Monday, February 25th, 2013
Tom Truong, Product Manager
As the smartphone product manager at iPass, the question of which devices to take with me actually comes up on a daily basis. There are usually 7 to 8 devices that manage to find a spot in my bag, but today was going to be different. I had to pack for four jam-packed days at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and space and battery life were going to be key considerations.
The phone candidates were:
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus – a good Android device that has NFC, but how prevalent was NFC going to be in Barcelona? Also, battery life would be good for 4.5 hours and then it’d be a gorgeous desk weight.
- Apple iPhone 5 (64GB) – This is my personal device, with tons of music and room for photos. They battery life seems to be worse than previous iPhone incarnations, but could still muster about 6 hours of moderate use.
- Samsung Galaxy Note – aka the Android “phablet”. Okay, so it might look a bit ridiculous with its 5.3” screen against my ear, but I barely use it to talk anyhow. Running the latest Jellybean OS, the year-old device already feels slow, but the upside is definitely its 9+ hour battery life with normal use.
Here, I went with the iPhone 5 for the storage, battery life, and the competent picture & video capabilities. However, I couldn’t resist the possibility of the phablet device possibly being the jack of all trades for all the phone stuff as well as being an e-reader for those long trips, so the Galaxy Note found a spot too.
Now was the tough choice: which tablet to bring? Consider the options:
- Apple iPad 3rd generation – My favorite tablet for much of 2012, it was also the heaviest one. The retina display on it makes it great to use remote desktop software like LogMeIn or CloudOn to easily access all my corporate resources. They battery life wasn’t too shabby either, usually lasting about 8 hours.
- Apple iPad 2nd generation – This one has absurdly good battery life, still running over 12 hours after more than a year of battery charges. Sure, it doesn’t have the retina display, but it’s also a bit thinner and lighter than the 3rd gen. One small detail that makes the 2nd gen great is that it has twice the ram as the first gen, and it isn’t finicky about needing a high amp charger like the 3rd gen.
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 7” – If you thought holding up a 5” phablet to your head was strange, then you’ve yet to see me with my Galaxy Tab. Back in 2010, I bought this 3G-enabled Android tablet with the goal of flashing the European firmware on it so I could use it as a phone too. The fact that I still have this 3 year device around is a testament how ahead of its time it was. The sad thing about it is that I haven’t had time to upgrade the OS on it, it’s sputtering along with Froyo 2.2.
- Random thought: the older Android OSes seem to actually run faster on lesser hardware and also had better battery life with the smaller batteries they packed. Case in point: this device still lasts a whole day and evening of heavy use.
- Apple iPad Mini 8” – While this one is definitely thin and light with a 10 hour run time, I haven’t found an ideal time to pull it out over a phone or a full-sized tablet yet. Not having a retina display could be part of the reason I don’t reach for it as much. That said, it’s still a great screen and size for reading books.
- Microsoft Surface RT 10” – I love the idea of having a keyboard and kickstand built into a sleek slab. This may be the work tablet for the economy class flyers like myself. Having Microsoft Office and USB ports is a breath of fresh air in the world of mobile devices. I haven’t found it to run any longer than 6-7 hours, but it seems to be the low end of what is acceptable for battery life.
Considering all this, I decided to give the Surface RT a shot. Perhaps I could even use it as a laptop replacement. I also found room for the iPad Mini. I’m not a fan of typing on it since the keyboard takes up so much of its screen, but its size, weight, and battery life won me over.
All right, with four devices, it may not seem like I made any real decision, but for me, this is a personal best in terms of slimming down. Hey, 4 out of 8 ain’t bad. I’ll follow up with another blog entry as I push these devices to the limit during my trip to Mobile World Congress.
Which mobile devices should I bring along to Mobile World Congress? >>
Wednesday, February 20th, 2013
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
There’s still time to participate on our survey regarding international data roaming. If you travel to another country and try to connect with your smartphone, tablet or other mobile device, let us know your thoughts. You will be entered in for a chance to win a new iPad.
In looking at the current survey results, I see that:
- 32% of survey respondents have an eReader (and if you have an eReader, 86% of you have at least one tablet too!)
- 48% have a tablet that is Wi-Fi only but 53% of respondents have access to 3G/4G
- 80% find that their highest spend on Wi-Fi is at their hotel with a pretty even distribution over all our survey price levels.
- However, that means that 59% are paying $30/€24/£19 or more.
There’s still time to give us survey feedback on your international Wi-Fi and data roaming options and fees.
Sneak peek on Wi-Fi and data roaming costs survey >>
Tuesday, February 12th, 2013
Brian Metzger, Sr. Marketing Mgr, Carrier Services
Are you globally mobile? Do you wake up in the morning wondering what country you’re in? Do you have bill-shock nightmares, or toss and turn at night over how much your data roaming bill is going to be?
