Choosing The Right Screen Size

AThe fundamental problems with screen size are power and the size of a person’s hand. Screen size is constantly growing. It is not uncommon to find screens larger than 2.5 inches these days that are capable of displaying a CIF-sized image with high clarity. At least one business handheld now boasts a four-inch screen size with 640x480 VGA resolution. This is nearly four times the resolution of a CIF image; however, it is more likely to be used with downloaded content (loaded into the handheld’s memory via a USB interface to a PC). Going beyond this, the products coming on the market now allow a user to plug an external eight-inch monitor and keyboard into the USB or Bluetooth connections on a Windows® Mobile handheld, greatly increasing the viewable image area and providing a suitable keyboard for real content creation (as opposed to that used for SMS text messages and short emails). Eventually, head-set mounted displays will most likely be available that create high-image resolution in front of the eye.

The Benefits of Mobile Device Deployment

A growing number of small and midsize businesses are finding high-value ways to deploy mobile devices – well beyond phone, voicemail, and Web access. Nine out of ten SMB (Small Medium Bussines) companies enable employees to check email via mobile devices and 64% use mobile devices for remote computing. More than half of SMBs allow employees to access applications and business data via mobile devices. With the hiring of so-called Gen-Y workers, organizations of all sizes can expect to see an exponential increase in the amount of textmessaging, which today is occurring in just two-infive small and midsize companies. Interestingly, texting does not represent a dramatic change in mobile usage, though it may result in fewer calls and fewer emails and thus require further refinements to carrier contracts. Serious text-messaging (and email-capable) devices, such as the RIM Blackberry and T-Mobile Sidekick, do tend to add a cost premium above basic cell phones; however, the added functionality can lead to higher satisfaction – particularly for Gen Y workers who most likely already own such devices. While we're still in the early years of mobile technology deployments, smaller companies are finding that sheer “mobility “ remains the key advantage – rather than more traditional goals such as increased sales or revenue. In fact, only one in four SMBs report that mobile technologies help them boost sales and revenue.

A growing number of small and midsize businesses are finding high-value ways to deploy mobile devices – well beyond phone, voicemail, and Web access. Nine out of ten SMB companies enable employees to check email via mobile devices and 64% use mobile devices for remote computing. More than half of SMBs allow employees to access applications and business data via mobile devices. With the hiring of so-called Gen-Y workers, organizations of all sizes can expect to see an exponential increase in the amount of textmessaging, which today is occurring in just two-infive small and midsize companies. Interestingly, texting does not represent a dramatic change in mobile usage, though it may result in fewer calls and fewer emails and thus require further refinements to carrier contracts. Serious text-messaging (and email-capable) devices, such as the RIM Blackberry and T-Mobile Sidekick, do tend to add a cost premium above basic cell phones; however, the added functionality can lead to higher satisfaction – particularly for Gen Y workers who most likely already own such devices. While we're still in the early years of mobile technology deployments, smaller companies are finding that sheer “mobility “ remains the key advantage – rather than more traditional goals such as increased sales or revenue. In fact, only one in four SMBs report that mobile technologies help them boost sales and revenue.

By far the most widely reported mobility challenge facing SMBs is insufficient battery life, which was cited by 71% of SMB organizations. Workarounds for battery life are increasingly plentiful, but these represent an additional cost that may strike someorganizations as unexpected or burdensome. Security issues remain a key concern for SMBs. Two-fifths of smaller companies find device security to be challenging and nearly a third cite network security as an issue.
A case in point: Nearly 10% of SMBs report that their mobile security has been compromised at least once and 39% believe that even though they've had no incidents reported, their security policies and safeguards need improvement. That makes sense, considering that most smaller organizations still take an ad hoc approach to mobile deployments. Few SMBs have specific security policies and procedures related to mobility. Most rely upon cell phone carriers, for example, to secure mobile communications.
Partly abridged version of the bMighty Research Report

Wireless Technologies Types

There are several different types of wireless technologies. Personal area networks (PANs) enable users to connect everyday devices wirelessly, such as digital cameras to printers, or handheld devices to earpieces. Wireless local area networks (WLANs) act as cable replacements for local area networks and are often referred to as Wi-Fi or 802.11. The third and most common type of wireless technology is the wireless wide area network (WWAN), which enables access through a wireless link that is regional, national, or global. These networks are not restricted to a specific physical location, such as a campus, as is the case with Wi-Fi.

Mobile Video Business - Promises to Expand Rapidly

Consumers and business users alike have come to rely on mobile voice and data communications. Now demand is building for mobile video services as well. ABI Research believes that the move to all-digital TV will pave the way for mobile TV services that can “attract over 500 million viewers by 2013.” [ABI] Add to this the revenue of other mobile video services and applications, and the market potential grows even larger. Infonetics projects worldwide mobile video service revenue to increase at a 5-year CAGR of 130%, reaching $35 billion by 2011 [Infonetics].
Traditional carriers see mobile video as a way to reverse declining Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) caused by the decline in revenue from voice-only services. Others, including application and infrastructure developers, see it simply as a major new opportunity. Wainhouse Research expects worldwide revenues for personal mobile video communications — including professional services, software, toolkits, and other infrastructure products — to grow to a billion dollar industry by 2010 [Wainhouse]. Mobile Video Service Examples
Dozens of video services are already available on the internet, and these services are beginning to be offered on mobile handsets as well. The services fall into two broad categories: consumer-oriented and business-oriented. The two lists presented here provide just a sample of mobile video service possibilities – and revenue opportunities.

