Monday, January 14th, 2013
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
Windows 8 fails to reignite PC market: Gartner, continues the discussion of the PC quickly being replaced by the tablet.
Holiday shoppers stayed away from Windows 8 and tablet systems seemed to be taking off during Q4. According to Gartner, this PC slip indicates that the sector was suffering from a shift in consumer habits as much as a weak global economy. “Tablets have dramatically changed the device landscape for PCs, not so much by ‘cannibalizing’ PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner.
Some analysts are saying that battery life and lack of needing to re-boot is mentioned as a reason to carry a tablet, in Report from the street: Tablets are kicking laptops to the curb
Is IT following this trend of slowing their replacement of laptops, but quickening the acquisition of tablets?
IT can look at device usage and not replace laptops as quickly for groups not needing creative or processing power. There’s a shift in modernizing the computing fleet.
Even the article The iPad Will Not Replace the Laptop in 2013 says that we aren’t looking at direct replacement. It’s “more than just accessing data on a tablet. Some enterprise software can be occasionally accessed over the iPad’s mobile Safari browser, but the tablet isn’t good for regular use and deep dives.” The PC is still needed.
Whether it’s delays in PC replacements, economy or laptop replacement for some job functions, PC sales are slipping. And as we’ve seen in the consumer world, users are more comfortable using a different device depending on the function. As tablets continue to evolve (and many are still waiting to see what happens with Microsoft tablets) with users and IT waiting for the developments, tablets could continue to eat into the PC share of office.
Is IT following a consumer trend of letting the laptop age? >>
Thursday, January 3rd, 2013
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
The new year has barely started and there are rumors of new things Wi-Fi.
Apple is partnering with Broadcom to bring super-fast 802.11ac networking to upcoming Macs
A new chipset change has the inclusion of 802.11ac networking – providing Apple’s updated Mac range with super-fast WiFi connectivity.
FCC adopts new rules for in-flight Wi-Fi
The new FCC rules should streamline and quicken the application process for Earth Stations Aboard Aircraft (ESAA) applications for these externally-attached satellite antenna.
China Mobile, Wireless Firms To Expand Wi-Fi
China Mobile is expected to add over a million Wi-Fi access points this year, good news for roaming users.
BMW’s Car Hotspot LTE means Bavarian Motor WiFi
An in-car hotspot! The BMW Car Hotspot LTE is a purpose-built WiFi router that houses an LTE SIM (it also supports 3G and EDGE). It’s compatible with any BMW with a telephone docking station and allows connections from up to eight client devices. Coming soon….
Wi-Fi for 2013 >>
Wednesday, December 5th, 2012
Corey Fischer, VP, MNS Sales & Marketing
Today’s announcement is an exciting milestone for the Managed Network Services business of iPass.
We have been working with the Aerohive team for several months, and this new formal partnership paves the way forward for our customers to truly harness the benefits of a fully managed, business ready Wi-Fi solution. The market buzz around this Wi-Fi offering has never been louder. Our customers and prospects are inquiring about Wi-Fi strategies, designs and architectures to meet their specific needs. The demand for seamless mobility with straightforward deployment, management and scalability are all critical to our business enterprise and large venue clients.
Managed Wi-Fi services are in high demand at distributed retail, big box stores and real estate venues or shopping malls. This iPass MNS / Aerohive partnership provides a secure, distributed way to deliver a great user experience at an affordable price. We are not only seeing growth in the retail sector, but the healthcare, insurance and financial services markets are experiencing similar demand due to BYOD and mobile device explosion.
It’s truly a pivotal and exciting time for both the Aerohive and iPass MNS teams!
Read the press release >>
Read more about iPass Managed Network Services >>
Aerohive partners with iPass Managed Network Services >>
Thursday, November 29th, 2012
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
At the recent Gartner Symposium, Gartner shared many statistics and trends concerning increased IT-support for BYOD.
Computer Weekly reported that IT departments will be expanding their budget to support BYOD. “Gartner has recommended that CIOs embrace BYOD by opening up corporate networks and supporting non-Windows devices like tablets and smartphones.”
CIOs need to design their business around mobile. By 2016, two-thirds of workforce will own a smartphone. Other statistics and trends that were shared:
Budgets:
- IT budgets will grow 1.4% driven by the take-up of mobile technology like smartphones and tablet computers.
- Gartner recommends IT directors and CIOs aim to allocate 50% of their budget to new projections like BYOD.
- Businesses will need to look at how they share the cost of device ownership with employees who bring in their own devices.
Security and Support:
- Increasing penetration of Android & iOS-devices in the enterprise will continue to pose challenges for the IT department and the CIO to ensure that security and manageability remain a priority.
- Gartner has recommended that CIOs embrace BYOD by opening up corporate networks and supporting non-Windows devices like tablets and smartphones.
- Gartner has recommended that CIOs embrace BYOD by opening up corporate networks and supporting non-Windows devices like tablets and smartphones.
Who owns what?
- Gartner has recommended that CIOs embrace BYOD by opening up corporate networks and supporting non-Windows devices like tablets and smartphones.
- Asset ownership will change…by 2018, Gartner predicts 70% of mobile workers will use hybrid/tablet devices.
- Gartner predicts that half of non PC devices by 2016 will be purchased by employees and by 2020 half of all devices will be owned by employees.
- By 2016, two-thirds of the mobile workforce will own a smartphone, and 40 percent of the workforce will be mobile.
- Gartner estimates that tablets will be the key accelerator to mobility with purchases of tablets by businesses reaching 13 million units in 2012 and more than tripling, reaching 53 million units, by 2016.
- Smartphones have become an integral part of employees lives and estimates that 56 percent of smartphones purchased by businesses in North America and Europe will be Android devices in 2016, up from 34 percent in 2012 and virtually no penetration in 2010.
- Gartner anticipates more interest to come from the business market than the consumer market and as such Windows 8 will take third place in the tablet market behind Apple and Android by 2016.
More predictions in BizTechReports >>
Gartner predicts more IT support for BYOD >>
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 >>
iPass Q4 Mobile Workforce Report >>
