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Media, White papers

Mobile Entertainment – Mobile is the new media

October 30, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

The proliferation of smartphones and the subsequent entry of tablets have resulted in a major shift in mobile entertainment and mobile user behavior. Streaming media and video services, mobile TV and games etc., have re-defined digital entertainment ushering in a fresh experience for mobile users. The result is an unprecedented shot in mobile content availability and consumption. The perpetual increase in games and app downloads, average TV viewing times on mobile, and an expanding base in the mobile entertainment audience signals towards a substantial demand for such services currently and projects a steady growth for it in the future. The entertainment industry too is fast realizing the potential and benefits of adopting mobile as a key media to not only reach to a growing tribe of audience but also make content production and distribution agile and cost-effective.

So, what’s causing the ripples in the entertainment sector? What are the factors catalyzing the mobile entertainment boom? And how the mobile driven environment is taking shape? Our cover story this time focuses on mobile entertainment and studies the drivers, barriers, opportunities and the future ahead.

Mobile entertainment grows big

A few years ago, the concept of mobile entertainment just entailed ringtones, wallpapers, a few full tracks and video downloads and sharing the same with friends. You could of course carry a good amount of music, images and videos on your mobile phone, courtesy the memory card. But it has gone past that mark.

Latest studies by Juniper Research reveal strong growth among games and infotainment applications will drive mobile entertainment revenues from $36bn last year to over $65bn annually by 2016. It also finds that growing satisfaction with mobile TV on tablets will raise average monthly viewing to 186 minutes per month in 2014. Mobile users who pay for music content will more than triple to reach 178 million by 2015. Mobile devices are challenging other entertainment mediums to be the preferred choice. And this change has touched upon every key function of the industry; from content production to promotion and distribution.The advent of mobile devices with large screens, rich multimedia functionalities supported with speedier bandwidth have led to democratized access to content anywhere and anytime. The consumer demand too has shifted. Now he wishes to get access to his favorite movie, sitcom, news or any other TV program on his primary device which is either a smartphone or a tablet. Mobile apps, on the other hand, have revolutionized the way people discover and view content. Every major movie, music and game studio today has released or is releasing an app which is becoming the access point for users to explore and enjoy their content. Entertainment has moved beyond a fixed slot and closed doors to on-demand and streaming.

A new research study from TVGuide.com finds that people are watching more TV now than ever.Forty-two percent viewers are watching more streaming content than last year, and 89 percent of respondents said that they discovered new shows on demand or online after episodes or seasons aired. Further, Thirty percent of respondents who pay for video said that they are watching more paid video than they did in 2011. And, 68 percent of respondents are watching one to five hours of video per week via apps on their mobile devices.

The factors driving

The ubiquity of mobile devices, the growing ownership of smartphones, rise in mobile internet adoption and speed; and realization of mobile as a major distribution channel by content producers are the key drivers behind the massive growth in mobile entertainment. Furthermore, app stores provided a perfect platform for content producers to promote and distribute their content cost-effectively which led to massive upsurge in the usage. Brands too have realized the importance of mobile devices as a perfect distribution channel and the result is the availability of thousands of free apps and games making the audience hooked to their devices.

Opportunities in mobile entertainment

Gaming: Sophisticated features of mobile phones and tablets have resulted in immersive games with engaging game-plays. There has been a significant change in the gamer profile as gaming no more is restricted to teenagers. A typical mobile user is aged between 20 to 25 years and we are witnessing a significant interest for games in the 40+ age group. Mobile social games have gained tremendous traction of late.

Music: Mobile entertainment is also bringing tremendous opportunities to the music industry. Mobile apps are aiding the industry in reaching to a new audience, drive-up paid content and retain customers by continuously engaging with him. The success of apps like Spotify, Last.fm, Pandora and Shazam etc., serves as a good example for other players to reach their audience via apps and benefit from it.

Gambling: Mobility is also serving as a potent tool for the gambling industry. Mobile apps serve as a great medium for casinos and others in the gambling industry to reach to their audience and allow them to place their bets from anywhere and anytime.

TV: For the TV industry, mobile apps have emerged as successful enhancement. In addition to allowing viewers to watch their favorite programs on-the-move thereby increasing eyeballs and TRP; the apps are also great tools for the channels to engage their audience through social media sharing, recording, information on stars, upcoming programs, teasers, reminder alerts and polls etc.

Movies: The movie industry, struggling to attract people to the theatres and multiplexes, has found mobility as a great solution to create buzz before the release of a movie. A mobile game based on the movie characters and mobile app with trailers, star cast interviews, release updates etc., have proven to be immensely successful in luring the audience and getting the cash registers ringing.

Content Production: Mobility is also playing a great role in the production phase with apps developed to connect and monitor recording devices, pre-visualization composers for storyboards and set-designing etc.

Brand Promotion: There is tremendous scope for brands to use mobile entertainment to engage with an exploding mobile connected consumer base and interact with them. And, businesses are slowly realizing the potential of promoting their brands through games and cater to their instant gratification for products and services. Early adopters like Coca-Cola, Nike etc., had reasonable success through it encouraging others to make mobile games a key element of marketing and branding.

