VDC Research: Enterprise & Government Mobility Market Blog

Can Apple Devices Rough the Rugged DSD Market?

According to a recent article from Mobile Enterprise Magazine, PepsiCo’s North American Beverages division has adopted Apple products into its Direct Store Delivery system. Not only are roughly 4,000 field merchandisers equipped with iPhones and 2,000 field managers with iPads, but PepsiCo has gone a step further and developed two iOS apps entirely in-house through its technology group:

Power4Merch

• Enables merchandisers to view schedules, store and display details
• Notifies merchandisers of driver arrival
• Displays store details and account information

Manager’s Briefcase

• Enables managers to coordinate and monitor deliveries, schedules and contracts
• Displays pricing and planograms
• Provides electronic versions of paperwork and automated notifications to merchandisers

This unprecedented move is sure to shake the DSD market, which is characterized by mature processes, long upgrade cycles and heavy reliance on legacy rugged devices. While consumer grade technologies have slowly but surely trickled into markets ranging from retail and healthcare to education and insurance, DSD organizations’ risk aversion and reliance on mature processes has thus far stunted adoption of smartphones and tablets in the DSD space.  PepsiCo’s move to implement iOS devices is even more risky given the considerable capital investment required to purchase solutions, integrate with existing (Windows-based) systems and train mobile workers. However, according to Brian Spearman (SVP of Go-To-Market and Service, PepsiCo North America Beverages), PepsiCo is seeing early success with this program, estimating that the new iOS apps save each employee an impressive 6 hours a week.

Use of Power4Merch and Manager’s Briefcase has actually increased the operational efficiency of the DSD system by facilitating real time communication, leveraging data, and eliminating the need for printed information such as schedules and order quantities.

Beyond facilitating advances in operational efficiency, DSD organizations are increasingly looking at consumer grade technologies as a means to enhance their brand and image in customer-facing merchandising activities. Devices such as the iPad are generally more visually appealing as well as easier to operate than traditional rugged devices. They boast high resolution and larger screens, making sales presentations and customer/end-user surveying activities more intuitive and effective. Further, many DSD drivers are already familiar with operating consumer grade technology, and companies may find it more cost-effective to leverage personal devices instead of those purchased by the company. These are clear advantages that could drive a shift towards consumer grade devices in the DSD market.

A recent VDC survey of DSD IT decision-makers revealed that those in this price sensitive market feel that ruggedized devices may be overpriced relative to the value they provide. And yet, rugged vendors emphasize the total cost of device ownership, citing additional costs to manage and support consumer grade devices throughout their lifecycle (e.g. repairs, OS updates, and replacement cycle).  To address growing interest in the tablet form factor in the DSD market, vendors such as Panasonic and Motorola have been working to develop rugged tablets capable of utilizing apps and increasing operational efficiency as well. In the end, consumer grade devices are sure to make an entrance into the DSD market, albeit slow and cautious. Whether they will prosper will be determined when the first iPhone falls two inches to the ground and shatters. 

Stay tuned for more insights into the DSD Market.  VDC's Enterprise Mobility & Connected Devices Practice will be publishing its annual Direct Store Delivery Report by end of Q2.

MWC 2013 Event Recap

I'm finally over my jet lag and wanted to share some perspectives on my visit to MWC ― Mobile World Capital moved the event to a new venue this year (the Fira Gran Via) a sprawling and massive conference center that definitely was designed for several concurrent conferences, but was required to handle the largest ever MWC attendance (72,000+ attendees). While MWC runs for four days, I left feeling like I could have used at least one extra day to see everyone I would have liked to (there were ~1,500 vendors exhibiting at the event). Barcelona definitely felt crowded, the streets, my hotel, and every restaurant was packed through Thursday ― getting a taxi was quite the challenge at the end of each day (not surprising given that all of the hotels near the show were sold out well ahead of the event). I definitely spent the majority of my time in meetings (and walking) ― the distance from hall 1 to 8 is >1KM, so the moving sidewalks were definitely appreciated.

Sick of BYOD? Get used to it ...

