Demos, like appearances, can be deceiving. At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, one of the media hits was OnLive Desktop, a service that provisions a Windows 7 desktop environment that includes Microsoft Office 2010 to the iPad over an Internet connection. For many, the idea of being able to run the full Office suite is very appealing, given some of the limitations of the iPad's native office productivity tools such as Apple iWork suite (Pages, Keynote, and Numbers), Quickoffice, and Documents to Go.
The phenomenon is only growing stronger. Here's what IT and business leaders need to know
Thanks to the proliferation -- and relative similarity -- of Android smartphones on the market, finding the right model to suit your needs is no easy task. But for those looking to bulk up on battery life, enter Motorola Mobility's Droid Razr Maxx.
When it comes to business mobile usage, Apple reigns. That's according to Good Technology, an MDM (mobile device management) vendor that tracks the activation of new devices managed by its customers. It's no surprise that in the fourth quarter of 2011, Apple iPhone 4S activations were huge at 31 percent of all new devices activated and 40 percent of all new smartphones, as that highly anticipated smartphone was released in October.
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As major technology websites such as Reddit and Wikipedia prepare to go dark this Wednesday in protest over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives and the similar Protect Intellectual Privacy Act (PIPA) act in the Senate, there are signs that the protests from the technology industry are causing Congress to rethink the two bills, which is supported by the entertainment industry and a variety of business groups whose goods are often counterfeited or pirated. The technology sector -- outside of online businesses -- has been conflicted, with the Business Software Alliance initially supporting SOPA but then withdrawing that support.
It was just five years ago that Steve Jobs announced the iPhone, which despite early criticisms came to redefine mobile computing.
So far, few Android tablets have caught fire; arguably, only the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has made any impression with buyers. That sleek, iPad-looking tablet offers the basics for both personal and business users in a nice package, and it's remained at the top of the Android tablet hill since it debuted six months ago. Motorola Mobility's new Droid Xyboard -- an awkward name meant to evoke the villainous cyborgs of "Battlestar Galactica" fame (a disturbing motif, frankly, carried through in its startup screen) -- poses a serious challenge to the Galaxy Tab.
When then-Apple CEO Steve Jobs promised in spring 2010 that iOS would support native printing, I and many others were happy, as the inability to print was a big inconvenience when using an iPhone or iPad. But iOS 4.2's printing support was disappointingly limited to a handful of AirPrint-compatible printers from Hewlett-Packard, and the list has hardly grown in the year since. Worse, iOS 5 this past fall plugged a hole that app developers had used to enable printing to non-AirPrint network printers. Printing became effectively useless on iOS devices.
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iOS 5, Android 4 "Ice Cream Sandwich," Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango," and BlackBerry OS 7 were all released in the past few months, each promising to advance the iPhone, Android smartphones, Windows Phones, and BlackBerrys respectively to the head of the mobile pack. But only one can be the best.
I have yet to meet an IT exec or CIO for whom the "consumerization of IT" -- employees asserting control over the technology they use for work -- isn't now a major area of contemplation ... and sometimes consternation. But there's more to the trend than Apple-blinded employees bringing Macs, iPhones, and iPads into the office, even if they are the most identifiable champions of this trend. Let me take you through the key issues behind the consumerization -- there's much more to it than mobile devices.
Some IT trends move fast -- way fast. BYOD, the "bring your own device" phenomenon that raised its head in late 2009, is one of them. Like Internet and email, it caught on with users faster than IT and corporate risk management expected. In 2010, businesses were asking the question "Who should own your smartphones?" Today, that question is moot -- more than half of companies let employees use their own smartphones at work, along with tablets. It's amazing how quickly BYOD became mainstream -- it took about 18 months.
What can you say about the iPhone 4S, the most written-about smartphone ever? Well, I can say it's a really good smartphone that continues to best the competition in so many areas. At first glance, the iPhone 4S appears to be a modest upgrade to the iPhone 4, with a faster processor and higher-quality camera. It's nice, but nothing stunning.
When it debuted in 2008, the BlackBerry Bold quickly achieved iconic status as the must-have executive smartphone, with a QWERTY keyboard that made emails a snap. Not four years later, the Bold is struggling to remain relevant.
Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango," Microsoft's answer to Apple's iOS and Google's Android, has attracted its own fanboys -- a marked improvement from the unhappy reception that last year's half-baked initial version received. Several smartphone makers are offering "Mango" devices, and of these the Samsung Focus S has the most appeal, thanks to its slim, sleek, simple design.
At long last, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is here, the first smartphone to run Google's Android 4 "Ice Cream Sandwich" release. There's no question: When you first get your hands on the Galaxy Nexus, available in a 4G LTE version in the United States on the Verizon Wireless network and in 3G GSM models in Canada and the United Kingdom, you'll likely drool over the huge, bright screen. It makes the 3.5-inch screen of the iPhone feel tiny and cramped, and argues that it's time for Apple to make an iPhone with at least a 4-inch screen.
