Category Archives: Mobile

Usually Mary Meeker only publishes her Internet Trends report once a year, but she had a mini-report for the end of 2012 that she gave on Monday. In that report there were a few insightful data points. The biggest one is the surge in market share for Android: it’s increasing adoption 5x faster than iPhone. I’ve often predicted that Android would take the global smartphone market share — but these numbers are huge. If this trend continues, it puts Apple in a precarious situation. Other data points of interest include the still huge numbers of feature phones: over 5 billion. The smartphone market is growing at 1 billion — but these numbers show that the world’s people still like having cheap phones for just calling and texting.

Meeker also noted that iPad adoption is increasing five times faster than iPhone adoption. There comes a time when iPhone saturation will occur — when most of those interested in having one, actually do. Smartphone makers may have to reconsider their “planned obsolescence” designs because consumers may lose interest in replacing their smartphones yearly.

Meeker also confirms the “post-PC” era statements we keep hearing by stating “that the global smartphone plus tablet install base will surpass the install base of the PC by the end of 2013.”

Mobile payment systems are about to become real as companies introduce their offerings and technology to the world. Buying goods or services with your smartphone is almost second nature. We’re all getting used to searching and tapping or scanning to pay.

Scan and pay will be the paradigm shift that transforms mobile commerce. Combine scan and pay with intelligent apps and you have a powerhouse waiting to be unleashed: If you’re paying for something at the register with your smartphone, the retailer may offer you 25% off if you immediately sign up for their credit card, or offer you a heavily discounted scarf to go with your new fall coat. Impulsive shoppers better destroy their smartphones now and pull out the old flip-phone from 2001. The key to merchant success is instant analysis of what you’re buying so they can offer you a complementary or similar item to “buy now”.

Visa, PayPal, Square and Google have been tinkering in this space for quite some time and it looks like their offerings are about to show some fruition. Mobile transactions are already totaling $240 billion annually, but a recent study by Juniper Research reports that by 2015, the transaction totals may reach over $670 billion.

Smartphones, with their built-in carrier service and vast library of available apps, are perfect “wallets” — you always have it with you, and it can securely store your financial information. Some carriers in the US are beginning to test systems that will allow consumers with smartphones that have NFC (near field communication) chips to make purchases by touching the device to a merchant payment terminal. You may be wondering: what is NFC? NFC works like this:

1. A simple connection between two devices is initiated with a physical touch
2. There must be an “initiator” and a “target”. Your smartphone would be the initiator when making a purchase
3. The initiator generates a radio frequency (RF) field with a range of about 4 centimeters
4. The target picks up the RF field and receives the data completing the payment request

But your smartphone is not simply a payment mechanism. Remember the word “smart” connected to the word “phone”. Retailers will be able to offer you loyalty points, coupons, and redeemable items via your smartphone directly before or after your purchase. Starbucks is already doing this with their updated app: buying a latte earns you points that add up to free items.

As is typical in the tech industry, the different players are fighting it out for dominance. Verizon Wireless won’t allow Google’s Wallet on any of their devices, and AT&T was disabling NFC on phones to stop them from using Google Wallet. T-Mobile is piloting its own Isis payment system in Salt Lake City and Austin.

The tech wars will ultimately provide a winner — more than likely multiple systems for quite awhile. Once there is convergence, however, you’ll be the actual winner — and from then on you can leave your over-stuffed wallet with all that old-school paper money at home.

The social business workflow is based on people being able to connect, communicate and share information more efficiently. Collaboration platforms such as Jive, Salesforce.com, and others have not been flexible enough to properly support the rapid transformation to mobile that is occurring in the workforce.

But there are some bright lights on the horizon. At its annual gathering in Las Vegas this month, Jive introduced an extension to their social business platform called Jive Present.

Jive states that “…it’s become a business imperative that teams have an easy, intuitive and controlled way to receive information and leverage social tools to interact with the right content and people. With Jive Present, organizations now have a powerful tool accessible anytime and anywhere.”

Since mobile devices, especially tablets, are entering the business workflow faster than any technology device ever, it’s imperative that companies keep their mobile workers connected to their internal networks. One of the biggest challenges that CIOs face is ensuring that their mobile workforce can seamlessly access important data while keeping that data secure.

By extending their platform beyond the desktop companies like Jive will offer more relevant solutions for collaborating. It’s about time that the burgeoning mobile workforce has the ability to collaborate regardless of their location.

With Halloween less than a week away, this weekend will likely be a big hit amongst costume, candy and party lovers. When you’re out and about celebrating, don’t forget to check-in to your favorite location based application.

Foursquare launched a series of badges, pictured below, that encourage users to check-in to the Halloween festivities they participate in. In order to receive a badge you need to wish friends “Happy Halloween” when checking-in and are welcome to share a picture while rocking out Gangnam Style, showing off your Katniss inspired look or any other costume you choose to wear this year. The company is also offering an extra treat if more than 10 friends check-in together at one location.

Although not all users are incentivized purely by pretty badges, those that are will enjoy the latest additions to their badge collection over the next few days. Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Many people have been asking themselves the toughest question of all: iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S III? The smartphone design and manufacturer is important. But oh so more critical is the operating system you choose: iOS or Android. There are so many similarities in the two operating systems that now the lawyers are getting rich — but there is a major factor to consider that you may not be thinking about as you hone in on your final decision:

Platforms matter. They really do.

When you get an iPhone, one of the first things it asks you during setup is to create an iCloud account. What, you don’t have one? You probably do and just don’t realize it. Did you ever create a .mac email address back in the day? If so, you have an iCloud account. If not, what is iCloud you ask? Well, iCloud is Apple’s attempt at a mostly free cloud storage service. Kinda like Dropbox for all your Apple-related content. iCloud is really fantastic if you have multiple Apple devices. With iCloud you can sync your email, contacts, calendar, and even more important, your apps and iTunes media across all your iOS devices and Macs. You never really leave home without access to those trashy reality shows you bought on iTunes.

When you setup your new Galaxy S III one of the first questions it throws out at you is what is your Gmail address? LIke iPhone, Android revolves heavily around Google’s services. And of course, Google helped invent the cloud and what it’s become over the years. So once you type your Gmail address, you will be able to sync all your Google services, including email, contacts, calendar, and Google Drive and Play. Similar to iPhone, you can sync all your media purchased or rented through the Play marketplace.

The gotcha: This is where platform matters. If you mix and match, a la having Mac computers at home, a Windows laptop at work and an Android device like the Galaxy, you’re potentially gonna miss out on what a closed platform brings you. You can’t listen to or watch your iTunes media on an Android device. You can use third-party apps to access your Play media on iPhone, but it’s not a stellar experience. The Gmail app on iPhone is a much different experience than it is on Android. And of course, do we really need to talk about maps on both platforms? It’s a different experience.

As each company reaches for more marketshare, they are closing their ecosystems even more. To be successful, they’re going to need to offer experiences that compel customers to want to commit to one ecosystem. A truly “open” platform is no longer possible. You’re going to have to choose and deal with the consequences. The experience when you’re on one or the other is optimal — it diminishes a bit when you mix and match.

At the end of that day, you may consider important features such as screen size, battery life, ease of use, and more. However, you also need to think about the platform and what it means for you and how you use your device. If you like access to your data and your content across multiple devices, you may need to make a platform decision before you make a smartphone choice.