Consumer-oriented mobile video focuses on entertainment and social networking:

• Mobile TV • Video on Demand (VoD) • Video sharing with family and friends • Viral video sharing • Video blogging • Conversational video • Video portal • Video messaging • Video SMS • Multimedia ring-back tone • Mobile advertising • Social networking

Business-oriented mobile video services emphasize enhanced communications and collaboration:

• Interactive Voice and Video Response (IVVR) • Conversational video • Video sharing between a business and its customers • Video training • Video messaging and video SMS • Video conferencing

The market for mobile video services promises to expand rapidly over the next several years. To exploit this opportunity, application developers and service providers must move quickly, providing innovative new services with the quality, responsiveness, and price points that users find attractive. But mobile video is a complex medium, presenting developers with a variety of technical challenges.

Mobile Technologies In Use

Adoption of wireless local-area networking (WLAN) technology is widespread and seems on the road to ubiquity; more than half of SMBs already use it, though that's still far short of cellular's 85% penetration. WiMax wide area networking, now in use at less than 10% of smaller companies, also holds promise. One lesser-known reason is that WiMax offers business continuity in the event of a failure on the part of standard Internet services. Although smaller companies typically do not create custom “mobile “ applications, increasingly, more packaged applications – and information services – will be pushed out to mobile devices. In the meantime, integration with desktop operating systems is helping to drive interest in Windows as a mobile operating system. The leading mobile operating systems in use are Windows at 80%, followed by Blackberry at 66%, and Palm OS at 37%.

Given the prevalence of cell phones in America, it's easy to assume that nearly every organization uses them. Odds are that many employees of almost any company use them at work on a regular basis. However, the design point of this study is whether the organization itself deploys mobile devices such as cell phones - not whether individuals use their own devices in the course of their work day. Even with that more-restrictive measure, cell phones are deployed by nearly four out of five SMBs. That edges out the three-quarters of smaller companies that deploy wireless laptops. More than two-thirds of companies use Smartphones equipped with voice and data capabilities.
Wireless laptops and Smartphones also top the list of most useful mobile devices. PDAs without voice capabilities, on the other hand, are moving down the list of usage and are cited as a mobile device SMB companies love to hate. A year from now, we expect to see wider deployment of handsets that use wireless Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. SMBs may initially adopt VoIP phones mostly for wireless campus deployments. The fact that wireless-enabled laptops top Smartphones in perceived usefulness by SMBs is further evidence that neither basic productivity applications nor custom business applications are yet commonly available on Smartphones. The value of PDAs has steadily declined because their functionality has become an intrinsic part of Smartphones, which add the ability to communicate in real-time with voice and data. Eventually, PDAs will go the way of the Day-Timer, as they will be unable to match Smartphones' ability to synchronize calendars in real-time with co-workers or customers, for instance.

Mobile Device Platforms '09 - Fragmentation is Here to Stay

Although the market for web-enabled phones has strongly grown during the last years, the fragmentation of software platforms has stayed - none of the players can expect to dominate any major market. Vendors, developers and operators will continue to focus on the few platforms that matter most for their geographical regions – such as Windows Mobile, iPhone OS and Palm in North America, or Symbian and Windows Mobile in Europe. In addition to the various platforms, the number of form factors poses challenges: Most touchscreen phones are good enough systems for web-based applications, while this service delivery approach may not be feasible for smaller-screen devices.

Netbooks are increasingly sold in conjunction with mobile broadband packages – but operators who want to differentiate through applications have yet another OS or browser type to add to their list of platforms. The majority of application downloads continues to be MIDP Java games – a platform that many high-end internet devices do not support. Hence, most operators will continue their strategy of low involvement into mobile software design - only global players with high involvement in device supply chain and retail presence have a business case for commissioning, launching and supporting customized applications for flagship devices. For the majority of operators, generating profits with mobile applications comes through partnerships with companies providing development, testing and sales across various markets, ensuring high quality applications at acceptable cost.

Fixed-Line and Wireless Convergence

Why Fixed Mobile Convergence?

With fixed-mobile convergence (FMC), users benefit from the features and capabilities associated with both fixed-line and wireless networks. Service providers in this market are racing to deliver products that address ever-increasing employee mobility, growth in IP adoption, availability of WiFi networks, poor indoor mobile phone coverage, and — most important — enterprises' need for tools that help them improve employee efficiency, manage network complexity, and reduce costs.

The rapid growth of WLAN deployments in enterprises, hotspots and homes; the improving ability of WLAN access to provide high-quality voice service; and the introduction of dualmode handsets that can support both cellular (GSM, UMTS or CDMA) and WLAN radio are creating new market opportunities for service providers to deliver a comprehensive service that converges mobile and fixed-line infrastructures, beginning with voice.

Value
Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) promises a superior user experience delivered cost-efficiently and with unprecedented convenience. FMC offers service providers the potential for first-mover advantages to attract customers and gain momentum. It extends an opportunity for service providers to enter new markets and to bridge the wireless/wireline divide. But this isn’t just about voice. The industry sees video and multimedia as the means to capture customers and differentiate from client-centric solutions (e.g., Skype over WLAN) — in particular to take content from the existing world and customize it for delivery to mobile devices. The key to a successful FMC deployment is to compete not on price, but with value-added services.

Three approaches to FMC
There are currently three primary approaches in the industry to delivering a converged seamless service: Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA), VoIP Extension and IMS-VCC (Voice Call Continuity).