Network “Speed Test” for Mac users

Monday, February 4th, 2013 Chris Witeck, Director Product Marketing

We just recently released to our customers and partner the Open Mobile Client v2.2 for Macintosh. One of the key features we added in this release is a “Speed Test” that helps users understand the quality of the Wi-Fi connection they are connecting to.

This is part of an ongoing trend that we started back in 2012 centered around adding usability features to the Open Mobile clients that do more than just connect users to Wi-Fi, but help them understand how to get the best connection experience possible.

We want users to see iPass as a useful tool when connecting anywhere, not just to iPass hotspots. For example, we’ve added to all of our smartphone clients the ability to track how much data you’ve used through Wi-Fi and 3G/4G connections in order to better manage and choose which type of connection to make.

The Speed Test feature fits into that mold by allowing a Macintosh user to test their current connection and see what the current latency, download and upload speeds of the connection are. This information can help the user determine if their current connection is sufficient for video conferencing or video and audio streaming for example.

This can be incredibly useful for mobile workers. Wi-Fi quality can vary based on a multitude of factors- how far the user is from the hotspot, how many users are using the hotspot, interference from other Wi-Fi enabled devices and many other factors. Providing users with tools to determine if they can do what they want to do with that current connection is just part of the overall iPass strategy to provide both usability and diagnostic tools to users for any type of connection. Look for iPass to continue in this vein of product development for all of our Open Mobile clients in the coming year.

To take advantage of this new feature, the Open Mobile client for Macintosh must be running client version 2.2 or greater as well as having this capability enabled by the Open Mobile administrator.

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iPass Q4 Mobile Workforce Report

Wednesday, November 14th, 2012 Chris Witeck, Director Product Marketing

Today iPass released our Q4 2012 Mobile Workforce Report. In this report we interviewed almost 1,700 mobile workers across the globe to learn more about the mobile devices they use, how they use them for work and personal reasons and the impact that mobility has on their lives.

The focus of this quarter’s report is just how important smartphones have become to mobile workers. For those of us who have become attached to our smartphones, we can definitely empathize with that. Some of the items from this quarter’s report that really interested me is taking a look at what’s changed this year from when we asked similar questions last year. For example, take a look what smartphone mobile workers currently use:

What really grabs attention is the jump of Android-based smartphones from 2011 to 2012. While we’ve heard for a while that more Android smartphones are activated than iPhones, that has been more in the consumer space. In this quarter’s Mobile Workforce Report, we are definitely seeing evidence of Android picking up steam with the Enterprise mobile workers as well. iPhones are also picking up share — so what device is losing favor?

We can see here that BlackBerry devices lost share amongst mobile workers from 2011 to 2012, adding to this we definitely see mobile workers not looking to BlackBerry in 2013. When we asked mobile workers if they were planning to upgrade their smartphone in 2013:

• 59% of mobile workers said they are planning on upgrading their smartphone in 2013
• Of those mobile workers:

41% were planning on upgrading to an iPhone 5

22% to an Android device

8% to a Microsoft Windows Phone

And only 5% to a BlackBerry device

Another really interesting data point is the impact of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) with smartphones. Last year we saw that 58% of Enterprises provided their mobile workers with an IT-managed smartphone. This year we saw that fall to 49% of mobile workers saying they had an IT-managed smartphone (33% said that they have an IT-managed device and an additional 16% said they have both an IT-managed device and a personal device), meaning that BYOD is definitely getting a foothold when it comes to smartphones, as more and more mobile workers are bringing in their own device.

There is a lot more data in this quarter’s Mobile Workforce Report, so I encourage everyone to check it out.

The last point I’ll leave everyone with is a warning to the Enterprise out there. When we asked mobile workers what their biggest barrier to working while mobile, the top response with 50% of responses was “Simple access to Wi-Fi when I’m out of the office”. However, when we asked these same workers what matters most when choosing a mobile network — ‘Speed’ and ‘Availability of Connection’ were at the top of the list and ‘Cost’ was at the bottom.

What that tells us is that mobile workers value that Wi-Fi connection while mobile, but cost is not their concern. I’ve always said that when a mobile worker is faced with multiple choices for connectivity they will go with whatever is easiest and most convenient, regardless of the cost. That is definitely reflected with what we are seeing with the data. The lesson here- to keep your mobile workers productive make sure they have convenient access to Wi-Fi, but keep an eye on that cost.

To learn more about how you can do that- be sure to check out iPass Open Mobile.

