Gil Bouhnick's Mobile Corner

Few days ago, I wrote about the Mobile Mashup, and how it penetrates the enterprise world.

The technology and trends we are witnessing are here, not sure they will stay, but if they don’t – you can count on it that they will be replaced by others.

NFC (Near Field Communication), Augmented Reality, QR Codes, social networks, knowledge collaboration, big data, cloud computing (yes, also SoMoClo), are creating new opportunities for business organizations to increase productivity using new ways. Creative ones.

I like using the term Mobile Mashup: a mixture of technologies, combined with social and computing trends, running inside a smartphone, to create something new.

In the enterprise world, the mobile mashup can lead the way to new productivity tools, increased users efficiency, higher execution level, and not to forget – higher satisfaction rate among the end users (which eventually impacts all of the above once more).

Read more about the mobile mashup in the enterprise world in here:

Mobile Mashup is here, and it’s coming to the enterprise

I am currently participating in the ClickConnect event in Barcelona, and I had a chance to present the ClickAppStore, ClickSoftware’s latest application store for mobile apps built on top of the ClickMobile Platform.

Seeing the excitement it brought, and getting the great feedback we got from our existing and new customers made me feel extremely happy about it, as I believe that the model of apps, embedded within a larger product that acts as the “hub”, allowing them to inter-connect, share data, workflow, and processes – is something every organization needs.

More business content, less efforts:

Companies hate upgrading their software, and with the ClickAppStore they will be able to enjoy a “modular” model where the baseline solution is kept, and more business content can be added (or removed) by deploying more and more apps on top of ClickMobile.

For our customers – it means more business content, more features, less effort and most of all – no need to upgrade to enjoy it.

Of course there are other advantages to this model as well (like the fact that you pay as you go, or get better support for those apps than trying to build it on your own), but in terms of the big ones – those are probably the key benefits.

You enjoy modularity of apps, without compromising on streamlined workflows and consistent user experience.

How does it relate to Mobile Mashup you ask? It’s simple: new technologies are harder to implement in the enterprise , both psychologically and technically, but when they are packed in small sized apps, or when they can be tested separately without impacting the entire production environment – they are easier to digest.

Mobile requirements are constantly changing. Evolving. But companies prefer to minimize changes. If it’s working – don’t touch it. But by doing so – they are missing the opportunities to get more out of their own mobile solutions and the Mobile Mashup. ClickAppStore solves this pain.

I believe the Mobile Mashup will change the way employees work when they are on the move, and the ClickAppStore will help organizations become more productive, modern, innovative. By utilizing specific apps, companies will be able to embrace the Mobile Mashup in a safer way, pick the right technologies according to their needs, and embed them in their working processes in an elegant way.

Read more about the ClickAppStore

(This post was originally written for the mobile spoon)

No. ClickSoftware’s new enterprise Application Store (ClickAppStore) will not let you download apps directly to your smartphone like you do with Apple’s AppStore or Google Play, but it will definitely help your IT organization build better mobile solutions for you and your colleagues in a quick, secure, and efficient manner without having to write code.

The ClickAppStore is designed to allow IT people, system implementers and administrators do more with their ClickMobile product by downloading and embedding business apps inside one powerful mobile foundation called ClickMobile, and run them on any popular device out there from iPhones and Android smartphones to tablets, rugged PDA’s and laptops.

ClickSoftware’s exciting announcement about the availability of the ClickAppStore, marks a new era in business mobility; built out of apps, device agnostic, modern, scalable, easy to develop and manage.

This is another step forward in the evolution of mobile technologies in the enterprise, quickly heading towards IT consumerization, adoption of modern mobile devices, knowledge collaboration, etc.

Years ago it was all a matter of low-level development tools using software languages like Java and C++. Those hardcoded, zero flexibility apps were quickly replaced with mobile platforms, providing synchronization and messaging infrastructure, allowing easier mobile development – but still requiring code.

Then came the next generations of mobile platforms, trying to accelerate the development process by providing templates, visual editors, and SDK’s, but coding was always a significant part of the game. You can ask your IT experts how long it took them to implement your current mobile solution… you might get surprised by their answer.

