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While Google is currently basking in an <a href="http://www.cio.com/article/613813/Will_Android_Smash_the_iPhone_">Android smartphone sales spike</a>, even beating iPhone sales for the first time last quarter, the advertising giant is losing ground to Apple on a critical front: mobile advertising, reports IDC.
Four out of five Cisco enterprise customers have to shore up their wireless networks, says Chris Kozup, director of mobility solutions marketing at Cisco. Many were caught unprepared to handle the sudden swell of mobile devices -- iPhones, Androids and now iPads -- during the last couple of years, he says.
"We're going from a period of three years where we saw growth of about 1 billion WiFi-enabled devices to, say, five years where you're seeing a growth of about 7 billion," Kozup says. "Apple has led the pack by really delivering a mobile browsing experience that consumes bandwidth at data rates obviously better suited to a WiFi network."
More and more iPhones, iPads, BlackBerries, Droids, netbooks and even game consoles began appearing on Bryant & Stratton College's campuses - and CIO Ernest Lehman worried they'd lead to big trouble.
These "crazy" mobile devices, he says, tapped unsecured and unmanaged "grandma" wireless networks at the college's multiple campuses across four states in the US (New York, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin). Moreover, students, administrators and professors wanted to use their mobile devices to access the college's Web portal, get data about classes and grades, and conduct research.
What's the secret to a high-performing team? Trust. This was one of the key themes at the CIO 100 symposium which kicked off this week in Rancho Palos Verdes, California.
Many IT staffs toil under type-A managers who foster fear and distrust, says Frank Wander, CIO at The Guardian Life Insurance Company and a conference keynote speaker. "The higher the stress, distrust and anger, the slower the project moves," he says, adding, "Companies might as well be throwing their money away."
Sightings of iPhones and iPads inside companies are becoming more common, to the chagrin of those IT departments that prefer the enterprise-class features of the BlackBerry. One of the reasons: Apple has cleared some of the more daunting security hurdles, according to Forrester Research.
Forrester has even recommended seven steps CIOs should take for stronger enterprise iPhone security. Nevertheless, the iPhone and iPad still face a few barriers to greater enterprise adoption, mostly in the purview of device management, Forrester points out in a recent research note.
During the next 90 days, consumer demand for smartphones will reach tsunami heights, according to a study released this week by ChangeWave Research. Despite recent troubles, Apple's iPhone 4 will be out in front along with HTC's Droid Incredible, while RIM's BlackBerry risks falling further behind.
It's too soon to call the iPad a game-changing tech success story, but that lofty title gets closer by the week. With soaring sales, huge gains as an e-reader, real cuts into the netbook market, and sky-high (albeit early) customer satisfaction rates, the iPad's biggest challenge has been living up to all of the pre-launch hype.
"One million iPads in 28 days - that's less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone," said Apple CEO Steve Jobs on May 3, only three days after the 3G version had hit the market.
Thanks, Blackberry, for bringing mobility to the masses, but the future belongs to the iPhone. There are many reasons for this but perhaps the most compelling is, at the heart of Canadian company Research in Motion's (RIM) culture lies an antiquated mobile technology: paging.
So no matter how many Bolds, Curves, Pearls and Storms that RIM drums up - why so many? - the iPhone-like smartphone is simply not in RIM's DNA. Let's face it, RIM's phones are needlessly complex for end users, and RIM's app store looks like a Quik Mart compared to Apple's nearly 200,000-apps App Store.
Have you ever peeked at your girlfriend's BlackBerry? Scrolled through call logs, text messages, emails? Perhaps your significant other has been spending too much time on the iPhone Facebook app reconnecting with old flames.
Mobile gadgets have made spying all-too-easy, according to a recent survey by Retrevo, a consumer electronics shopping site. "Everyone's personal information is, more times than not, left sitting on the kitchen counter, readily available to 'curious' onlookers like spouses, partners, boyfriends, girlfriends, significant others, or who knows, even nosy mothers-in-laws," writes Andrew Wisner, Retrevo's director of community and content.
If you think the iPad is just a big iPod Touch for Fanboy consumers, think again.
The nearly 10-inch touchscreen will open the door to a variety of never-seen-before uses, say iPhone developers. Many developers told CIO.com about iPad apps in the works. They spoke under condition of anonymity because their clients don't want them talking about the apps yet.
More and more employees wish their companies would give them Macs. After all, Macs are powerful, sleek-looking machines that also run iTunes and Guitar Hero.
Yet Macs at work have their own quirks. Just ask Tom Kelly of Healthcare IP Partners, a 60-employee technology service provider for hospitals. He led a sweeping effort to bring Macs into a Windows-only enterprise a couple of years ago.
What are your plans next Saturday?
If you're an avid Apple fan, chances are you'll be waiting in a long line for hours to fork out US$500 to get your hands on a newly minted iPad. Then you'll race home (or to your nearest wi-fi hot spot) and start downloading cool iPad apps.
Two out of three IT administrators at large organisations with Macs and PCs said they expect to see an increase in the number of Macs this year, according to a newly released survey by the Enterprise Desktop Alliance.
Tom Cromelin, spokesperson for the Enterprise Desktop Alliance, says the survey shows "a green field of opportunity to educate people" about how to manage a Mac-PC environment in the enterprise.
Only a few weeks remain of 2009, and thus begins the task of defining new year's resolutions--in this case, we'll be making a list for Apple and the iPhone. Even though the iPhone had a banner year, we still have some ideas for change in 2010.
While the Apple iPhone is known for its great simplicity, some apps drive users absolutely crazy. The problems stem largely from the poorly designed ways that certain apps manipulate the iPhone's touch features, as well as confusing button placement.
