US-based organizations with international travelers to Europe and Asia can save up to 43% on the data roaming costs of smartphones and tablets.
Furthermore, European organizations with international travelers within Europe can save up to 37% on the data roaming costs of smartphones and tablets.
We often discuss all the great features and user connectivity tools (such as the Data Usage Meter and Hotspot Finder) within iPass Open Mobile for smartphones and tablets. But what we often take for granted is the excellent value that our customers enjoy by deploying Open Mobile on smartphones and tablets, which empower their users to leverage the iPass Wi-Fi network of nearly 800,000 hotspots across the globe. Here’s the first of 5 Top Reasons you should deploy Open Mobile for smartphones and tablets (iOS and Android) today!
1. 90% of Tablets are Wi-Fi ONLY. (Kevin C. Tofel, GigaOM; Chetan Sharma, Chetan Sharma Consulting)
According to Chetan Sharma and Kevin Tofel, 90% of all tablets sold in the U.S. are Wi-Fi and not cellular. Why? First, cellular-based tablet acquisition costs (device hardware) and 3G/4G data-only plans are expensive. And BYOD users are even less inclined to spend their money on ANOTHER data plan when they’re already paying for voice + data on their smartphone.
Second, contract commitments (for some carrier-subsidized tablet offers) make users feel “locked-in,” and thus limit a user’s ability to switch after 6-months or even a year – when the next new tablet is available. Perhaps “shared data plans” will make users reconsider, but a shared 3G/4G data plan will come at a premium versus today’s cellular plans. Global Wi-Fi access is now a necessity for tablet users, not an alternative.
Stay tuned for the next four Wednesdays, when we discuss the other reasons to deploy Open Mobile. For next week, look up to the clouds.
By now, most followers (and fellow nerds) of the Smartphone market have seen the latest Nielsen Q2 2012 report, which identifies the rapid growth in Smartphones
(over “feature phones”) and the market share of various platform devices (including iOS, Android, Blackberry and other misc platforms).
In summary the key points that come out of this report are as follows:
Among U.S. mobile users, 2 out of 3 Americans that bought a new mobile phone are choosing a Smartphone over a feature phone
Of those new phone buyers, 54.6% are choosing Android versus 36.3% choosing iOS (i.e. Apple iPhone)
RIM Blackberry buyers (in the last qtr) are represented by only 4% of new purchases
So what conclusions can we derive from these market findings?
Clearly, as smartphones have become more commoditized and with carriers offering low cost or even free smartphones (for new subscriptions), there is now no cost advantage by buying a feature phone (vs a smartphone). And with the current emphasis on data connectivity (versus unlimited voice/text plans), smartphones (with the plethora of available apps) are the device of choice to take advantage of wireless data connectivity wherever you go.
Unfortunately for Blackberry, which was only until recently the de facto smartphone device for most mobile workers, is now a current as a Palm Pilot ten years ago (nerd joke).
But what about the issue on Android vs iPhone (iOS) market share/growth? I think this is an interesting phenomenon which will continue to fluctuate on a quarterly basis.
Will the “new” iPhone (rumored to be out this fall) create a revived iPhone buying spike – potentially overshadowing Android’s rapid rise?
Will the rapid pace of Samsung, HTC, Google (and perhaps Motorola) continue to push the envelope and introduce a constant stream of new and sexy devices?
Lastly is the “race to have the most apps” becoming less of an issue – supposedly there is approximately a 10% difference in the number of apps available for iOS vs Android (per most recent app counts from 2012 Apple WWDC and Google I/O events)? Volume of apps and cross-platform availability for the most popular (especially enterprise apps) ones is essentially parity between the two platforms (certainly true over the next 6-12 months).
The true opportunity for differentiation will come from the devices themselves, the speed and performance (including network connectivity speed) at which they work, and the underlying OS usability.
So the message is clear, everyone is now buying smartphones (versus feature phones) – particularly based on Android and iOS. However, while the cost of a smartphone purchase may be reaching ‘zero’ (with a contract), the average individual’s cell phone bill has increased over 30% since 2009 (J.D. Power & Associates 2012). To no one’s surprise, users want to actually use all the cool features and they soon discover that they need connectivity for nearly everything on their smartphones. And not just any kind of connectivity – users need and want fast connectivity with few limits.
As the leading provider with the world’s largest commercial Wi-Fi network, iPass revolutionizes the connectivity experience for smartphone and tablet users. With complete solutions for Android and iOS users, iPass delivers a seamless and cost-effective (versus cellular data) Wi-Fi connectivity solution for smartphone users wherever they go.
For more information about iPass for smartphones, please check out our smartphones and tablets pages today.
It has a “.. re-worked Touchwiz, there’s a definite sense the whole process has been simplified, as the phone has got a much easier feel to it when swiping around.”
This is a phone designed for multi-media, particularly video.
“AllShare Cast is included as well, powering up the ability to stream to and from other devices. In addition to being able to send content from the phone to a TV and receive from a PC in your home network, you can also do this remotely now, as long as the device is turned on obviously.”
50 GB of Dropbox storage for those videos and photos.
Samsung Galaxy SIII Accessories Unearthed
Take a peek at accessories that are assumed for the U.K. launch, including stylus/pen, touchscreen cover and Wi-Fi Display Hub.
We are excited to announce the MultiLink Connect solution because it’s unique features & proven benefits offer enterprises a competitive alternative to traditional WAN services.
Network Architecture
Our team has a strong history of developing and delivering low cost, high bandwidth – tailored wide area network & WiFi solutions. The MultiLink Connect solution is a natural evolution of our turn-key, PCI compliant, & fully managed IPVPN broadband solutions for enterprises with a significant number of geographically dispersed small offices and/or retail locations.
Advanced Monitoring - present
We have seen a tremendous level of interest in our dual broadband MultiLink Connect solution and similar hybrid WAN architectures. The demand for higher bandwidth networks with improved up-time availability are driving the need for new solutions that are already disrupting the traditional WAN technologies and designs. Organizations deploying Wi-Fi, VOIP, video and other applications are quickly realizing that traditional WAN options limit their ability to scale, are costly, and are not positioned to meet the bandwidth requirements that are on the horizon.
Bandwidth demand is directly related to the cloud application explosion, more & more real-time applications, and supporting of Wi-Fi network access. The availability requirement is primarily a result of enterprises providing their business users with more business critical applications that are dependent on always-on, always-available, network access. MultiLink delivers this bandwidth for the myriad of cloud-based applications and portable devices without compromising the high availability usually associated to MPLS-based networks. In addition, many corporations have blurred the lines between what was typically “not for business use” apps by embracing the social networking mediums like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and as such have created an unprecedented demand for bandwidth.
As a final note, American Family is great company to work with and we are extremely proud to have earned their business!
We announced a new version of iPass Open Mobile now optimized to take advantage of the higher resolution and user interface of the iPad.
See our demo on how to install, use and take advantage of the iPass Open Mobile features. More iPads are entering the Enterprise and companies must consider how to deploy and manage these devices. The “At-a-glance” dashboard provides a view of current connection status, historic data usage and previous connections, plus a quick link to the iPass Hotspot Finder. It also has a wireless data usage meter so that users can view their historical Wi-Fi and 3G data usage.
Did you know…