ClickSoftware’s mobile approach has always been zero coding: You don’t have to be a software engineer to build a working ClickMobile application, it’s all done using visual configuration tools, wizards, drag & drop style editors etc. (AKA: Mobility Studio).
Tough challenge when you work with giant organizations with highly demanding requirements, and lots of specific needs.
Yet the company has proved, more than once, that this was doable.

The ClickAppStore is yet another step forward – towards the unique “zero coding” world that ClickSoftware has invented: It allows the implementers to browse, download, and configure business apps on top of the ClickMobile platform. Each app delivers specific functionality, but the interesting part is that all of those apps are interconnected, therefore can work in synergy with each other: data can be passed from one app to another, processes and data validations can be shared, to create a streamlined experience for the field users.

So in fact, the combination of the ClickAppStore (the catalog) and the Mobility Studio (the editor for configuring the downloaded apps) not only equips your IT team with friendly configuration and management tools, but also helps them continuously enhance it, by adding more and more apps into a live environment, without upgrading, without changing the core product, without writing a single line of code, without paying for things that are not required, without getting into a risky, unknown adventure.

Here’s a fun video explaining ClickMobile and the ClickAppStore:

The potential is huge, and we at ClickSoftware, are excited about the ClickAppStore: more and more business apps are expected to be released very soon, and our enterprise customers will be able to enjoy the richness of the business capabilities that exist in the ClickAppStore.

So no, you will not be able to download apps from the ClickAppStore directly to your smartphone, but your organization will definitely be able to leverage this unique offering for creating better mobile experience for you and your colleagues.

In a world where IT consumerization, BYOD, and other market trends are quickly bringing the enterprise closer to the consumers world – the ClickAppStore can help organizations embrace those trends and turn them into productivity gains.

Read more about the ClickAppStore:

Read more about the ClickAppStore by ClickSoftware in this press release

ClickAppStore – Towards Better, Simpler Enterprise Mobility

ClickMobile: When Mobile Web Meets The Enterprise

What’s New With HTML5? March Update

What’s behind the new ClickAppStore by ClickSoftware? Gil Bouhnick Explains

This blog post was originally written for the mobile spoon.

2011 is officially over, and boy, was that a crazy year or what?
Well, actually, despite of all the action, if you think about it – nothing has really changed this year. The winners are still winning, the losers are still losing.

The winners:

• Samsung Galaxy – HTC? Motorola? LG? Nokia? Give Samsung a break. 2012 was the year of the Galaxy. A number of amazing models that placed Samsung at the top of the phones manufacturers pyramid.
• Google Android - climbing to new heights in terms of sales and activations per day, but despite of all the success, Google is still looking for a bit of personality to its’ successful robot, re-inventing the user interface every few months.
• Apple iOS – iPhone 4S is disappointing? iOS 5 failed to innovate? Who cares. Users are happier than ever, Siri rocks, and iPad continues to be the undisputed king. On the other hand, the momentum is constantly slowing down; Apple lost Steve Jobs, the stock is not as happy as usual, and iOS is officially the oldest mobile OS in today’s market.
• Amazon Kindle Fire – sales are rocketing, the Fire seems to be the first true competitor to the iPad. 2012 could become the year of Amazon in mobility. On the other hand, I heard about more people who returned the Kindle Fire saying it’s a crappy device than people that are actually happy with it…

The Losers:

• RIM BlackBerry – it’s hard to believe how RIM, once one of the most successful companies in the world is impotently surrendering without a fight. Try one of RIM’s latest BlackBerry devices and you will understand why analysts are not giving RIM a lot of hope.
• Microsoft Windows Phone 7 – year after year I’m writing about Microsoft’s failing mobile products. I actually bought a Windows Phone 7 devices, I even like it a lot. I’m all in favor of Metro UI, yet it took me 6-7 months and then I went back using an iPhone. The apps, the user experience, the possibilities… Microsoft still has a long way to go.

The Tragic Hero:

• Palm’s webOS – I’m thinking of all the ups and downs webOS had this year,and I cannot help myself from thinking about the engineers who built webOS and how they must feel about it. A brilliant piece of work that never had a chance to make it in this cruel world.

So you see? 2011 had so much activity, and yet nothing has really changed.

Check out the complete summary of 2011 in:

The Mobile Spoon Summarizes 2011. Is It Possible That Nothing Has Changed?