Get this quarter’s Mobile Workforce Report

Read the press release >>

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Microsoft Surface Review: I got what I wanted

Thursday, November 1st, 2012 Chris Witeck, Director Product Marketing

We recently highlighted the fact that with our Open Mobile clients that we have full support for Windows 8. We’ve also expressed thoughts on what Windows 8 will mean for the mobile professional. In those posts we talk about how our customers are not rushing to Windows 8 on their IT managed laptops, but we are seeing curiosity on how Windows 8 performs on a tablet and how tablets running Windows 8 will have an impact on BYOD in the Enterprise. For this blog, I wanted to take a closer look at the new Microsoft Surface Tablet from the perspective of the mobile professional (Note: I am not expressing an official iPass opinion here, instead expressing my own opinion as the persona of a mobile professional).

First off, up to this point I was an avid iPad user. I liked the iPad, but always felt that it was not the perfect device for me. It was great for content consumption, but I never felt it could be a laptop replacement and instead became another device in my bag along with my laptop and phone. However, I’ve been interested in a device that could combine much of what I can do with a laptop with the portability and convenience of a tablet. So with that in mind I purchased a Microsoft Surface this week.

My thoughts? Let’s start with things my iPad could not do that I was hoping that my Surface could do:

1. Microsoft Office integration, or specifically for me access to PowerPoint and Excel
2. Easy access to my work files
3. Better multi-tasking

Now I know it is easy to nit with these as there are some options with the iPad, but none that I have ever been happy with. Now in using Surface, how close did I get to meeting these requirements?

In short- I got what I wanted.

1. Microsoft Office integration: the Microsoft Surface device available today with Microsoft RT has Microsoft Office bundled in, and it is not a stripped down version but a fully functional version. The real estate provided by the Surface screen doesn’t feel cramped in any way, so I can easily see this as something I could create and edit documents in that cramped coach seat flying across the country as well sitting in a hotel room. With the right adapter, using a projector to present a PowerPoint file should be easy.
2. Easy access to my work files: I know this is definitely possible with the iPad using cloud storage solutions such as Dropbox, but with the Surface you do have more options. Microsoft Surface makes it easy to set up a sync relationship between the Surface and another laptop with easy offline and online access to content via Microsoft SkyDrive. Additionally you can use file explorer to navigate to content on a network, something I often wished for on an iPad.
3. Better multi-tasking: I know with the iPad there is the concept of background tasks and app switching, but there is not an easy way to have two apps running simultaneously. With the Surface you actually can do that, have two apps running side by side. You can do this easily in the desktop mode where the environment is more like a laptop, but even with the new Windows 8 UI where you have the tiles across the screen, you can have two apps running side by side. This is useful if you are typing an email and want to have a web page as a reference right next by.

Other things I liked:

• The keyboard that comes with the Surface is really good, folds into the cover and is very convenient. I typed this blog entry on the Surface keyboard and find it much easier for typing than the iPad screen. I would not list this as a big advantage as you can get keyboards for the iPad if you really need one.
• A lot has been said that the Surface has a lower screen resolution than the iPad, but frankly I found the Surface screen to be impressive.
• So far the battery life is impressive. This would have been a deal breaker for me as one reason for having a tablet is to get that 9-10 hours of battery life.
• The browser is a pro and a con. The pro is that this is a fully functional browser with better support for web sites than what you often see on the iPad. However, the con is that the browser is Microsoft Internet Explorer. I’ve not used IE in a long time and even on the Surface it just feels slow compared to something like Google Chrome. Perhaps Google will make a version of Chrome available at some point, but I have a feeling that Microsoft may make that a challenge.
• The iPass Open Mobile for Windows Touch client just looks awesome on a Surface (I had to get an iPass plug in here somewhere). It is the perfect accessory for the mobile traveler who needs convenient access to Wi-Fi (Note: you do need to be an iPass customer in order to have access to the iPass Mobile Network of Wi-Fi hotspots). Even if you are not an iPass user I’d would recommend anyone to check out the Open Mobile for Windows Touch app- the ‘Speed Test’ capability on the Open Mobile client is worth the download alone and can be used without being an iPass customer.

So to summarize, is this an iPad killer?

So far this sounds like a glowing endorsement of the Microsoft Surface. However, I will say that I don’t see it as an iPad killer, but it may take a bite out of some of the iPad market. Why is that? I think the Surface is a great device and will find its niche, but I see it as something that mobile professionals will gravitate towards but the broad consumer market will continue to look at the iPad. Why is that? To start with, the availability of apps in the Windows store is very limited, but that could be a short term concern as the app ecosystem is built out.

However, more importantly there is much that the iPad just makes easy. With the iPad you have this whole concept of using iTunes to manage content from a laptop to an iPhone or iPad. There is not that type of equivalent on the Surface. Managing movies, pictures, videos and music I think is not as intuitive on the Surface. If I had a friend or family member who is not a proficient laptop user, I may steer them towards an iPad instead of a Surface.