If you’re a data-roaming globetrotter, then we want to hear from you! Take this 10-minute survey and in return for your time, you will be entered into a drawing to win an iPad! Just in time for your next trip.
Here is a preview of what we would like to find out from you:
1. For international travelers, what’s the highest you’ve ever paid for data roaming in a single trip?
2. What is the typical amount you would spend for Wi-Fi over the duration of one international trip?
3. How much Wi-Fi network access time do you typically use while on an international trip?
Take a few minutes and give us your input. We will use this data to look at trends to help us develop future services and solutions for the business traveler.
Need your input on international data roaming (chance for iPad) >>
Friday, February 8th, 2013
Chris Witeck, Director Product Marketing
This is part #2 of our blog talking about the recently released Mobile Enterprise Report. In Part #1, I talked about ‘BYOD in the Enterprise.’ Today we are talking about device choice in the Enterprise.
When talking about what devices IT is allowing in the Enterprise, I thought it would be interesting to compare this to what users are choosing. Fortunately we can do that by looking at the iPass Mobile Workforce report- which is our quarterly report focused on mobile workers.
When looking at the data from our Mobile Workforce report, you definitely see that contrary to the overall consumer market where Android is dominating of late, the mobile worker in the Enterprise definitely prefers an iPhone. While BlackBerry is still popular in the Enterprise, it is projected to be the 4th device of choice in 2013.
Let’s compare this to what IT says in terms of what devices they are managing in the Enterprise, and how that has changed from 2011 to the end of 2012.
What we see here is just how fast the iPhone and iPad have moved into the preferred position with both the mobile user and IT, along with some impressive gains for Android based devices as well. What else is interesting is that while BlackBerry is in decline, just how many organizations are still supporting BlackBerry devices (62% in 2012).
While this is good news for BlackBerry as they try to ride the wave with BlackBerry 10 in 2013, the fact that mobile workers do not think so highly of BlackBerry (as we saw in the first chart) shows that BlackBerry may have some work ahead of them.
This also reflects a trend that we have been seeing for a while — organizations are moving from supporting just a single device to allowing more choice to the user, either by allowing the worker to bring their own device or by IT supporting a wider range of devices. So an organization that several years ago may have just supported BlackBerry is now likely supporting an iOS and Android device.
In fact, we asked IT Professionals what their plans were for both BlackBerry 10 and Microsoft Windows Phone 8 in 2013 to get a gauge if either platform may gain traction with the Enterprise.
What we found is that organizations were more likely to support Windows Phone 8 in 2013 than BlackBerry by a significant margin, even more so in Europe where Nokia has a strong presence with their Microsoft-branded smartphones. Now we asked this question just after Windows Phone 8 was released and before BlackBerry 10 availability so these numbers may change based on actual impressions, but it also reinforces that BlackBerry has some work to do to gain back the support of both mobile workers and IT professionals.
The last point I want to end with in today’s blog is an interesting set of data we are seeing around tablets. One thing we have learned in previous Mobile Workforce Reports is that up to this point tablets were mostly purchased and used by mobile workers. Meaning that they were not something IT was provisioning to their workforce in large numbers. Tablets were the stereotypical BYOD device, but that is changing and we see evidence to support this in this year’s Mobile Enterprise Report.
When we first asked IT if they were supporting tablets for their workforce back in 2011, it was something that for the most part was given just to the executive team and then a handful of folks throughout the rest of the organization. What we see when we asked the same question at the end of 2012 is that increasingly tablets are being given out to the rest of the organization. While I would still expect to see user choice and BYOD to have a strong influence here, it also shows that tablets are being embraced as more than just a consumer device and as a Enterprise productivity tool.
So as you can see- we are seeing some really interesting data in this year’s Mobile Enterprise Report. Make sure to download the report to see for yourself. We will also be hosting an informative webinar to cover the details of the report with MobileIron. Be sure to check back on Monday, when we talk more about the highlights of this year’s Mobile Enterprise Report.
Device Choice in the Enterprise >>
Thursday, February 7th, 2013
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
The 2013 iPass/MobileIron Mobile Enterprise Report tells a story of the rise of BYOD, and with it increased frustration and loss of control by IT, and concern over rising mobile data costs. Results from our survey show that while Mobile IT brings with it a huge potential to improve workforce productivity, it also introduces significant new challenges for enterprise IT.
Our Infographic captures some of those changes and challenges:
Download the report >>
Register for the webinar >>
Rising mobile data costs with smartphones and tablets >>