Originally posted in the mobile spoon:

Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Smartphones war by the numbers

700,000 Android devices are activated every day. Got that? 700,000 more people every day are using Android!

As a comparison;

• iOS has 275,000 activations per day,
• Windows Phone 7 has something like 29 activations per day (oh wait, actually it’s 29 activations every week, not day… sorry…)

What an amazing momentum: half a year ago the numbers stood on 400,000. In June it went up to 500,000 and in July it was 550,000.

However, when taking into considerations some other statistics from the mobile world…

Here are the real numbers:

• Every day, 350,000 people around the globe are making a small decision that will make them unhappy.
• 210,000 confused consumers go back to their mobile store every day asking for a real iPhone.
• Summarizing Android, iOS, BlackBerry – there are 1 million smartphones operating systems activated daily (that’s 1,000,029 if you include Windows Phone 7 as well).

Originally posted in the mobile spoon

Originally posted at the mobile spoon:

iPhone 4S with Siri generates higher satisfaction rate than any previous iPhone model

iPhone and me:

When I first started using an iPhone (almost 4 years ago, talk about how time flies) I often thought to myself: "this technology is from out of space!". Coming from Windows Mobile and BlackBerry phones, the iPhone was different in each and every parameter: design, speed, sexiness, user interface, innovation, entertainment.

Time went by. I got used to most of the innovating features in iOS. Android took over, webOS was released, Windows Phone 7, they all ripped off many of the things no one ever thought about before Apple did, but in many cases they made those things even better. And, they didn’t include that annoying "Apple-ness" many of us can’t stand. People (and me included) forgot how this mobile era started. Just as a stupid yet good example: Remember how we used to scroll lists before the iPhone? With Windows-style Scroll-bar, using a stylus! Could you imagine how mobile scrolling would look like if it wasn’t for the iPhone’s scrolling gestures?

iPhone 4 was a low point for me: I didn’t like the hardware design, the Antennagate pissed me off, the progress was not enough to describe it as "out of space" and I felt it’s time to move on: I bought a Windows Phone 7 based Samsung Omnia, and I must say I really enjoy it. I tried some Android devices (except for one, none of them convinced me to switch over to the Android side), I even went back to BlackBerry for a short while (couldn’t last… sorry RIM, you are done…). iPhone was history.

iPhone 4S:

Like most people, I was very disappointed to see iPhone 4S instead of iPhone 5. I was sure it is going to become Apple’s first failure in the iOS period. It had no new design, it included some minor improvements in the CPU, camera and… yeah, it included that SIRI thing, no one could expect how well it will catch.

I was totally wrong.

Not only the phone sells like crazy, it seems like people loves it. iPhone 4S owners are satisfied with their phones much more than Android users for instance.

In fact, according to a recent survey by ChangeWave Research, the iPhone 4S has topped iPhone 4 in customer satisfaction:

That’s 96% which are overall satisfied with their iPhone. Amazing numbers.

Customers ranked Siri voice-recognition system as their favorite feature. Seems like Apple managed to pull that one off once again. Siri seems like a winning feature. The battery life, however, seems like iPhone 4S’s biggest pain at the moment. I wonder if it can be fixed in the software level…

Just for the record: when Apple released the iPhone, people made fun of it, comparing it to a rock, and other funny objects for not having multi-tasking, 3G support etc. When Apple came out with iPad – people made fun of it too, comparing it to a breadboard, rock, etc.

Why do we do that? Why do we continue to doubt Apple’s ability to bring exactly what consumers are looking for? Nothing more, nothing less. Just the things that make people happy with their products. What an art.

Anyways, now I’m doubting whether I should switch back to iPhone or stick with my Omnia 7 for another year until the real iPhone 5 is released. Dilemma. 

Read my first part of the mother of all comparisons: iOS 5 vs. WP7. I started a process, hopefully it will help me decide which one is better…

This Wednesday and Thursday I will be giving a webinar about how to succeed in enterprise mobility projects (and how to avoid common mistakes…).

