Wednesday, April 10th, 2013
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
Our Mobile Workforce Survey is in full swing, but we want to hear from you!
By filling out the survey (which is shorter!), you will be entered for a chance to win a new iPad. Here’s what we see so far:
$20/€15/£13 is the most that you’ve spent for Wi-Fi access; usually at a hotel.
Other places that you might use Wi-Fi for business (that we did not have as a selection):
- Customer site
- Hospital (other medical services)
- Library
- …what else?
Almost 50% of you work away from the office 1-2 days per week.
And, at this point, you are more productive working from home, than working from the office (which is still pretty high).
Take a moment and fill out our survey to tell us about how you are using Wi-Fi to get your job done more productively. Thanks!
Go to the Mobile Workforce Survey >>
Mobile Workforce Survey – open for your response >>
Friday, March 29th, 2013
Karen Ambrose Hickey, Editor
In case you are working in São Paulo, iPass can be used at 15 new business hotels and one of the largest exhibition centres in South America.
iPass users can easily connect while at the Transamerica Expo Centre in São Paulo and the neighboring hotel, Hotel Transamérica São Paulo with 396 rooms. This hotel is strategically located to all the main major multinational companies in Brazil. In addition, we’ve listed some of the MANY iPass-enabled hotels in Sao Paulo. If you are there, send us a picture on Facebook!
Don’t forget to use the iPass Hotspot Finder for Sao Paolo to find your nearest Wi-Fi hotspot!
Be sure to download the iPass Open Mobile app to your smartphone and tablet and activate it before travel to save yourself roaming fees.
More hotspots in São Paulo >>
Monday, March 25th, 2013
Chris Witeck, Director Product Marketing
Today iPass released our Q1 2013 Mobile Workforce Report. In this report we interviewed 1,600 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.
In our quarterly reports we are always looking at the latest statistics and trends regarding mobile devices and BYOD to see what’s changed from previous reports. In this quarter’s report there were a few items that jumped out to me as really interesting.
The first point I wanted to touch on is in regards to how many devices people carry with them when they travel. Previously we had noticed that the number of devices people carrying was tracking upwards, meaning that even with the advent of increasingly powerful devices, mobile workers were not consolidating devices. In this report we did see this trend stop. In 2011 Mobile Workers carried on average 2.7 devices (spanning tablets, laptops, smartphones, netbooks, etc.). In 2012 that jumped to 3.5 devices. For the Q1 2013 report that dropped to 3 devices (2.95).
Where was the drop? Slight drop across laptops carried (not surprising as increasingly powerful tablets can suffice as a laptop replacement in many instances) but also a slight drop in smartphones. My take on that is that with BYOD policies increasingly popular and accepted across the enterprise, many users no longer are traveling with two or more smartphones (their work issued device and their personal device) and instead are traveling with a single device that is used for work and personal reasons.
It will be interesting to monitor this trend going forward to see if it continues to decrease. I’m expecting the laptop number to keep to a downward trend as tablets and laptop/tablet hybrid devices allow users to leave that heavier laptop at home.
The second point is looking at tablets themselves. We asked mobile workers what tablets they currently own or intend to purchase in the next six months. No surprise that the iPad continues to be the tablet form factor of choice. But it is interesting to see a few other tablets work their way into the hands of mobile workers. 65% of mobile workers have or plan to get an iPad, along with 25% owning or planning to get an iPad Mini. However 28% of mobile workers have or plan to get a Samsung Galaxy tablet and over 17% plan have or plan to get a Windows 8 tablet. So this is another trend that will be fun to watch in coming quarters to see if Android and Windows tablets continue to gain traction as a serious iPad alternative.
We also in this report continue to find that most tablets in the hands of mobile workers are personally owned vs. work issued. In 2012 we found that 74% of tablets were personally owned (yet used for work and personal purposes) and in 2013 that number increased to 79%. That is interesting in that we have seen more organizations issuing tablets to their workers. I’m thinking that both personally owned and work issued tablets are growing markets, we are just seeing the market for personally owned tablets growing faster.
The last point I will touch on in today’s blog post is in regards to the cost of mobility. We asked mobile workers how much data they consume on their smartphones. In 2012, 30% answered “don’t know” or “don’t care”. That number dropped to 17% in 2013, showing that people are definitely paying more attention to their data consumption. That is expected as less and less mobile workers have access to unlimited data plans and more are using their own personal device- so are more likely to focus on the cost than if someone else was paying the bill.
This definitely can have performance impacts, if a mobile worker starts to bump up against a data limit, they will use that device less for work related purposes. This is something for the enterprise to consider as part of their BYOD policy, making sure BYOD doesn’t inadvertently limit productivity because of data costs borne by the employee. How much data is being used? We found that 30% of mobile workers are consuming more than 1GB per month. I expect that number to rise as we continue to see the proliferation of applications and services that are data hungry- things like video streaming and calling being used for work and personal reasons.
This is just a small sample of what is in this quarter’s report. To learn more be sure to download the entire report. Also, be sure to check out the information on iPass Open Mobile on our website. As organizations look to balance the requirements of BYOD and corporate issued devices while making sure employees stay productive on the go, iPass Open Mobile can serve as an effective way to make sure your employees stay connected without having to worry about data roaming costs and having to expense back Wi-Fi day passes.