The mobile entertainment market

The mobile entertainment market has changed radically, in scale and shape, over the past few years. Mobile content once driven by value added services like ringtones, caller tunes, wallpapers etc., is now being driven by streaming videos, high-end gaming, social media tools and other entertainment apps. According to Juniper Research, the global mobile entertainment is estimated to reach $65.9 billion in 2016 from $36.1 billionin 2011, registering a CAAGR of over 12%. Mobile gambling is predicted to grow by a CAAGR of 29% from $1.2 billion in 2011 to $4.3 billion in 2016 fuelled by soaring usage of tablets. According to the research report, adult content is estimated to grow at a CAAGR of 19%. The mobile music sector, which as recently as 2008 accounted for nearly 42% of revenues in the industry is still expected to remain the biggest sector in the industry. However, the sector will see a decline of CAAGR 2.2% over the forecast period with games and social media occupying twice the worth of mobile music market.

The challenges

While mobility offers great benefits to various players in the entertainment industry to reach to a wider audience, engage with them and improve profitability, there are still many challenges that the industry needs to address to realize full-scale benefits from mobility. Mobile is a different medium which is still in its early years and therefore finding the right user-interface to optimize user experience and easy facilitation to discover and view content is a challenge which many mobile content producers are struggling to answer. Secondly, mobile devices differ in form, capabilities and functionalities, calling for a content format and delivery mechanism that will be suitable to all devices. While many parts of the globe are experiencing speedier bandwidth in 4G LTE, still there remains a large area which is only covered with relatively slower internet coverage. The content produced and distributed should also be compatible with varying internet speed without compromising the quality. Moreover, mobile entertainment consumes a lot of data making it expensive to enjoy it on their devices for users. The high cost data services are a big impediment in the wider adoption of mobile entertainment services. Also, security in mobile payment transactions for paid-content services needs to be addressed to gain the confidence of users and push the volumes for it.

Our Recommendations

Embrace mobile entertainment: The common assumption that people watch a video or play a game on mobile only when they are on-the-go is quickly changing. In fact 47% of people play games on smartphones and tablets at home. So, mobile is fast emerging as the preferred device for entertainment and that’s why it makes perfect sense for you to adopt it whole-heartedly.

Understand mobile as a medium: Mobile devices have their limitations. And mobile users have very little attention span. Create content that syncs well with the medium.

Understand mobile users: A large part of the mobile entertainment audience particularly the gaming audience is different from what we have seen traditionally. This population is into gaming to have instant fun for a few minutes. They want simple games with easy goals to achieve yet compelling game play with no time commitments. Reaching the next level doesn’t give them as much high as spending a few minutes and achieving a few goals. The huge popularity of ‘Angry Birds’ can be a good case in point in understanding how a simple game play can be a huge success.

A long-term roadmap: Adding new features to your app will keep the excitement level up compelling users to return. Also, keep it in sync with the changing times. Technology is moving faster and so is the audience.

Monetizing it: What will be your revenue model? Mobile entertainment services offer plentiful opportunities to earn revenues. You can either offer free content and earn from advertising or earn through paid content or do both. Decide before you begin.

The days ahead

Mobility is the future of entertainment. As the technology evolves further and costs of mobile devices and data services go down, we will see an upsurge in mobile content consumption particularly the video-rich services and mobile TV. Newer technologies like Augmented Reality, Mobile Peer to Peer (P2P), Near Field Communications (NFC), 3D in mobile etc., which are at nascent stages, will further gain traction to make entertainment services richer and engaging. Mobile entertainment, which is still a luxury for a large part, will soon join mainstream. And that’s where the audience and money is. Get ready to tap it!

Blog, Healthcare

Healthcare goes app-(h)ealing!

October 10, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Mobile devices and apps have significantly impacted the healthcare delivery model across the globe. Faced with the challenges of soaring costs, fast-changing regulatory environment, increasing error-rates, decreasing profitability, and demand for quality healthcare; healthcare providers are adopting mobility as an essential tool to make their services agile, efficiently utilize their resources, reach a wider population cost-effectively and elevate the quality of their services So much so that we are witnessing the influence of mobility solutions in every sphere of healthcare; right from patient care to hospital administration to remote monitoring of patients post-discharge from the hospital. Huge stacks of papers and traditional machinery are giving way to smart and slick devices arming the staff with real-time data on-the-go. Healthcare institutions that have adopted mobility and made it a part of their delivery model are reaping the benefits in terms of streamlined processes, efficient manpower usage and reduced administrative tasks thereby positively impacting quality of care and boosting customer satisfaction.

The acceptance is swiftly surging…

Various studies suggest a soaring acceptance of mobile devices and medical apps among healthcare professionals. A study by Manhattan Research reveals that around 62% of physicians are now using tablets, with over half of them using it at the point-of-care. Similarly, survey by Wolters Kluwer Health’s Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), found that 71% of nurses are using smartphones at work. And there are numerous motivators behind it. According to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute (PwC HRI) –

56% of physicians believed m-health could help expedite decision-making.
39% said it would reduce the time it takes for administrative tasks.
36% said it would increase collaboration among physicians.
26% said it would increase time spent with patients.
40% said they could eliminate 11% to 30% of office visits through the use of mobile health technologies such as remote monitoring, email or text messaging with patients.

