Enterprise Mobility Matters

Smartphone Customer Care: A Blessing For Operators Or A Curse For IT Departments?

It's snowing today in Boston.  This year has actually been rather easy in terms of snowfall in New England this year...certainly unlike what other cities like Washington D.C. have been dealing with in the last 10 days (I understand they now have over 3ft or 1m of snow on the ground!).  Taking a quick break from today's busy schedule I came across this rather interesting article at GigaOM talking about why wireless carriers should care about customer care.

It's interesting to see this topic come up again, especially in the context of how T-Mobile has for so long heralded its customer care, while until recently Sprint has suffered much criticism for its "less than optimal" quality of care.  The article did however make me think of one thing.

Throwing Out The Kitchen Sink of Windows Mobile?

Madness.  Sheer Madness.  No I am not talking about the murder mystery.  I'm talking instead about the state of my life post full time employment.  While still not able to share anything about what I am planning next, I can offer you this.  Having a full time job is less busy and stressful than what my days have been like since.  So, as I take a break from thinking about the next phase of my career in enterprise mobility, what better way to relax than to go read up on enterprise mobility.  Yes people.  I recognize the fact that I have no life.

The End of Another Chapter

Well, today's the day.  Two of the best years in my (enterprise mobility) career are coming to an end.  It's been an incredibly frenetic last week here at Strategy Analytics as I was trying to finish off some of the projects I have been working on (while still working on the next "great thing").  It's with very mixed emotions that I say goodbye to this great team of people.  Actually, I'm not going to say goodbye.  To quote the lead singer of my favorite band (he ends all live performances by saying this):

"Until next time...and there will be a next time!"

Rock On.

Philippe

Why The iPad Will Matter In The Enterprise

The iPad is now six days old...sort of...seeing how it hasn't come out yet.  That said, there has been obviously much commentary on the new device from Cupertino.  One of the more interesting pieces I read this week came from Ted Schadler over at Forrester.  I haven't had the pleasure of meeting him yet, but his insight tells me I need to.

The Apple iPad: The Enterprise Mobility Perspective

The wait and hype are now over.  The Apple iPad is now official and real.  Steve Jobs is alleged to have said something to the effect that this was the greatest thing he had ever worked on.  Why is it that I can't see how this is anything more than a mega iPod Touch?

So first off, it does look beautiful.  So does the HP slate that Steve Ballmer showed off at CES.  The purported 10 hour battery life is rather impressive.  That said, I am at a loss as to why this device is compelling...especially when Mr. Jobs described it as "Way better than a laptop."

Saying Goodbye To The Analyst World

Twitter is a funny thing.  140 characters that can say so much.  It can also be misinterpreted rather quickly.  Yesterday, I put a tweet up thanking everyone for their well wishes.  I got more than one person email or DM me asking me what was going on.  Some thought I was unwell, some thought I was leaving Strategy Analytics.  In fact, I was simply saying thank you to all those who had wished me a happy birthday.

iPhone Usage: 70% of The Fortune 100

Happy Monday everyone.  A very short post today on account of the fact that I am on the road.  As I am sure most of you saw, Apple, Inc. has yet again posted amazing numbers for its latest quarter.  The really surprising part?  70 of the Fortune 100 are now using/evaluating/ordering the iPhone.  Wow.  That is a phenomenally high penetration rate.  It speaks to so many things:

• The amazing user interface on the device
• The continuing consumerization of enterprise mobility
• My long standing concern for how much organizations think about mobility management
• The phenomenal opportunities for mobility management vendors to help the Fortune 100 (and others) effectively manage their iPhone deployments

Regardless, the iPhone is nothing but an amazing success story for tech and mobility.  It will be most interesting to see what happens if/when Apple announces iPhone OS 4 on Wednesday.

Patient (Customer???) Relationship Management and Enterprise Mobility

One of the most compelling parts of working in the tech industry as an independent pundit is that you get to speak to a wide variety of vendors and have frank, candid conversations. The tone and depth of these conversations is such that, in all likelihood, they would not have them with others – particularly their competitors.

While I have the good fortune of being able to do so, on a nearly daily basis, I will admit to you that I sometimes feel as if I have an “unfair” advantage, especially when talking about enterprise mobility in the healthcare industry.

Mobile Network and Device Performance: Whose Responsibility Is It?

Now that the political dust has finally settled (it even made the news on the BBC) in my fair Commonwealth (for some reason, we're not a State), I can now get back to fully focusing on scouring the webosphere to see what people are saying about enterprise mobility.  I was sent a link yesterday by a friend and colleague that I found quite interesting.

The author of the blog entry is someone whom I respect and find to be highly knowledgeable in the world of enterprise mobility.  That said, I simply can not agree with his hypothesis.

Windows Mobile Is Dead! Long Live Windows Mobile!

I know, I know...a HUGELY inflammatory title for a blog post, but forgive me.  Living in Massachusetts, I have been bombarded for the last 4 days by calls and advertisements for the senatorial election that will decide who will take over the seat that Ted Kennedy held for so long.  I am sick and tired of the calls and ads.  That, combined with the fact that we should instead be focusing on the fact that it's Martin Luther King Day here in the US, makes it for a slow news day in the world of enterprise mobility.  However, I did read a fascinating blog post from someone who purports to have seen and played with Windows Mobile 7.