Yahoo Mobile coming at end of March

Announced yesterday, Yahoo will be releasing an a software at the end of March that will bring iPhone like capabilities to everyone's mobile phone. The program will work on the majority of mid- to high-range smart phones. This new application will be promoted with the 70 partnerships it has formed with operators. For more information, read this article at eWeek.

iPod Touch Gaining Enterprise Credibility

When the iPhone first came out, there was a sudden rush of executives that were trying to justify the use of this phone in the enterprise. Now, according to this post on the Burton Group Blog the iPod Touch might be an even bigger story than the iPhone. The iPod Touch already supports the Safari web browser and enterprise capabilities like support for virtual private networks (L2TP/IPSEC, Cisco IPSec, and PPTP). These latest numbers from the AdMob report show how traffic from the iPod Touch is just exploding!

• Traffic from iPod Touch in the US and UK was “2.7 and 3.2 times higher” the week after Christmas than the week before.
• “The iPod Touch is now the #2 device in the AdMob network with a 4.7% share.” The #1 device is the iPhone with a 10.8% share.

These numbers show us that the Touch might someday surpass the iPhone itself. For enterprise purposes, I want to see how well the Touch will compete with Blackberry’s release of its touch screen model, the Storm.

BlackBerry Goes Touch-Screen

Larry Dignan gives us several reasons why the release of RIM’s Storm, a rival to the iPhone 3G, is so important to the market in his latest post on ZDNet. Here they are:

Why is the Storm important?

• RIM can use the Storm to rally telecom carrier support–especially among those left out of the iPhone launch.
• The Storm will define how RIM is viewed among consumers.
• The Storm may be able to thwart any enterprise momentum gained by Apple’s iPhone.

Will the release of the touch-screen Storm stop executives from asking IT for iPhone support on the corporate network? Only time will tell what effect the RIM Storm will have on enterprise practices.

Coldwell Banker embraces IPhone

Yesterday, we talked about how Nokia is turning their focus to syncing Smartphones to collaborate. In this recent article at Read Write Web, they talk about another company who has embraced the Smartphone revolution. Coldwell Banker, despite the woes on the housing market, have launched a new online version of their website for the iPhone. In this new platform, users are able to search for both homes and home values in real time. Upon reaching the Coldwell Banker website on the iPhone, users are automatically directed to the designed iPhone site.

Even in this time of economic hardship for the housing industry, this company is finding a way to cater to their customers and embrace the new type of enterprise that is rising.

Apple to Gain Majority Share in Enterprise?

Last Friday at 8am I saw the line at the AT&T store stretch from one block to another, in light of Apple’s new release the iPhone 3G. This post on ZNet discusses how Apple has moved over 1 million iPhones in a span of 3 days, and that 39% of buyers own PCs. It seems as if the iPhone is making a direct move to overtake enterprise share, since IT remains a Windows world.

With the growing popularity and acceptance of the iPhone in the corporate world, Salesforce.com and Oracle are quick to build CRM and Business Intelligence applications for the iPhone. The iPhone already integrates Microsoft Exchange, calendar, contacts, world-class browsing, and many enterprise applications in its repertoire; what’s next for Apple?

Mobile FireFox Might Be the Key

As mentioned in our previous post, Firefox is slowly increasing its market share as the world’s premier internet browser. A mobile browsing app called FireFox Mobile has been in the works for some time, but according to this latest post on TechCrunch it is actually taking shape.

What’s interesting about this mobile user interface is that it will be fundamentally easy to use with touch-screen smartphones. This is heaven for Palm Treo and iPhone users. FireFox Mobile will reduce the amount of typing required by simply scrolling down and makes it easier to send email, search Google, or mapping locations with any of its pre-defined buttons.

Collaboration in the enterprise is reaching new heights as we are experiencing a lot of changes in mobile applications. I would like to see how FireFox Mobile will make life simpler for those users who do not have touch-screen smartphones like the Blackberry. FireFox Mobile is still at its beta phase though, I’m sure the end result will be something that all enterprise users will be able to take advantage of.

Mobile Social Networking: The Growing Phenomenon

How often do you access Facebook on your mobile phone? Personally, I find it more convenient to share information with my business contacts on my Blackberry. The latest article in eMarketer estimates that the number of mobile social networking users will grow from 82 million users now to roughly 800 million users worldwide by the year 2012.

The iPhone and Blackberry have launched several mobile-friendly applications of popular enterprise networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn so it was only a matter of time before we would see this influx of mobile users. As the growing demand for collaboration between individuals grow, so will the need for mobile enterprise networking, since most corporate executives are always on the go. This chart by eMarketer details the forecasted total mobile users.

The enterprise can expect a huge shift from the usage of social networking sites within the office to usage on their mobile devices. Tailored social networking apps have the changed the focus of the Treo, Blackberry, and the iPhone from being primarily a consumer gadget to an enterprise mobile device.

iPhone 2.0: Blackberry Watch Out

As the growing numbers of executives are going mobile, so is the need for the enterprise apps to also follow this trend. According to this this latest post on engadgetmobile, the iPhone is planning to release its beta enterprise version firmware, where you will be able to view your contact list and accept meeting invitations via Outlook. One of the drawbacks though, users will not be able to get iTunes store icons or the app store.

Those are just a few luxuries that enterprise mobile users will have to sacrifice in order to reap the benefits of web 2.0 capabilities on the iPhone. This is just a start for the smartphone industry, when will users be able to collaborate via Google Apps on their blackberries and iPhones. Steve Jobs seems to be finally moving past the iPhone’s aesthethic appearance and finding real business value for it in the enterprise. If he keeps this up, the iPhone can give the blackberry a run for its money in the global enterprise market…

Apple, Oh Apple

In our recent post we discussed how the iPhone has finally tailored its own LinkedIn application on its mobile phone, but when will Apple adapt to other enterprise apps. Larry Dignan’s latest entry marvels at how Apple is still trailing its counterpart Microsoft within the enterprise realm.

When will we see the iPhone compete with the Blackberry in terms of corporate exchange mail servers, clearly Apple still has a long way to go. The iPhone is no doubt the most aesthetically pleasing mobile phone out there, but its enterprise functionality is still lacking. Catching the subway to work everyday makes me realize how popular the iPhone has become amongst corporate executives, but its mobile technology will have to adapt to the growing need of enterprise apps. Steve Jobs has a track record of appealing to consumer markets, but it is time for a change. It is not enough to just tailor an enterprise social networking site, they must do more…

We will not see an influx of Mac OS X servers in the enterprise anytime soon, but Apple most start somewhere. So I’ll turn back to a question posed by Larry Dignan…Apple, is it 25 years too late?