Apps encompass all…

Apps for patient care – Mobile apps like CA MOBILE providing mobile access to EMR systems ( GE – Centricity Advanced), and ‘PATIENT TRACKER’ are providing all critical data to medical professionals on-the-move saving their time, increasing effectiveness and allowing them to cover a large number of patients. Physicians can now access EHR of the patients on their devices through an app, go through their appointments schedule, check metabolic standards of the patients and if required raise drug requisitions, all remotely without being tied to a desk. Nurses similarly are able to positively identify patient by scanning their wristbands, receive physician instructions, patient-wise, know their medical history, get medication alerts, check daily job schedules, and remotely control various machines through an app-to-machine interface. Post-discharge from the hospitals, patients can access the prescription and instructions for their care through an app enabling better adherence to advice.

Apps for lab results and medical imaging- Mobile apps like LabCheck GO (by Ascend Clinical) are also providing various lab results like EEG (electroencephalogram), ECG (electrocardiogram) etc., to the healthcare staff allowing them to take timely, on-the-go decisions and administer required care to the patients. Smartphone apps can also be used to provide access to medical images from various modalities like CT, MRI, X-ray and Ultrasound etc., when there is no access to workstation for physicians to quickly assess and review a patient’s health.
Apps and Smarter Devices- There are also many apps developed in recent times that can help convert a mobile device into a medical device. A blood pressure arm cuff can be integrated with a smartphone to record the blood-pressure values or an app that turns a smartphone into an ECG machine to check heartbeats of a patient. The data so collected then can be shared in real-time for consultations and monitoring purpose. Healthcare is also best suited to progress in machine-to-machine (M2M) communication wherein two wirelessly connected devices will be able to exchange information with each other without human intervention, taking remote patient monitoring to another level.
Apps for administration- Then there are apps that help in administrative tasks like patient coding and tracking, billing, asset management, bed management and supply chain management etc., by storing and sharing real-time information with concerned stakeholders so as to streamline and speed-up the entire process. A dashboard that provides overview on the availability of medical equipment and its location can help the staff to easily locate equipment in urgent situations.
Apps for training & development- Mobile apps also have enormous potential to be an effective training tool for young physicians, surgeons and nurses in a hospital. They can consult senior physicians through video, voice and text; access to reference literature through apps like LAB VALUES on the move and hone their skills and knowledge in patient care.

There’s more to come in days ahead…

Mobile devices and apps have encompassed the entire healthcare ecosystem. But still there are enormous potential areas which are still to be covered using mobile apps and devices. Mobile based emergency response systems, mobile synchronous (voice) and asynchronous (SMS) telemedicine diagnostic and decision support systems, and clinical care and remote patient monitoring will be the areas of interest to watch out for as mobile technology gets more sophisticated and the costs of mobility solutions shrink. Moreover, leveraging technologies such as M2M, cloud computing etc., will further lead innovative visions and role of mobile apps in the healthcare delivery model. The available and the foreseeable benefits arising out of using mobile devices and apps in patient care makes for its definite inclusion in the healthcare delivery model.

Enterprise Mobility, White papers

Mobile Device Management: Enable, manage and secure your mobile environment

September 27, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

One of the significant technological trends in recent times has been the huge proliferation of mobile devices and apps into the workplace. From smartphones to Tablets to wireless add-on devices like sensors, scanners etc., mobility in enterprises has reached a critical mass and is all set to occupy a dominant position in the overall organizational setup. While enterprise mobility solutions bring myriad benefits to organizations in aiding transformation, boosting efficiency, increasing customer satisfaction and eventually leading to better margins and revenues; it also poses a range of serious challenges in terms of managing, monitoring, collaborating and securing an ever increasing pool of mobile devices and apps, loaded with sensitive data, which needs to be answered to optimize the benefits arising out of mobility. A few years back, enterprise mobility was predominantly occupied by Blackberry devices and a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) was sufficient to manage and secure the environment. However, in recent times, consumerization of IT and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy has led to entry of devices of all types and sizes making it impossible for the IT departments to manage and monitor it and posing a serious threat to the security of corporate data. Mobile Device Management or MDM can be one such solution that can prove to be an effective answer to most of the challenges arising while implementing mobility. Our cover story, this month, takes a detailed look at MDM and discusses why and how it could be a solution to various challenges faced by enterprises in their mobility adoption.

What is MDM?

According to Gartner, Mobile device management (MDM) includes software that provides the following functions: software distribution, policy management, inventory management, security management and service management for smartphones and media tablets.

Mobile Device Management solutions can be deployed on-premise or as a cloud-based service. There are a few vendors who also offer MDM as managed service wherein routine updating and maintenance is outsourced to third parties. Most mobile device management solutions enable organizations to manage and provide end-to-end security to mobile devices, apps, network and data through single software whereas some MDM solutions also incorporate expense management to provide more elaborative coverage to the management of mobile devices.

How MDM works?

Whether deployed as an on-premise server or as a cloud solution, a MDM lets you manage all the mobile devices deployed across your enterprise. Every device that has to be controlled and managed in your enterprise and hence enrolled into the MDM has to follow an authentication and provisioning process through which it is registered in the MDM directory. An authenticated and encrypted connection is then established between an enrolled mobile device and the MDM gateway server enabling all traffic to and from the device network to be redirected through it and the Gateway Server. A registered device can interact with the MDM server after it successfully authenticates itself. The device management server collects information about the smartphone or tablet and then sends the applicable settings and applications to it. MDM allows administrators to enable or disable any functionality of the device; decommission inactive devices, blacklist and whitelist applications or selectively wipe data from a device as per the mobile policy and the user cannot override it. It also supports remote location of any device and provides troubleshooting services to any device. The MDM also regularly checks and evaluates for newly published software package distribution.