Given my coverage here at VDC, the majority of my conversations with vendors centered on EMM (enterprise mobility management) which continues to expand, with MDM at its core, and continued expansion of app management, security, authentication/identity management, virtualization, dual-persona (data separation / container solutions), app-level security (wrappers), and mobile content management. Bottom line, CIOs will be grappling with BYOD for some time, and vendors know it. The vendor landscape for these aforementioned enterprise mobility components continues to become more diverse with best-of-breed mobile-first startups continuing to provide complementary capabilities to enhance solutions.

A Layered Approach to Mobile Security ― Samsung KNOX builds on SAFE Initiative

The topical EMM example that generated significant buzz out of MWC was Samsung's KNOX announcement ― core to this solution is Samsung's proprietary security enhanced Android OS (commonly referred to as SE Android). KNOX enabled devices will feature a secure boot chain which leverages ARM's TrustZone technology to monitor kernel integrity and to ensure that only authorized apps can be run (this theoretically will prevent any KNOX enabled devices from being jailbroken ― this will be interesting to keep an eye on). The KNOX component that is getting the most media attention is the application layer security component to KNOX (the AES 256 bit encrypted container) as well as the native IPSec VPN for containerized apps ― this is an area that merits more than just a few sentences in a blog post, I'll be posting more on KNOX later this week. Samsung was involved in another important announcement last week ― the company has partnered with Red Bend Software for a dual-persona solution (a type 1 hypervisor) that is currently in beta in several large customers. I will be keeping an eye on this initiative, and look forward to seeing the results of the test deployments (beta customers have agreed to an extensive survey that will provide valuable insights on the UX and IT management aspects of dual persona deployments). What was most interesting was the competing vendors with their own "mini stations" inside the Samsung booth (tough to call it a booth ...) ― reps. from vendors like Fixmo, AirWatch, SOTI and Centrify standing just a few feet from each other...

AirWatch ― $1B+ Valuation

The rapidly growing EMM vendor was the enterprise mobility vendor that everyone was talking about on Monday morning at MWC ― when Ralph De La Vega (President and CEO of Mobility at AT&T) stops by to congratulate you, you know you've got everyone's attention. In case you missed it, AirWatch landed a $200M investment on the eve of MWC (Sunday night). AirWatch was one of the few vendors to have 2 booths at MWC ― the booth to drive traffic to their primary booth happened to be right next to SAP's booth ― suffice it to say, that AirWatch continues to be aggressive. I had the opportunity to participate in the company's user conference being held at MWC (AirWatchConnect) ― the event attracted key customers, featured an impressive lineup of both industry and analyst speakers and was well executed. While the competition is fierce, I still see the channel as being key. Vendors competing with AirWatch are increasingly focused on carrier relationships and continue to expand their solution range as well.

Product Launches ― Phablets and Lower Pricing

Other than the mid-range Windows Phones that Nokia released, the device story out of MWC was all about Android. OEMs such as LG, Lenovo, HTC, ZTE, Huawei and Nokia released new smartphones ― Sony, HP, Asus, Acer, Samsung, each released tablets ― the unmistakable trend is that the screen size race is continuing, and the prevalence of Qualcomm's quad-core Snapdragon processor (although Huawei's Hisilicon 1.5Ghz quad-core processor seems to be on par with the Snapdragon). Nokia announced its 301 and 105 feature phones aimed at emerging markets (Nokia mentioned China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Russia, Vietnam and other markets in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Middle East in its press release). The 105 features a numeric keypad (most impressive is the 12 hour talk time and month of standby time) and will retail for a remarkably low ~$20, the 301 will retail for ~$85 and packs smartphone like features ― both phones have Nokia's solid build quality, with the 105 being positioned as backup or emergency phones, both are also being positioned toward a younger demographic.

More on Nokia

Nokia remains challenged with its enterprise strategy ― the company is looking to Microsoft for support, but the folks in Redmond don't appear to be executing well with helping Nokia establish their OS as an enterprise contender. Meanwhile, Blackberry, Samsung and Apple continue to enhance their enterprise focus ― Nokia still produces high quality products and has a broad range of devices that are appealing to consumers, however the clock is running out on both BlackBerry and Nokia to gain traction ― others such as Huawei, HTC and Lenovo may have an opening as well. 