I would like to invite you all to subscribed to the webinar using the links below – it’s free and it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Here are some more details:

Invitation: The Most Exhaustive, Comprehensive, Essential, All-Embracing List of Tips for a Successful Mobile Enterprise Project (Webinar)

Are you just about to begin a mobile project? Are you looking to mobilize a new business unit or a business process? Are you thinking of replacing your smartphones?

Good for you!

Mobile projects are fun. They are simple. They rarely go wrong.
It’s like they lack a real challenge.
They are practically being managed on their own!

But just in case something might go wrong (it won’t, but just in case), I would like to invite you to join a practical webinar I will be giving, focusing on enterprise mobility tips, based on my experience over the past 6-7 years in which I’ve been been developing mobile products, and have been involved in a number of mobile projects all over the globe, most of them pretty challenging (as most mobile projects typically end up being).

Join me, it will really make me pleased.

Register Now (It’s Free Of Course)!

The list of tips is pretty long, so bring a pen, or an iPad, or even better, a Kindle fire. But be ready for over 50 tips including some real-life examples: difficulties in choosing a proper device, avoiding overloading of data, involving the right people, at the right time, choosing the right technology and the right vendor, and of course, tips about how to manage the mobile project, the technical challenges, and many more.

UPDATE: Notice that we now have 2 sessions in different dates:

Time: 10:00 am GMT
Date: November 30, 2011 (Register)

Time: 1 :00 pm EST/10:00 am PST
Date: December 1st, 2011 (Register)

Register Now (It’s Free Of Course)!

Originally posted at the mobile spoon:

3 Years old, friendly and smart, webOS is looking for a home.

Well well well, look who finished second in the tablets quarterly contest: it’s HP’s TouchPad! Wooooooooo!!! The abandoned tablet, has made it to the top, second only to Apple’s iPad!

Does it mean Palm’s poor exhausted employees still have some hope? Don’t think so. According to the rumors IBM, Oracle, Intel and RIM are showing some interests in webOS and HP might eventually be selling this sweet little platform almost all of us mobile fans have learned to like (but not to waste money on, of course…).

Think about those employees over at the Palm offices, what kind of messages they have been receiving in the last few years? Here’s my version:

• "We are no longer a significant player in the mobile market, but we have plans…"
• "We will work hard to release something completely new. We will call it… webOS! This is our maser plan!"
• "OK, we actually ran out of money, we need to sell the company… but don’t you worry, we have plans…"
• "We are saved! No, it’s not Microsoft… no, not Google, you know they have Android already… no, RIM already got QTX, well? anyone? care to guess???"
• "OK people, no one guessed it, it’s HP, oh no no no, don’t cry! it’s a good thing!"
• "Team, we have some bad news… webOS is not doing very well…" we need to come up with a plan…
• "Team, check out the TouchPad! This will be a hit; it will cost more than iPad and will soon bypass it in sales!"
• "Team, they are shutting us down… but don’t worry you guys, we have plans…"
• "No they will not renew the TouchPad. They are still shutting us down…"
• "Team, we may have found a way to save webOS! Here’s the plan…"

No doubt HP TouchPad is already a legend (and because of the wrong reasons), but it’s only one out of a few leading tablet models that are generating $415 million in retail sales in the US (Q3).

Wow, $415 million! Impressive, isn’t it? Well, depends if you compare it to the poor netbooks sales which are constantly decreasing, or to the King: the iPad, a tablet that generated $6.9 billion in a similar period of time.

The iPad numbers are making all the others look like a joke, but I insist: By mid 2012, Android will lead tablets market (while webOS will probably still be looking for a home…)

Originally posted for the mobile spoon:

The Mother Of All Comparisons: iOS 5 VS. Windows Phone 7 Mango (Part #1)

I’ve been struggling to decide whether to stick with my 1 year old Windows Phone 7 smartphone (Samsung Omnia 7) or get myself a bran-new iPhone 4S. One is the emerging force (in potential at least) in mobility, the other is becoming the mature one in the group.

Since I’m not a huge fan of the iPhone 4/4S hardware design, and find my Omnia hardware design to be boring and even annoying (mainly due to the old looking back cover), I decided that the hardware design will not be a parameter in my decision.

That leaves me with some hardware related features such as camera, and buttons, but mainly leaves the battle in the operating system field.

So as time moves by and I still can’t make a decision – I decided to create the mother of all comparisons: iOS 5 VS. Windows Phone 7 (Mango).