Most of the MDM solutions offer customizable, on-click dashboards for administrators to get information on all the enrolled devices in the enterprise network.

Whether deployed as an on-premise server or as a cloud solution, a MDM lets you manage all the mobile devices deployed across your enterprise.

Configure: Configure device and application settings, restrictions etc., as per policy.

Provision: Facilitate automated and over-the-air user device registration and distributing configuration check and evaluate software package distribution.

Security: Secure devices, apps, and data by enforcing security measures like authentication and access policy, enable or disable device functionalities, blacklisting and whitelisting apps.

Support: Help users by remotely locating any device and providing troubleshooting services.

Monitor: Keep a track on device, app and data usage; check unauthorized user access; abnormal device behavior etc.

De-activate: Decommission lost or stolen devices; block user access, wipe out data from compromised devices.

Why MDM?

The widespread proliferation of mobile devices and applications caused by consumerization of IT and the popularity of BYOD policy has enabled unprecedented mobility and data on the fingertips of employees while boosting productivity and efficiency of the organizations. However, while providing multiple benefits to enterprises and employees, mobility has also posed several challenges to the IT department. From selecting platforms to support within the network to dealing with loss or theft of devices to securing critical corporate data on thousands of devices; IT departments have a lot to consider. MDM software helps IT department in answering all these challenges by providing control over devices, applications and data flow. Administrators can monitor and control the apps installed on devices, keep a track on user behaviour, enforce security measures so as to create a secure mobile ecosystem within an organization. Moreover, MDM solutions also go a long way in optimizing the functionality of the mobile network in an enterprise as well as minimizing costs and reducing downtime. In other words, MDM paves the way for implementation of both device and platform agnostic security policy and supports enterprises in mitigating business risks by protecting data and information.

Mobile Device Management can help an enterprise

Enable sophisticated security mechanisms to prevent corporate data stored on devices from being leaked, stolen or compromised.

Ensures central control of registered mobile devices by providing real-time overview on each specific device via dashboard.

Safely manage & distribute recommended apps, blacklists risky apps.

Provides single, comprehensive infrastructure to manage devices and apps.

Minimizes total cost of ownership (TCO) with a scalable, dependable solution.

Meeting service level agreements (SLAs)

Adheringe to key compliance obligations like HIPAA, FISMA etc.

Implementing a standard mobile management & security policy.

Improvinge user experience and thereby sustaining worker’s productivity.

Reduces IT burden with self-service portal for employees.

MDM Usage and Adoption Trends

Among organizations that have not yet deployed an MDM solution, 32% will deploy one in 2013 and additional 24% plan to deploy one in 2014

The leading factor (34%) cited for deploying an MDM solution was the potential for loss of intellectual property

Among respondents switching to a new MDM platform, 31% indicated that they would likely select a cloud-based solution. Of those, 55 percent said they would choose a private cloud solution for security reasons

The top three reasons cited for choosing a cloud MDM solution were

Simpler administration/maintenance (69%)

Predictable/reduced costs (39%)

Don’t want to use internal IT staff resources (21%)

Source: Osterman Research

When is MDM required?

When should you consider looking for a MDM solution? The answer depends on many factors including the type of devices being used in your enterprise to types of apps and the kind of data accessed through them. You may not require an MDM solution in case you provide your employees only BlackBerry or iOS devices or in case the devices don’t access any critical data. However, if you have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) mobility culture wherein employees bring their own devices or you approve multiple OS devices like iOS, BlackBerry, Android, Windows etc., then a MDM solution becomes a necessity to prevent your device and data from theft or being compromised. In addition, there are various other questions like- Does data and sessions need to be encrypted? What would be the business impact of a security breach? What and how much control do you wish to have on the devices and apps? In other words, a comprehensive assessment of your organizational risk profile with respect to mobile devices will answer your need for a MDM solution.

Players in the MDM market and their position

MDM vendors are somewhat limited in the control that their specific MDM solution can exercise on the APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) of the devices which means that while each MDM is different, the core functionalities and features remain same. MDM platforms may differ from each other in deployment choices-traditional in-premise versus cloud based, the platforms-iOS, Android, Windows etc., it supports, integration with security and service management platforms, telecom expense management and enterprise content management system etc.

The market for MDM solutions is competitive with many big players involved in it. According to Gartner research, the MDM market is dominated by a “big 5” group of vendors consisting of Good Technology (which alone accounts for 20% of the total market), SAP, AirWatch, MobileIron and Fiberlink Communications that controls about 60% of the market.

Issues with MDMs

Deployment: MDMs can be deployed on-premise or as cloud-based service. On-premise installation would require in-house capability and resources for maintenance and trouble-shooting while cloud-based solution would make you completely reliable on vendor’s capability and services.

Costs: There are significant expenses involved in installing MDM solutions. While on-premise installation requires significant upfront costs with low recurring expenses, cloud-based solutions require low upfront expense but have high recurring expenses every year. Companies have to do a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis before opting for a MDM solution.

Adaptability: Every organization has its own set of niche requirements that a MDM solution must be able to address. Allowing sufficient customization and tweaking choices is a challenge for a specific MDM.