Other tidbits

• The GSMA announced OneAPI Exchange to help foster collaboration between operators and developers (partners include: AT&T, Deutsche Telkom, Orange, Telefonica, and Vodafone)
• Mobily announced a partnership with Jasper Wireless to help integrate M2M solutions across a broad range of connected devices (e.g., automotive telematics, smart metering and infotainment products) ― Jasper will provide cloud-based applications and management services to Mobily.
• 17 mobile operators committed to support Mozilla's mobile Firefox OS
• Companies such as IBM, Intel, Ford, Samsung, and SAP participated in unveiling of GSMA's Connected City - a nice concept that really did provide a forward look at the potential cities of our future where everyone and everything can benefit from intelligent wireless connections.
• There are lots of demos of M2M in operation at MWC, many of our discussions with operators and service providers centered on how they intend to participate in empowering the market with advisory, implementation, and value-added services, aimed at specific verticals or use cases. It’s clear that an increasingly broad range of vendors see M2M as a vehicle to lift their bottom line and are architecting solutions and services based on connectivity that are tightly coupled with data collection and analytics.

Didn’t get to MWC? Here’s a link to a gallery of assorted pics from the event ― the largest mobile event of the year definitely lived up to its billing …

Going to MWC? Let's Meet

Please contact us to schedule a meeting at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona from Monday February 25th through Wednesday February 27th. 

We are looking forward to largest mobile event of the year, and hope to connect with you to learn about your enterprise mobility solutions.

To set up a meeting:

Contact Eric Klein, Sr. Analyst, Enterprise Mobility & Connected Devices Practice, VDC Research Group.

 

NRF 2013: Translating the interactive online experience into the store...and other observations

NRF 2013 certainly lived up to its “The BIG Show” billing and delivered an extremely well attended trade show by both retail technology vendors and investors. From mobile payments and POS innovation to retail analytics and concierge programs, one key theme throughout NRF was the desire by retailers to replicate – if not improve – the interactive experience enabled through online channels. The  growing threat of trends like show-rooming and from e-tail powerhouse Amazon.com and continued inability of traditional retailers to more effectively integrate their online and in-store experiences are leaving retailers predictably nervous.

The recent holiday retail sales figures published by NRF are proof positive as sales through ‘stores’ rose by 3% - down from 5.6% in 2011 – while online sales grew by 11.1%.  While these channel patterns are not expected to change dramatically, what we are beginning to see – as evidenced by a number of innovative releases at NRF – is that solutions to deliver a true integrated omni-channel solution for retailers are increasingly viable and that retailers are serious about delivering this experience. To that effect, some of the key themes and unique announcements observed during NRF 2013 include:

• The power of the associate. Retail associates represent one of – if not THE – key competitive
  advantage of traditional retailers. Yet they frequently not treated as such. Clearly high turnover of associates contributes to retailers challenges. However, retail associates need to be better leveraged – and trained – to support the increasingly educated consumer. This means equipping retail associates with solutions to enable real time access to critical product and inventory data and communications and collaboration capabilities within the retail setting. Innovative solutions such as Motorola’s SB1 smart badge are a cost effective example of how retailers can empower and support their associates.
• The integrated retail experience. The industry has been discussing omni-channel retailing for several years. However, the reality never quite lived up to the promise. What we are starting to witness, however, is that for select items – such as apparel or DIY products – fulfillment from store locations is gaining a lot of attention by retailers. Moreover, the seamless integration of the online store-front with the in-store retail solutions is delivering the capability where, for example, Home Depot can fulfill an order it received within 20 minutes by an in-store associate.
• More actionable analytics. For an industry with such slim margins it is incredible how little retail decision makers really know about their operations. Ask how long it takes to run a price mark-up/down and a blank stare will be a common response. Workforce management analytics and the dashboards that make the data readily accessible are the often overlooked, yet exceedingly important tools for retailers in today’s hyper-competitive climate where decisions need to be made spontaneously, often in a highly distributed manner. Solution providers
  such as Kronos and their recently introduced Workforce Tablet Analytics will assist retailers in deriving real value from Big Data.
• Store format changes. One of the biggest changes we are in the midst of witnessing is the dramatic shift in POS infrastructure. While traditional ‘fixed’ POS stations remain the defacto solution, the rate at which retail organizations are investing in mobile POS and payment solutions and, equally importantly, the rate at which they are NOT upgrading legacy POS solutions. Unique solutions from established payment vendors such as Verifone and Ingenico that enable secure payment across a variety of mobile devices – such as tablets and smartphones – and the integration of new payment types with existing retail infrastructure (thing PayPal and NCR) is driving massive change. While mobile POS offers some clear benefits in the form of improved service quality, speed of sales process and personalization of shopping experience it is not until this year when we expect a fundamental shift towards mobile payment. One major question, however, is whether mobile can sufficiently withstand the rush of a seasonal shopping season such as end of year holiday season.
• Store format changes, part II. One of the other developments and trends we discussed and are tracking is related to the fluidity of the retail operation and the ability for retailers to more rapidly respond to quick shifts in the market. An impact of this is the shift to smaller footprint store formats and larger warehouses or more warehouse space. Technologies that allow retailers to be more responsive to rapid changes in demand or product mix and do so on a
  individual store basis are increasingly critical.
• Microsoft’s Windows 8 Embedded Handheld. While there has been much anticipation and
  debate leading up to Microsoft’s official release of their next generation OS for enterprise/ruggedized mobile devices, the cat is finally out of the bag. Among other developments, Microsoft is delivering UI upgrades to bring this platform on par with modern mobile platforms and some of the prototypes we previewed were truly transformational. As expected, there is a clean break from the existing Windows Embedded Handheld 6.5 – which Microsoft will continue to support through 2020. What was perhaps not expected was that the launch will be coordinated with a select group of OEM partners, unlike the broad availability
  of existing solutions. Microsoft is clearly taking a page out of the Windows 8 launch program. While the volume hit will be negligible – launch partners account for approximately 60% of rugged handheld shipments – in the case of the niche-oriented and still fragmented market, this may backfire. 

CES Kicks off Q1 Event Season

CES - check, up next NRF, AppsWorld, and MWC!

The 2013 event season is officially underway, last week ~35K exhibitors and ~150K attendees gathered at the LVCC for the 46th annual (believe it or not) Consumer Electronics Show. While some are saying that the show is losing steam, I saw no evidence - in fact, the show seemed larger than in past years, with a crowded show floor and very long lines for taxi cabs when it was time to clear out each evening.

Keynotes included high-profile tech luminaries such as Qualcomm's CEO Paul Jacobs (who was joined by Microsoft's Steve Balmer), Samsung's Device Solutions President, Stephen Woo (joined by Bill Clinton), CEA President Garty Shapiro and Panasonic's President Kazuhiro Tsuga. Each showcased their latest innovations which ranged from Ultra HDTV, high speed energy efficient processors to new display technologies that enable bendable and foldable screens (sign me up for the folding 5" Smartphone). I didn't have the opportunity to see each of the keynotes live, but have watched them all online - while there was no category killer or visionary product launched, there certainly are some innovative and important advancements happening around System on Chip (Samsung's new Exynos processor features dual quad-core ARM-Cortex cores (that's a mouthful) that "load balance" processing tasks), solid state drives featuring higher densities (1TB), the connected home and car, and TV's boasting 4x the pixels of 1080p displays. Naturally, I was more inclined toward the mobile-oriented news from CES - there was some, but based on what was released, I think its safe to say that we can expect to see many more announcements out of MWC in a few weeks.

It was a relatively quiet CES for mobile this year, but even a quiet CES is a busy one. Several notable mobile-oriented announcements out of CES included Huawei, Lenovo, Sony, and ZTE each announcing new flagship Android-based Smartphones, (making it extremely likely that HTC, LG, Nokia, RIM (whose executives were in town to show off the near final version of the upcoming BlackBerry 10 OS), and Samsung will have something to announce in Barcelona). There was also news on the mobile OS front this past week, Linux-based Tizen (backed by Intel) and Unbuntu (from Canonical) are both likely to show up on devices later this year. Samsung revealed plans to release a Tizen-based device later this year (this was a hot topic at the company's analyst breakfast), Unbuntu who has yet to land a hardware partner demonstrated to me live and in person that their OS was ready for prime time (lots of interest at their booth).

