary benefit of CloudFormation is freeing users from determining how and in what order individual resources need to be provisioned. Apparently, the CloudFormation resulted in an offer for AWS customers after the Amazon’s own developers started creating templates for internal usage - avoiding manually building and managing the dependencies between resources. The CloudFormation can be deployed either through a command-line interface using AWS developers tools or using the AWS GUI Management Console.


Diagram illustrating the entire CloudFormation process

Speedy innovation

Obviously it is very difficult to predict what new services AWS will be offering in the near future. It seems that a lot of its efforts are currently focused on its new availability zone or region, based in Tokyo, Japan. In fact, the AWS data center was launched only 10 days before the earthquake hit Japan with its tragic consequences. During March only, in addition to the new Tokyo Region, AWS has already announced support for Windows Server 2008, new internet access and virtual networking capabilities to its Virtual Private Cloud product, new identity and access management support for AWS CloudFront and new EC2 import connector for VMware vCenter. Considering the innovation pace at AWS there is perhaps no coincidence that it widely considered to be the leader in the cloud computing industry.

It’s becoming increasingly clear that with last year’s purchase of smartphone maker Palm and its WebOS, HP is going to develop its own cloud offering. HP CEO Leo Apotheker announced this week that HP wants to provide the platform of choice for cloud services and connectivity and that HP will launch a public cloud offering in the near future.

Apotheker also says everything HP will do in the future will be delivered as a service. HP also intends to install WebOS on a variety of devices, not just smartphones like Palm did. PC’s and laptops  will have WebOS pre-installed and be able to run Windows as well. Apparently, to realize this vision, HP will perform a number of strategic acquisitions of innovative software and cloud-based service providers.

HP App Store

To support its cloud endeavors, HP plans to establish an application store for enterprise customers and consumers. The app store will not just be mobile specific, like most other current app stores like Apple App Store and Android Market, but targeted at a wider range of devices. “We will build an open marketplace,” said Apotheker speaking at HP’s analyst summit.

HP cloud vision

Considering Apotheker’s background as a former executive at SAP, it should not come as a surprise that HP aims to partner with large transactional systems like SAP and Oracle, with a special focus on analytics. In large, HP’s cloud vision seems to be focusing on business analytics and business intelligence that require “big data” and that have heavy processing requirements. It’s a very significant change in HP’s vision, moving away from focusing on PCs, printers and hardware in general to the cloud, connectivity, security and services.

Clearly, HP plans to capitalize on current hardware strengths and legacy – looking at platform services and hybrid infrastructure. HP enterprise customers will most likely be advised to expand their current infrastructure into the cloud, presumably HP’s cloud, creating a sort of a hybrid cloud environment with secure connection between, e.g. VPN and MPLS. Furthermore, HP also plans to establish a public cloud for e.g. Greenfield and those preferring migrating entire applications and services to the cloud and leverage lower costs.

The WebOS strategy

By pre-installing the WebOS on HP devices, they will be ready to utilize HP cloud services directly creating a large ecosystem for HP customers. And, HP does not plan on competing directly with other OSs like Windows but rather to run in parallel. WebOS might also be able to run alongside Android on smartphones for example, giving user’s the choice of switching between platforms, although it remains to be seen how and if users are willing to do that.

Is it viable?

HP’s strategy seems to require customers wanting to utilize the HP cloud to use an HP device running WebOS. This is a somewhat limiting strategy – unless users can install WebOS on other devices as well. Also, it’s unlikely that customers interested in deploying the cloud will be forced to purchase certain HP devices – but rather wanting to avoid a potential vendor lock-in situation. Furthermore, running parallel OSes on the same device may also have its flaws, especially when it comes to handheld devices.

Although an increasingly successful implementation in virtualized data center infrastructure, smartphone and tablet users are less likely to accept running two or more OSes and, it appears even more unlikely that WebOS, although a powerful OS, is going to quickly replace successful mobile platforms like the iPhone, Android and WP7. Having said this, it is going to be especially interesting to monitor HP’s progress and cloud endeavors.

With the advent of mobile cloud computing, increasing effort has been put into developing platforms that simplify the development of cloud-based mobile applications. Creating apps for the mobile cloud is significantly different than developing apps for a native smartphone platform like the iPhone or Android. But over the long run, the mobile cloud computing model may prove more profitable for app developers, and open the field to a larger number of developers.

Current mobile development platforms
In case of the current native platforms, developers need to be knowledgeable about the platform-centric APIs and development tools provided by the platform vendors, in this case Apple and Google. Objective- C is the main development language being used for writing iPhone apps that are being offered in Apple‘s App Store. This may not be difficult for experienced C programmers, but Objective-C requires significant programming capabilities and may pose a steep learning curve for newcomers. Android developers use Java, C or C++ as the main programming languages for app development.

Both the iPhone and Android platforms provide development tools for making app development process easier and coherent. Still, these are high-level programming languages that relatively few master when compared to the vast number of skilled Web developers that focus on using web-centric technologies and standards like HTML, CSS, JavaScript and XML.

Web based mobile application development

Several industry analysts predict that mobile applications will gradually move to the cloud, and move away from being installed and run directly from the handsets themselves. Instead, apps will be accessed and executed directly from the cloud through a mobile web browser interface. Several technologies facilitating this change are already available. HTML5, for example, is necessary for enabling caching on the handset, so that users will experience uninterrupted service levels despite fluctuations in network service delivery. 4G mobile networks, like LTE and WiMAX, are fundamental for supporting large-scale mobile cloud deployment. These networks are already being deployed in several cities and small regions and are expected to obtain significant adoption rates in the coming years.

Enabling mobile technologies

A few mobile solutions providers, such as app Mobi, have started to offer integrated mobile browsers that allow users to access apps directly from the websites of their publishers, thereby eliminating the need to go to Apple App Store or Android Market. This also means that app developers and publishers don’t need to go through complicated, and sometimes costly, submission processes, unexpected rejection of their submissions and the required profit sharing with the third-party app stores.

From the perspective of developing mobile apps, using standard web languages and standards like HTML/HTML5, CSS and JavaScript enables cross-platform functionality and removes the limitations of native app development. A much larger segment of developers can start creating mobile apps using the same tools they are already accustomed to such as Dream Weaver, Eclipse or Visual Studio. Another benefit includes software upgrades – as there is no need any more for upgrading apps on the handsets themselves.

Some other interesting mobile apps solution providers include Feed Henry and Rho Mobile. These offer cloud-based smartphone frameworks that allow developers to create cross-platform mobile apps using traditional web technologies. With no hardware or software to install, it seems inevitably a very interesting choice for web developers and enterprises that quickly want to start creating and deploying new mobile apps.