Recommendations on choosing a MDM solution

Choosing the right MDM platform becomes critical due to security implications and high costs involved. Here are a few key points to consider while choosing a MDM platform-

Mobile Policy: Your MDM platform should best cater to your mobile policy. Does it have sufficient functionalities to provide the level of security that your business needs? Does it support archiving of mobile content?

Security Mechanisms: Data security is an on-going process. Make sure that your MDM platform supports advanced data security measures.

Remote configuration & control: Your MDM platform should enable remote configuration, updating of OS and apps. Moreover, it should also provide you control through locking/wiping of devices in case of loss and theft.

Scalability: The types of platforms and devices it can support is also a key consideration while choosing an MDM. Does it offer flexibility to add more devices and platforms in future?

Compliance obligations: Your MDM platform must be able to help you in fulfilling compliance obligations related to data security, customer privacy etc., of the country.

Analytics: MDM solutions must provide real-time, comprehensive analytics on registered devices and apps.

MDM Buying Guide

Any good MDM must have following security features

PIN/password enforcements

Functionality to remotely lock/wipe device in case of loss or theft

Data encryption

Jailbreak detection

Data loss prevention mechanisms

i. Device Management

Over the air configuration

Remote operating system and application updating

Remote control of devices

Real-time analytics on usage

ii. Application Management

Whitelisting and blacklisting of apps

Management of enterprise app stores

App security features

Remote data wipe of applications

Real-time analytics on apps downloaded, data accessed on registered devices

Conclusion

The massive proliferation of mobile devices and applications in enterprises has posed a serious threat to the IT department in securing critical corporate data. Moreover, with huge diversity in devices and multiple platforms, it has indeed become burdensome and resource-taxing for organizations to monitor and control devices, apps and their usage. Also, there is a regulatory requirement call for sufficient data protection mechanisms. In such a scenario, MDM solutions become a necessity for organizations to optimize their mobile initiatives and mitigate business risks associated with it. A centrally controlled and real-time monitored mobile environment will be the defining feature of most of the enterprises, in times to come.

Blog, Platform

Is your app, iPhone 5 ready?

September 24, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

iPhone 5 is launched and in its first week of sales is set to break many records. Apple has brought many changes to the latest iPhone. One of the major changes in the latest iPhone is the screen size which has been increased from 3.5-inch, 960 x 640 pixel display, to 4.0 inch, 1136 x 640 pixel retina display. While the bigger display comes as good news for iPhone aficionados, however for iPhone app developers and brands that have built apps, it means more work as apps will get displayed in letter-boxed format in iPhone 5 robbing the fun and experience of a large, vibrant display. On the newly launched iPhone 5, the older apps will show up on screen at the same size as on the iPhone 4S with two black strips placed along the left and right in landscape mode and in top and bottom in portrait mode. While Apple claims that iPhone developers and app sellers can make their apps compatible to iPhone 5 with simple updates very quickly, it doesn’t seem to be so easy. Here’s why-

The larger screen provides app developers opportunities to maximize their use of screen real-estate and adopt the new resolution which is 16:9, a way ahead from previous 3:2 resolution. Moreover, the new dimensions also provide more space to add more content to your apps. So, there is more to do than simple updates to optimize the large screen in iPhone 5.
– From the perspective of coding, developers will now have to use Xcode 4.5 with iOS 6 SDK. In addition to that there are many things to consider while updating the app-

1. All apps must stick to Cocoa Auto Layout Strategy so that the existing apps scale properly on the 4-inch iPhone 5 / 5th generation iPod Touch devices. In other words, every developer should refrain from writing hard coded rects such as CGRectMake(0, 0, 320, 460) and should use self.view.bounds.size instead.

2. viewDidUnload has been deprecated. Using it would still work but, the support would be taken down in the future releases. Developers should move their existing code from viewDidUnload to didReceiveMemoryWarning from now on.

3. If your apps have a dependency on Contacts, Calendars, Photos & Reminders, don’t expect to get the data always. These things require user permissions in iOS 6, and we have to be prepared to handle errors when the user denies permissions.

4. shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:, willRotateToInterfaceOrientation: and didRotateFromInterfaceOrientation: are no longer called and are deprecated on iOS 6 devices. However, if you are still supporting earlier iOS devices, the code would work.

To support iOS 6 devices, you have to implement additionally these methods – application:supportedInterfaceOrientationsForWindow: in application delegate and shouldAutorotate method in view controller.

If your view controller has this:

-(BOOL)shouldAutorotateToInterfaceOrientation:(UIInterfaceOrientation)interfaceOrientation {

return (interfaceOrientation == UIInterfaceOrientationPortrait);

}

Replace this to the following in App Delegate:

– (NSUInteger)supportedInterfaceOrientations {

return UIInterfaceOrientationMaskPortrait;

}

If your view controller supports auto rotation, add this:

– (BOOL)shouldAutorotate {

return YES;

}

For view controllers that have custom layout logic for each orientation, developers have to implement UIView’s viewWillLayoutSubviews instead which is available from iOS 5.

5. If a landscape-only app launches a portrait-only view controller such as GameCenter login view controller, the app crashes. Workaround is to also add portrait orientation for the window in supportedIntefaceOrientationsForWindow: method.