While vendors focused on the enterprise didn't have a presence at CES, they were at the show. AT&T hosted it's 8th annual Developer Summit, with the company's always energetic President and CEO of Mobility Ralph de la Vega kicking off the event. Others had their enterprise-oriented executives on site - Nokia hosted analyst briefings, along with Samsung, and mobile-first vendors such as Good Technologies.

Stay tuned for VDC's Mobile & Wireless team's next event recap – NRF.

Honeywell's Intermec Acquisition Reshaping the Competitive Landscape of the Rugged Mobile Market

After monitoring the rugged mobile market and witnessing the consolidation trend that has been taking the market by storm for the past few years (e.g. Honeywell's acquisition of EMS Technologies, Inc and Motorola Solutions' acquisition of PSION), here at VDC Research, we were expecting 2012 to bring us more in terms of acquisitions - and the month of December did not disappoint us. On Monday, Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) announced that it would acquire Intermec Inc. (NYSE: IN) for about $600 million in cash ($10 per share).

Despite maintaining its competitive position, Intermec, the workflow performance company that develops, manufactures and integrates technologies that identify, track and manage supply chain assets has been going through restructuring and was in search of a new CEO in addition to evaluating its alternatives. In addition to being a key manufacturer of rugged mobile computers, RFID, barcode scanners and barcode printers, the company is a turnkey solution provider with offerings in hardware, software, services and integrated solutions.

In this blog post, we are going to be looking at Honeywell's acquisition of Intermec and its impact on the enterprise mobility market.

Sign of the Times*:The rugged mobile market - and more specifically the rugged handheld market - is at crossroads. In fact we appear to be entering a phase of lower growth. Some of this can be attributed to consumerization and increased market erosion by smartphones. In addition, macro factors such as the weak economic climate in Europe and the soft recovery in North America do not bode well for higher growth dynamics. What is increasingly clear for participants in this already wildly fragmented market is that without scale - or an extremely focused niche position - one's ability to compete is compromised. Although Motorola - fresh off its recent acquisition of PSION - remains the clear leader in the rugged handheld market with over 40% share, combining Honeywell (LXE) and Intermec creates a more viable "number two" with a market share reaching 20%. This substantially broadens the gap with the rest of the market as the next closest competitor's share hovers around 5%.

Portfolio Fit and Mix:Honeywell's enterprise mobility and AIDC products are part of its Scanning Mobility unit within its ACS division. From a hardware perspective, Intermec expands Honeywell's rugged handheld and forklift mounted portfolio, especially around devices for field mobile and logistics solutions. In addition, through Intermec's printer and media division Honeywell has effectively expanded its TAM by several billion. Moreover, with Intermec's Vocollect division (Vocollect is the leader in voice solutions for mobile workers) Honeywell is further enhancing its warehouse capabilities, a critical market for rugged mobile and data collection technologies. What is likely especially appealing to Honeywell, is access to Intermec's installed base - particularly in markets like DSD, industrial warehousing, logistics and field service. Beyond core hardware, Intermec also has some interesting capabilities around professional services - through its Enterprise Mobile business unit - and software. These could be critical as Honeywell explores possibilities to enhance its service footprint and scale its service offerings.

Consolidation Trend and Honeywell as a Serial Acquirer:Consolidation trend has been a common theme in theme in the enterprise mobility market over the past couple of years and VDC expects this trend to continue in areas where the market has reached a certain level of maturity. Honeywell has excelled as an acquirer of companies as the company acquired Hand Held Products, Metrologic, EMS Technologies and Intermec since 2007. PSION's acquisition by Motorola Solutions earlier in the year shook up the competitive landscape as the consolidated company is better positioned in the market with its expanded product portfolio and market share gains. While the overall tendency in the market might suggest being more cautious giving the economic uncertainties and volatility, Honeywell once again focused on the potential opportunities associated with it and decided to move forward with the acquisition. The company continues to focus on mid-market deals (under $1 billion) and use consolidation as a way to support its organic growth. Honeywell's expertise in consolidation perhaps gives the company a significant leverage over its peers as the company perceives these acquisitions as a safer way to grow its business.