If all I want to do is consume content, I probably would have stuck with the iPad. I think those who want to have both a content consumption and content creation device are in the minority. However, the question is how sizable is that minority. That I don’t know, but if you count yourself as part of that minority then I recommend you take a look at the Microsoft Surface (just don’t forget to download the iPass Open Mobile Client)

[Created with Microsoft OneNote 2010]

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iPass Open Mobile and Windows 8

Monday, October 29th, 2012 Chris Witeck, Director Product Marketing

We’ve talked about the impact of Windows 8 before on this blog discussing the impact of Windows 8 and the new Microsoft Surface device on the business/mobile worker.

Since that time I’ve had a chance to discuss these points with many of our customers. What I’ve consistently heard is that our customers are not in a rush to support Windows 8 on their standard IT-managed laptops, but I’ve also seen plenty of curiosity on the impact of Windows 8 on tablets, either impacting the organization’s BYOD policies as employees potentially bring in their own Windows 8 device or as competition to iPads and Android tablets for IT-provisioned tablets.

Well we’ve now arrived at the launch of Windows 8/Windows RT and an interesting array of devices, including Microsoft Surface. And to coincide with this launch I’m pleased to announce that iPass has support for Windows 8 with our iPass Open Mobile clients. Any customer who is using Open Mobile today will be able to provide Windows 8 support to users via our brand new Open Mobile client v1.0 for Windows Touch or via our updated Open Mobile client v2.3 for Windows.

Why two client versions? That has a lot to do with the different user experiences Microsoft is offering with Windows 8. I’ll describe the differences briefly below:

The new Open Mobile client v1.0 for Windows Touch is available for devices running Windows 8 or Windows RT and can be found at the Windows Store. This client, screenshot below, provides a brand new Windows 8 optimized user interface and provides connectivity to the iPass Mobile Network along with great user tools such as the iPass Hotspot Finder and Speed Test (which allows users to determine the quality of their current connection).

The upgraded iPass Open Mobile Client v2.3 for Windows is only available for devices running Windows 8 (it is not available for devices running Windows RT) and offers the full connectivity management experience that Open Mobile has provided with previous versions of Windows. This version is not available from the Windows Store and instead is distributed via standard Windows client distribution methods (so basically whatever method our customers use to distribute software to their Windows laptops). A user can launch the Open Mobile client from the new Windows 8 UI, and upon launching the client will see the traditional look/feel for Open Mobile appear.

So no matter what type of Windows 8 device a user is using, iPass has you covered. It will be interesting to see what type of traction Windows 8 gets with mobile professionals, but it is nice to know that if our customers see a bunch of new devices coming in with their employees in the coming weeks that iPass has them covered.

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How fast is your Wi-Fi?

Thursday, August 23rd, 2012 Chris Witeck, Director Product Marketing

Earlier this week we made available to our customers and partners the Open Mobile client v2.2 for Windows. One of the things I wanted to highlight with this release is a great new feature that really focuses on helping users know the quality of the Wi-Fi connection they are connecting to.

Anyone who travels frequently probably has a good understanding of the fact that the quality of Wi-Fi varies tremendously by location. Everyone has encountered a Wi-Fi hotspot that seems to just drag along making doing anything productive a challenge. Latency issues can impact the quality of voice and video streaming as well.

There can be many factors that impact both the speed and latency of a Wi-Fi connection. It can depend on the quality of the internet connection that the Wi-Fi hotspot is presenting to mobile users, it can depend on how many users are using that connection, it can depend on how much data other devices sharing that connection are using, it also can depend on interference from other Wi-Fi enabled devices in the area. All of these factors can vary throughout the day meaning a Wi-Fi hotspot that offers a screaming fast connection in the morning could be dragging in the evening.

So to help users know the quality of their connection when they connect, we introduced a new “Speed Test” capability in this most recent release. When a user connects to a Wi-Fi hotspot there will be a quick connection quality indicator available in the form a color code that will show on the main Open Mobile screen (see the green dot in the first screen shot).

Then for a more detailed diagnostic, the user can select the new ‘Speed Test’ button, which will do a more detailed test of the current latency and download speeds available at that hotspot connection. This test will also advise if the current connection is suitable for reading email, Web browsing, voice or audio streaming and then video streaming.

This provides a great Wi-Fi usability tool for mobile workers. Users can quickly ascertain if their current connection will be suitable for what they want to accomplish, if not they can attempt to find a more suitable connection. Also, if you are using the Open Mobile client to connect to and manage a 3G/4G device on your laptop, you can use this Speed Test feature to test the current latency and download speeds of that connection as well.

Note that to take advantage of this new feature, the Open Mobile client for Windows must be running client version 2.2 or greater as well having this capability enabled by the Open Mobile administrator. While this is only available for the Open Mobile client for Windows, our hope is to add this capability soon to all other client platforms.

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