So, games and apps that use interactivity, large size graphics, motion and sensors etc., will need more than a simple update and a major revamping to provide the same experience to users as in iPhone 4S. Moreover, app developers should also have to delicately balance between iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 users. There will still be a large population which will continue to use iPhone 4S and therefore developers have to come with two different versions as apps for iPhone 5 will not be compatible to iPhone 4S.

With millions of apps in app stores going for the updates and in queue for approvals, it makes perfect sense to opt for revamping as early as possible so as to seize the bountiful opportunities offered by iPhone 5.

According to Fiksu, around 10 million people are likely to buy the new iPhone 5 in the next 10 days after it hits stores on Sept. 21, 2012. In addition, according to The Wall Street Journal, analysts predict Apple to sell as many as 23 million new devices by the end of 2012. The growing iPhone market will present a huge opportunity for brands to engage with their customers through apps. But, to make the most of the opportunities on the offing, your app needs to be iPhone 5 ready. Are you ready yet?

Blog, Healthcare

Healthcare Mobility: A Way to Go

September 24, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

A decade ago having a mobile with basic features symbolized reputation but, today, it is these devices around which the entire world of any individual, or for that matter, any industry revolves. The evolution of these simple devices into smartphones has had its impact on enterprises, just as good as the consumer segment and healthcare industry was no different. With the emergence of these advanced gadgets and new technologies like Wi-Fi and NFC (Near Field Communications), the individual and enterprise today have access to systems and information anytime, anywhere, resulting in increased efficiency. The hospital industry players have also embraced mobility by providing real-time access to Electronic Health Records (EHRs) that comprise of a wide array of information right from demographics to patient health charts to billing details, on the physician’s device, aiding her in better treatment of their patients from any place in the world.

Over a period, we have seen the healthcare industry come a long way, from treatment that involved paperwork to hospitals, where patients have RFID tags, furnishing the staff, real-time info about the patient. The industry had tackled the issue of paper based data collation from umpteen resources, for years, a process that involved more time and errors. There were a couple of other challenges too. Every member of the caregiving team held information that somewhat varied leading to improper coordination within the team. The rise of smartphone led enterprise mobility solutions has been aiding the physicians and nurses with accurate and up-to-date information on inventory and assets that help them take better decisions for their patients, resulting in heightened productivity and revenues.

The introduction of mobility into healthcare operations can create an opportunity for the caregiving team to communicate with each other on an instant basis, decreasing the response time by increasing access to data, anytime, anywhere. This kind of unified communication system with better user interface and user experience across multiple devices provides a platform where a team of physicians, specialists, pharmacists and nurses can coordinate with each other to render quality service. The medical equipment with built in Wi-Fi modules are now gaining momentum with data sharing becoming indisputable. Mobility has hit the healthcare education system as well and resident trainees are developing their skills by adopting this technology to support lab and clinical education and accessing real-time answers to their queries by using relevant apps on their tablets. Although physicians, concerned with the interface and security issues might be reluctant to adopt mHealth solutions, apps developed for the enterprise are gaining traction and the competition seems agonizing as the number of solution providers is inflating, giving an extra elbow room for the healthcare mobility market.

Taking a leap from the current scenario, cloud computing can be predicted as the future of the healthcare industry as it promises to gather data in an effective and effortless manner, bringing in a change in the process. This cost-effective technology can prove to be more pertinent for small clinics and hospitals as it does not require a huge IT staff to maintain and service in-house infrastructure. Healthcare service centers adopting cloud-based applications will have a competitive advantage as these resources can focus on other issues which impact business operations and prove to be efficacious in delivering better care to the patients.

Mobile solutions in the hospital industry enable faster information flow and can be utilized by the caregiver, without any hindrance, for efficient operations. With the metamorphosis that mobility has brought in the way hospitals run their businesses, it is beyond the shadow of a doubt that mobility is soon going to remodel the enterprise physiology.

Blog, Healthcare

mHealth apps: Mobilizing care and wellness

September 11, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Mobile devices and apps are swiftly changing the face of healthcare across the globe. While consumers are increasingly using apps helpful in curing common cold to weight management to chronic diseases like Asthma and Diabetes, healthcare providers, on the other hand, are coming-up with new apps and mobile-compatible devices, motivated by its various benefits like reach to larger population, improved service quality and lower costs. As per a research2guidance survey, the market size for mHealth app market is going to double this year following a significant jump last year. Despite this substantial growth, the survey notes, mHealth market is still in an embryonic state when compared to the US$ 6 trillion global healthcare market clearly highlighting the opportunities available and reasoning the need for healthcare providers and suppliers to adopt mobility on a larger scale.

As per a research2guidance survey, the market size for mHealth app market is going to double this year following a significant jump last year. Despite this substantial growth, the survey notes, mHealth market is still in an embryonic state when compared to the US$ 6 trillion global healthcare market clearly highlighting the opportunities available and reasoning the need for healthcare providers and suppliers to adopt mobility on a larger scale.

mHealth Benefits
Patients	Healthcare providers and suppliers
Health information on fingertips.	Lesser costs per patient.
Better personal health and quality of life.	Improved quality of service and efficiency.
Improved service levels and reduced waiting time.	Reduced manpower requirements.
Lesser visits to doctor’s clinic or hospitals.	Coverage to bigger population.
Self monitoring and diagnosis.	Real-time information access and sharing.
Regular medication and adherence support.	Better monitoring of patients.
Freedom from multiple documents.	Optimum utilisation of resources.
Lesser treatment costs.	Easy access to patients.