Despite its large installed base of customers and devices and its strong position with its partner ecosystem, Intermec has been having some challenges over the past couple of quarters. It would be interesting to see how Honeywell successfully integrates the company and turns its business around. The impact of this acquisition on Intermec's employees and product lines is also yet to be seen.

*The figures reported in this section are from VDC Research's Strategic Insights 2012 Enterprise & Government Mobility Hardware Mobile Devices Report and references to consolidated companies when mentioning Motorola Solutions (includes PSION) and Honeywell (includes Intermec).

P.S. Since the announcement of the acquisition, multiple law firms announced that they will be investigating the acquisition as a result of the potential claims against the Board of Directors of Intermec, Inc. We will update this blog post as more information becomes available.

Notable Acquisition Earns Networking Giant a Boost into the Cloud; Cisco Acquires Meraki

On November 18, Cisco announced its intent to acquire Meraki - a startup leading the move to cloud-based networking - for ~$1.2B in cash.  Meraki solutions enable centralized, cloud-based management of on-premise networking solutions.  

Key drivers of this acquisition:

• Grow Penetration into the SMB Market - While Cisco's wireless infrastructure solutions are clearly market-leading, offering a high level of quality and service, Cisco is known as a top-of-the-line vendor with a high price tag associated with its products/ services.  Cisco is betting on the flexibility and scalability offered through Meraki solutions to expand its overall target market with greater support of SMB requirements.
• Rising Competitor, Promising Growth - 2011 saw Meraki achieve approximately $100M in bookings, and nearly tripling its employee base from 120 to 330 employees.  Established in 2006, this performance is especially notable, indicating the strong future growth potential for Meraki.  While not necessarily competing head-on with Cisco - a vendor strong in serving large enterprise customers - Meraki's technologies are complementary to Cisco's existing portfolio.  Further, Meraki's low pricing model definitely represented a real concern for Cisco.
• Cisco Slow to Address Rapid Market Shifts - Smartphones and - increasingly - tablets are putting pressure on organizations' wireless networks.  While Aruba has developed solutions such as ClearPass and Aruba Instant to tackle these growing enterprise concerns, Cisco had not yet announced such a product.  We will likely see Cisco announce several new products and solutions over the next 12-24 months as Meraki's technologies are integrated into the Cisco infrastructure.

While Meraki has no doubt made a splash - over the past few years - as a very successful startup in the networking space, this acquisition will facilitate more rapid global expansion of these offerings.  In all, VDC expects this acquisition to expand Cisco's solutions portfolio, and hopefully facilitate further innovation from this networking giant.

 

 

MobileCon 2012: Is RIM's Strategy Enough to Compete?

On Wednesday, October 10, RIM took the stage at MobileCon in San Diego, and CIO, Robin Beinfait, delivered the value proposition of the BlackBerry 10 Platform for the enterprise. RIM's keynote had a heavy focus on platform features that RIM believes are differentiators in the market. Through this lens, I thought RIM made a clear acknowledgement of their strategy in the mobile market. The keynote points to a market positioning of RIM emphasizing software first and hardware second; the world is BYOD; and the need for a much more robust platform that can compete with third-party device management solutions designed for iOS and Android OSes.

It's rather notable that a firm such as RIM that historically has derived most of its revenue from hardware is putting a heavy emphasis on software. The BlackBerry 10 platform will provide features that allow its mobile phones to be more competitive in an iOS and Android market, but it will require a strategic focus on software for revenues, not where its bread and butter has been.

If you want to compete in the software market, you have to support BYOD (Bring Your Own Device). Beinfait encouraged CIOs to understand the demands of BYOD on the enterprise and to embrace supporting employees while developing a comprehensive strategy to the trend versus and ad hoc approach. RIM is smart to embrace BYOD as the trend won't go away even if adoption levels are slower than reported. (Interestingly, during an analyst breakfast briefing held by AT&T at MobileCon, AT&T indicated that customer engagements do not reflect the figures reported on the BYOD trend.) However, it's also strategic positioning as BES is marginalized as BYOD adoption rates rise. 