Since there are practically endless areas to compare, I will split this MOAC into several, relatively short, blog posts, aiming to cover all aspects in the OS side.

So without further ado – let’s begin!

The Mother Of All Comparisons: iOS 5 VS. Windows Phone 7 (Mango)

Lock Screen:

Lock screen is one of the most important productivity features in a smartphone. A good lock-screen will give you enough information in a single snapshot. Apple’s iOS used to really suck in this area, inviting jailbreak apps like LockInfo and others to complete the job. Without those hacks, you would end up having an empty lock-screen with nothing but a background image and possibly some nasty popups from the 90′s.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 was refreshing and even stunning: the upper area is reserved for ongoing alerts and notifications, the lower area shows the current time, the next meeting (even if it’s tomorrow morning – which is great), iconic indication of missed calls, new emails, SMS, etc. A glimpse at it will hint if you need to unlock the phone or not. You could also change the volume and trigger the camera without unlocking the phone – those are great features.

Half a year ago, WP7 would have easily won the lock-screen category.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, Apple released iOS5, which was clearly focused on closing last remaining gaps with the competitors (see related article: iOS5 – A Lame Catch-Up Or A Final Blow To Competition?). The new iOS5 lock-screen not only give you a better indication of what’s going on – it’s active, you can unlock your phone to go directly to the active area (emails, calendar, missed calls, SMS (which, by the way, is another copy Apple did in iOS5, this time copying Windows Mobile’s 6.5 lock-screen). Mango, by the way, did not add anything special to the Windows Phone 7 lock-screen, which is a shame, because I would be happy to see my what’sApp messages count or other custom icons.

I still prefer the look and feel of Windows Phone 7 when it comes to the lock screen, the next meeting is still great and is not included in iOS5. I even prefer unlocking my phone going upward than sliding my finger to the right, but the truth is that iPhone now kills WP7 in the lock-screen functionality due to the fact it is active, you can read stuff, scroll, or jump straight into the relevant app.

Lock-Screen category: iPhone wins.

Virtual Keyboard:

Apple invented the virtual keyboard: optimal layout, unbelievable accuracy, long press, brilliant auto-correct, genius magnifying glass, and much more. I used to think a physical keyboard is an advantage when it comes to productivity needs, but it’s not. switching back and forth from different BlackBerry devices to iPhones, Android smartphones and Windows Phones I promise you: once you get used to it, you will type much faster with your virtual keyboard, and it’s all thanks Apple.

Unfortunately, looking at the progress made in the keyboard area since iOS 2 you will notice very little has changed. The magnifying glass is still somewhat inaccurate, you still get some nasty auto-correct proposals that can sometimes change the entire meaning of the sentence (Happy Barfday???), and you don’t have an option to pick the right word out of a list.

Apple’s iOS is getting old. The keyboard is a perfect example, but there are plenty of others.

The Windows Phone keyboard, on the other hand, is a master piece. It’s probably the best virtual keyboard implementation ever made for mobile.

1. The layout is perfect. It includes a period and a comma – both critical for heavy typing.
2. The accuracy is amazing, although I suspect iPhone is a bit better in this category. There are some fluffs here and there, and you feel it best when auto-correction is turned off (when entering user names, passwords, looking for contacts, etc.).
3. The auto correct functionality is perfect: you get the main proposal in bold, the rest are presented in the same line and can be easily be scrolled or selected. You can easily add new words while typing – perfect.
4. The sound of the keys is one of the most addictive things I’ve encountered in a smartphone. It makes both iOS and Android seems like a lame typewriters from the 70′s. No seriously, you probably ask yourself: "Sound? for a keyboard? how important is that?". Well, it is. Try Windows Phone and you will understand.
5. The text focus and selection features are an obvious copy of Apple’s original design, but they work better. It’s another example how Windows Phone 7 was designed: taking the best out of both iOS and Android.
6. Copy/paste is not the fanciest feature, but it’s easier to use than in the iPhone
7. Speed. To me, comparing my typing speed between an iPhone and a Windows Phone leads to a conclusion that Windows Phone enables faster typing. It’s probably subjective, but still. 