The numbers are encouraging…

A study commissioned by Telenor Group and the Boston Consulting Group in first quarter of 2012 revealed: 30% of smartphone users are likely to use “wellness apps” by 2015 and secondly, mobile is the most popular technology among doctors since the stethoscope. The survey further revealed- costs in elderly care can be reduced by 25% while maternal and prenatal mortality expenses can be reduced by as much as 30% through mobile solutions. As per a recent PwC Global Healthcare survey, 59% of the consumers using mHealth services reported that these services have reduced the number of visits to the doctor. The increasing enthusiasm among smartphone armed consumers for medical apps has made service providers to include apps in their delivery mechanism and provide services through it. Currently, there are around 20,000 to 25,000 apps that fall into the health & wellness category in app stores with each day adding a new app into the kitty.

“In a survey, respondents ranked more convenient access to their health-care provider, the reduction of out-of-pocket health-care costs and having greater control over their health as the top three reasons to use mHealth.”

Source-Foxbusiness

There’s an app for that…

From ‘BodyBugg SP’ (by 24 Hour Fitness) counting daily calories intake to monitoring blood sugar levels through ‘Glucose Tracker’, mobile apps are doing everything. On the other hand, there are physician / healthcare provider centric apps like CA MOBILE providing mobile access to EMR systems ( GE – Centricity Advanced), and ‘PATIENT TRACKER’ providing all required information on fingertips and aiding them in monitoring patients remotely. To compliment these apps, there are medical devices that can be integrated to smartphones and help read/record patient’s vitals and detect ailments.

A few popular application areas for medical apps include-

Education & Awareness Apps- To promote health awareness among consumer through information and tips through articles, tips, videos etc., on diets, exercises, lifestyle habits, latest research results etc.
Point of Care Support- Help patients in diagnosis of any ailment, clinical care, patient records etc.
Patient Monitoring- Support patient adherence to appointments, medications, precautions etc.
Emergency Medical Response- Help patients with necessary care during emergencies, accidents and disasters.
Health Insurance- For insurers, to provide help to their customers by providing policy related information on the app and enabling claims/reimbursements etc., through it.
Pharmacy- For drug manufacturers, to provide help to their customers in ordering medicines, reminder alerts etc.
Physicians- Book appointments, read patient’s history, provide medication online.

Mobile apps are the future…

While mobile healthcare apps are booming in usage, both by consumers and providers, but its early days yet for the consumer healthcare industry. There is a huge potential of mobile apps in patient care much beyond what we are witnessing today. In future, we will see remote app-to-app or app-to-machine interaction and data collection through wireless sensors that will be relayed real-time to doctors for quick response. App-to-app interaction and wireless sensors is already introduced in a few areas and as the technology further evolves and benefits become more evident, we will see more advanced usage of these technologies in the coming days. According to a PWC survey, 64% of doctors believe mHealth market to be full of exciting possibilities in the days ahead. For consumers, evolution in healthcare apps means more control and better management of their health at lesser costs. In other words, mobile apps are set to occupy a dominant position across the ecosystem.

Manufacturing, White papers

Mobility in Manufacturing: Driving productivity and transformation

August 21, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

The manufacturing industry worldwide is reeling under tremendous pressure to increase their output, improve quality and do it at lesser costs to expand their global footprint and reach to newer markets. To match up to the soaring expectations of the customers and other stakeholders in the ecosystem, manufacturing companies have initiated a stream of strategic and innovative measures with the objective of becoming competitive and, at the same time, cost-sensitive. Mobility in manufacturing is one such recent adoption that is enabling manufacturers to match their capability enhancements and resource mobilization with critical improvement in business processes. The convergence of mobile technology with manufacturing processes makes for a fascinating study with mobility playing a game-changing role. What we are witnessing is a major shift swiftly gaining the form of revolution that promises to reshape the manufacturing landscape by making it more lean, alert, and agile.

Our cover story this month takes a detailed look at mobility in manufacturing and understands the drivers behind adoption of mobility, the benefits achieved, the challenges in-front and the future ahead.

The Makeover

Shop floors are set for a makeover with the entry of mobile phones, apps and devices. While the last decade gave industrial units a new look with PCs, laptops and automated solutions, the current decade is adding a completely new dimension with the advent of mobility.

Machine-to-Machine or M2M solutions are wirelessly connecting diverse devices like turbines, heat monitors, vending machines and trucks etc., to a network, enabling two-way communication and facilitating sharing of real-time data through radio signals. Engineers and technicians are no more tied to their machines. They are all over the floor, remotely managing and monitoring their machines via M2M and taking instant decisions, right on their feet. Mobility is reducing the unplanned downtime in the organizations via mobile eKanBan solutions. The solution enables manufacturers to place a call button at every station which when pressed will instantly transmit the call for inventory to a mobile device in the hands of warehouse personnel for his instantaneous response. Mobility is reducing manual processes, lowering errors by providing real-time visibility for better and cost-effective management of inventory. Floor supervisors are armed with time and attendance data of their entire workforce resulting effective labor management. Mobility solutions via RFID are enabling automatic real-time tracking of assets thereby reducing human effort, theft and wastage. Managers are carrying real-time Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) on their mobile to keep a close track on it. Processes, be it Production or Quality Control, are slowly getting mobilized and mobile devices like smartphones and Tablets have become the all important tools in the entire manufacturing ecosystem. In short, mobile apps and solutions are aiding transformation and bringing competitive advantage to the adopters by adding agility and precision. Manufacturing has got a new M- mobility- to add to its other three M’s- men, money and machines. Welcome the new wave in manufacturing!