If BlackBerry 10 is going to be a viable competitor in the smartphone market, then it requires a comprehensive offering of mobile applications. In a bid to offer a robust platform, RIM is providing early access to applications developers. RIM has distributed more than 5,000 BlackBerry Dev Alpha test units to applications developers, and has opened the first global BlackBerry Tech Center at its EMEA HQ in Slough, UK. BlackBerry 10 not only needs to grab developer mindshare, but enough developers to supply a comparative application ecosystem to Android and iOS. If developers are excited about this platform and enough cool apps are developed that are superior and differentiate it from non-BlackBerry apps, it would technically give RIM a fighting chance.

Time is one of the major challenges for RIM. RIM has already indicated that the BlackBerry 10 Platform will not be released until the first quarter of 2013, which misses the holiday shopping season. Presumably based on the belief that a release without all dimensions ready to go will be more damaging than the delay. That being said, RIM is a firm that has served enterprise customers very well, and met the enterprise demands for security. Given RIM's declining market relevance, the BlackBerry 10 platform has a significant challenge to retain the enterprise customer before Android and iOS own the vast majority of the mobile operating system market.

Do you think the BlackBerry 10 Platform is competitive enough? What incentives are needed to bring developers to the BlackBerry 10?

 

 

 

 

HP Bounces Back from an Estimated $40M Loss with a $35.4M Investment in Startup Magnet Systems

 

This Monday, shortly after announcing the company’s participation in a Series B round of funding for startup Magnet Systems, HTC revealed that the company would recognize an estimated $40M loss as OnLive – a U.S. cloud gaming service in which HTC had invested in February 2011 – has been forced to restructure.  HTC’s $35.4M investment in Magnet Systems indicates that the company has no plans of playing it safe.  Rather, as social, mobile, and cloud technologies continue to drive strong opportunities in the market, HTC appears determined to continue down this high-risk high-reward path. 

 

HTC’s investment in Magnet Systems also exemplifies a transition to investment in the world of enterprise mobility – as opposed to more consumer-based applications (e.g. OnLive).  Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Magnet Systems’ software platform promises to accelerate app development in the enterprise space through its WIN software platform.  Prior to HTC’s investment in this young startup, Magnet Systems had received $12.6M in March 2011 from Series A funding led by Andreessen Horowitz.

 

While Magnet Systems remains a small player in the enterprise mobility space, VDC recommends keeping an eye out to see the company evolve.  Magnet Systems’ Founder & CEO Alfred Chuang had previously co-founded BEA Systems in 1995.  13 years later, the company sold to Oracle Corp. for $8.5B. BEA Systems specialized in developing middleware to connect software apps to back-end databases, facilitating buildout of strong infrastructure for the enterprise. 

 

Magnet Systems’ approach to enterprise software leverages the cloud to facilitate real-time updates and communication.  The company’s first app – Sales WIN – is a productivity solution, utilizing social networking tools to enhance efficiency in sales deal management and pipeline visibility.  Looking forward, the company will likely look to build out its portfolio of mobile apps, encouraging developers to leverage their Workplace Interaction Network (WIN) software development platform.  The influx in capital from HTC will likely accelerate the company’s growth – we will have to wait to see how the company evolves in coming months.

 

HP's New Mobility Global Business Unit to be Run by ex-Nokia MeeGo EVP

According to an internal HP memo published by The Verge, it appears HP will be developing a new Mobility Global Business Unit, with a chief objective of entering the consumer tablet market. The memo was circulated within the company by HP’s Todd Bradley – EVP of the Printing and Personal Systems Group. Bradley will reportedly manage this unit as a part of his current role, while former Nokia employee Alberto Torres. Torres had been responsible for MeeGo operations at Nokia, working with Intel to drive a new mobile OS into the market. As Nokia pivoted to work with Microsoft and its Windows Phone, the MeeGo project was dropped.

This new role may again represent an uphill battle for Torres, judging by the limited success of HP’s first consumer grade tablet launch. And yet, with a Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford and prior experience at McKinsey and Company, this may be a strategic opportunity for both HP and Torres. Torres will be joining HP on September 3rd, suggesting we will be seeing further updates around HP’s mobile strategy and investment in the near future.