Q1 2013 Mobile Workforce Report: BYOD and costs impact productivity >>
Tuesday, March 5th, 2013
Tom Truong, Product Manager
Walking all the exhibit halls and seeing the miniature cities raised for meeting centers left the impression that mobile is going to become even more interwoven in our daily lives. I’m going to recap the tech highlights of Mobile World Congress, but first I’d like to share some takeaways from the conference as a whole.
Every company wants a mobile play
And why shouldn’t they? That’s where their customers are. Here at MWC, the immediate impact of this idea can be seen in the effort and resources put forth by companies to seize the market and mindshare. Well-established companies and startups alike see mobile as a land grab opportunity to dominate and be relevant in the immediate and near future.
Here is one of many “hospitality” suites that built out like town centers at MWC. Amdocs would like to curb the support costs of smart devices with their on-device agents.
eBay states that $400 is spent every second on eBay Mobile. Shopping on mobile is going to be huge.
AirWatch managed one of the largest exhibit booths by also incorporating room for their partners.
Visa looks as much a technology company as a financial institution.
It’s about proliferation, not consolidation
As far as mobile ecosystems go, Android and iOS aren’t going to budge from their number one and two spots any time soon. The majority of smartphones and tablets today are ARM-based and it’s a good probability that the chipsets are from Qualcomm or Nvidia. Got a device from Samsung or Apple? You’re far from alone, across the planet.
However the atmosphere and evidence of everything here at MWC suggests that these footholds are transient. Microsoft, Blackberry, Intel, LG, and plenty others are gearing up for round two.
Mozilla just launched FireFox OS to compete in the low to mid-end mobile market. The OS was mostly fluid on the Telefonica devices, and seemed to be very solid for the target market.
Huawei’s expanding beyond the low-end market with some impressive devices like Ascend P2–a gorgeous screen and a 13MP camera!
From ultrabooks to a new emphasis on mobile, Intel is heavily promoting their Android-based device capabilities such as battery life and graphics performance.
Samsung continues its Windows 8 tablet foray with the Ativ Smart PC. I loaded the iPass Open Mobile client on it, ran our speed test, and wow, Wi-Fi here was blisteringly fast!
On the whole, innovation felt iterative, not disruptive at this MWC
While I’m sure I missed a few announcements, there didn’t seem to be anything disruptive in technology this year. New devices are typically slab-styled and made of plastic and glass. Display technologies now crammed with more pixels into bigger screens. Android is being introduced into more consumer electronics.
Device manufacturers seemed desperate to find a hook with consumers this time around. To wit:
Samsung: more screen sizes, advance the stylus, more CPU cores
Huawei: higher end devices, better screens
HTC: better sound, less intrusive homescreen branding
ZTE: more camera megapixels, higher end devices
Sharp: dual screens, thin design
Motorola: kevlar material, Intel inside
LG: Qslide multitasking, better screens
There were good advancements at this year’s MWC, but again it seemed iterative. I’m still waiting for new battery technologies that take us from single day use to week long use in the same form factor. Don’t get me wrong, by no means was it a boring MWC. There were a few standouts. I’ll get to those shortly. Stay tuned.
Mobile World Congress 2013 Takeaways >>
Wednesday, February 27th, 2013
Tom Truong, Product Manager
Dear Wi-Fi,
I’m sorry I ever doubted you. Please take me back.
With undying devotion,
Tom
It all started with a little SMS.
“Tu saldo es inferior a 2eur.” I understood after a bit of a double take: I had less than 2 euros on my mobile account.
Well, I certainly felt less than content when I got this notice a few hours after buying a prepaid sim here in Barcelona. The brochure had advertised 1 cent a minute to the US, so I figured 10 euros would be enough for a couple days of text and voice calls back home.
Back I went to the cellular store and the guy there shrugged his shoulders and said something vaguely about the fact that he “only activates these for different companies and sometimes it’s more expensive…” I’m paraphrasing generously here. He wouldn’t look at the account detail to explain how I used up $10 of credit with only a few texts and a handful of quick calls, and told me to take it up with the operator. “The speak English yes!” he assured me. After 5 mins of trying to find the English option, I gave up there and went to go create an account so I could better understand the relationship with my new mobile operator.
I had a bit more luck with the operator’s web portal–they offered English right on the first page, but kept defaulting back to Spanish every time I clicked on something. There was something about a tarifa, mi tarifa, that sounded promising…oh look what I found: listado de llamadas:
So up to the point where I thought buying a local sim would be even better than Google Voice and VOIP over Wi-Fi, I didn’t realize things could get so pricey without mobile data in the picture. There was probably some kind of fine print in the prepaid terms about how they’d charge me, but I’m pretty sure my lesson was cheap compared to others.
$1 for a single SMS
$2.50 for 3 misplaced calls
You can see how $10 was a drop in the ocean when you’re roaming internationally. What led me to even go down the prepaid sim route was the thought that perhaps someone couldn’t reach me in real time as I roamed with Wi-Fi. I’ve previously mentioned the decent iPass Wi-Fi coverage here in Barcelona—the next couple days have been even better because my phones started auto-connecting on their own to networks I’d visited, including a few free ones that I manually connected to previously.
So I think Wi-Fi might have forgiven me my temporary indiscretion. Earlier today, when I took a walk near the Museum of Art, I naturally took a few photos, and guess what showed up? More iPass networks.
So check out the moment I was able to share with my friends back home. Pretty amazing, right?
Part 1 of 2 parts…
Dear Wi-Fi…[part 1 of 2] >>