So now that I’ve mentioned at least 5 clear keyboard advantages WP7, it’s obvious that Windows Phone 7 wins in a knock out in the category of typing and keyboard experience.

Keyboard & Typing Experience: Windows Phone 7 wins in a knock out.

So there you have it. The first part of the mother of all comparisons: Apple iOS 5 vs. Windows Phone 7.

Here are the results so far, more to come soon:

Are you just about to begin a mobile project? Are you looking to mobilize a new business unit or a business process? Are you thinking of replacing your smartphones?

Good for you!

Mobile projects are fun. They are simple. They rarely go wrong.
It’s like they lack a real challenge.
They are practically being managed on their own!

But just in case something might go wrong (it won’t, but just in case), I would like to invite you to join a practical webinar I will be giving, focusing on enterprise mobility tips, based on my experience over the past 6-7 years in which I’ve been been developing mobile products, and have been involved in a number of mobile projects all over the globe, most of them pretty challenging (as most mobile projects typically end up being).

Join me, it will really make me pleased:

Webinar: The Most Exhaustive, Comprehensive, Essential, All-Embracing List of Tips for a Successful Mobile Enterprise Project

• Date:  Thursday, December 1, 2011                       
• Time:  1:00 pm EST Session / 10:00 am PST
• Speaker:  Gil Bouhnick, Director of Mobility, ClickSoftware

Register Now!

The list of tips is pretty long, so bring a pen, or an iPad, or even better, a Kindle fire. But be ready for over 50 tips including some real-life examples: difficulties in choosing a proper device, avoiding overloading of data, involving the right people, at the right time, choosing the right technology and the right vendor, and of course, tips about how to manage the mobile project, the technical challenges, and many more.

So join me in this mobility webinar, it’s going to be fun.

To register – click here!

This post was originally written for the mobile spoon

This article was originally posted at the mobile spoon:

Half a year ago I wrote the following statement:

The Mobile Spoon Predicts: By Mid 2012, Android tablets sales will bypass the iPad’s sales, turning Android to be the leading mobile OS for both smartphones and tablets.

Source: Mobile Spoon predicts: By mid 2012, Android will lead tablets market

I try not to make dumb predictions (although sometimes I can’t stop myself from being dumb…), but as time went by I started to doubt my own thoughts as nothing seemed to shake iPad’s leadership in the tablets market.

8 months before the due date of my prediction, and it seems like something is finally moving in the right direction (sorry Apple, I actually prefer iOS but I must succeed with my prediction): according to RBC analyst Mike Abramsky: Kindle Fire demand surpasses iPad ahead of launch, could be a threat. Wow, did you hear that? The demand for Kindle Fire is now bigger than the demand for the first iPad.

Does it mean that my prediction will become realized? Will it win me a Pulitzer prize? Will I get more votes because of it in The 2011 Mobile Visionary Star Award contest that I am participating in?

Well, I’m not sure.

You see, the Kindle Fire is riding on the success of iPad 1 and iPad 2. The entire tablets market is. The total demand for tablets these days is much bigger than what it was before the first iPad was released (while most people were skeptical about the true need for a tablet…) because of the iPad hype. We will have to see a real comparison between iPad and Fire demand to fully understand the picture.

One thing I’m pretty sure of: the Kindle Fire is the first true contender to the iPad in the tablets arena. Xoom? get out of here. TouchPad? Don’t give me that joke. Galaxy Tab? Almost… but no. iPad remains king, Kindle Fire? Hmm… Now you’re talking…

Here are some of the key features you get with this $199 tablet:

1. 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books
2. Amazon Appstore — thousands of well loved apps and games
3. Amazon Silk: an ultra-quick web browsing using unique Amazon server side services
4. Free cloud storage for all your Amazon content
5. Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle
6. Dual-core processor (although technical specifications should not be your primary way to select a new device)
7. A tablet with a different size – perfect for people who thinks iPad is too big.

There are some missing capabilities as well: 3G, Cameras, storage, but I think those are minor capabilities for tablets. especially when the price is so different: Apple’s iPad 2 comes between the price range of $499 and $799 where as the Kindle Fire costs just $199.

Here’s a short video review presenting some of the capabilities:

Read more about it in here: Will Kindle Fire turn Android into the leading tablet OS?