The Factors at Play

Several factors are converging to enable manufacturers to gain competitive advantage through mobility. Manufacturing companies, of all sizes, are looking to newer markets to boost future growth. Zero-defect manufacturing has become essential to be competitive and cost-effective in the current business economy. Resources are geographically getting dispersed and hence require anytime, anywhere collaborative mechanism. Employees used to the convenience of mobility in personal lives are bringing their own devices and want to use them at work. Mobile devices are fast emerging as the premiere channel for customer engagement. And, organizations are looking for virtualized operating models that enable real-time collaboration round the clock and on the move.

The mobile technology too has greatly evolved in recent times to emerge as the promising solution provider to many of the organizational concerns. Smartphones have become more powerful, Tablets with its various features are tailor-made for enterprise use and moreover, enterprise level app development is flourishing, providing a galore of choices in apps for manufacturers to pick and customize to best of their requirements.

Possibilities and Opportunities

Mobile technology has the potential to play a role in almost every step in the manufacturing cycle, right from raw material procurement to supply chain to delivery. From mobile ERP and mobile Business Intelligence to QC reports to PO/ requisition approval, we can see multiple points across processes wherein mobility can be a lean enabler.In other words, mobility doesn’t limit itself to simply shifting work from PCs to mobile but promises more through role-based applications, device integration and process synchronization.

The Benefits

There are several benefits associated with mobility adoption in manufacturing. Instant access to critical data on-the-go not only helps in taking quick decisions but also helps enterprises engaged in manufacturing to deftly manage their resources and prevent wastage contributing to cost-efficiency. Smooth and real-time flow of data and information improves response time to all stakeholders including suppliers, vendors and customers etc., helping organizationd resolve key internal and external issues in shortest possible time thereby boosting brand image and perception. Mobility also helps eliminate redundant activities, enhance collaboration within various units thereby speeding-up processes.

A study conducted by BlackBerry to examine a company’s ROI in adapting BlackBerry solutions came out with interesting results

Productivity: The study revealed that, on average, employee’s productivity increased by one hour per day because of using a smartphone. In monetary terms, on an average yearly salary of $100,000, it provided yearly benefit of $12,500 per user to the company.

Workflow: The workflow efficiency increased by 38% as employees were able to maintain their contribution in team workflow even when they were outside the office. Based on the average annual productivity of $88,500 determined by National Competitiveness Council, the company gained $33,630 per employee annually due to boost in workflow.

Immediacy: As per the study, employees on an average sent and received 24 emails/ day and approximately 9 of these emails were time-sensitive. On a conservative value of $5 each time-sensitive email/day provided an annual benefit of $4,400 per user to the company.

The total benefit of adopting BlackBerry solutions in the company was over $50,000 per employee per year.

The Challenges

While there are many critical business benefits associated with mobile adoption for manufacturing companies, they however have to encounter a few hurdles in their journey. There are a few critical challenges that has to be addressed by manufacturing organizations as they embark on the path of mobility. Security of data and information is one major challenge faced by the industry in its endeavor to mobilize processes. Enterprises have to create a formal governing policy which will define how mobile devices will integrate and interact with men and machines in the ecosystem and provide a secure mechanism to monitor and prevent data theft and fraudulency. Choosing the best technological infrastructure is one major factor which organizations have to consider. Diversity in devices and platform fragmentation only adds to the challenge as decision-makers sit to lay the blueprint. Organizations also need to consider mobile bandwidth and latency issues as the world moves to 4G networks. Meeting up internal and external demands and making mobility a hassle-free and smooth experience should also be factored-in to enable comprehensive adoption and usage of mobility within the organization and to derive desired benefits out of it.

In Future

Most organizations today are only picking the low lying fruits of mobility. And therefore we see the role of mobility limited to a communication & information channel with a few exceptions of device integration in a process. Complete synchronization of operational processes with mobility solutions and comprehensive integration of mobile devices and apps with the manufacturing ecosystem, are still in its early days. However, as organizations move in to the next level of adaption and the mobile technology further evolves, we will see much bigger role for mobility in manufacturing. Factory floors will be remotely controlled with mobile access to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) and Distributed Control Systems (DCS). Machine-to-machine (M2M) and human-machine interfaces (HMI) will also enable supervisors and managers to supervise and control shop-floor activities from anywhere via their devices. Emerging technologies like NFC and RFID will be used to tag and track the movement of products, right from the production stage to inventory, logistics and store. Real-time business intelligence dashboards via blue-tooth enabled mobile devices will also see large scale adoption. GPS-sensors and accelerometers will be used to update controller’s dashboard, expediting maintenance-related responses. Augmented reality (AR) applications on mobile will also become a norm to train technicians in using various instruments and tools. The future will see more such experiments and innovation in mobile adaption.

Our Recommendations

Enable mobility broadly: Mobility is the future and offers tremendous opportunities to manufacturing organizations. Explore how you can leverage mobile technology to transform your organization and bring agility and innovation to it.

Think big: Build a mobile strategy that optimizes your organizational capacity and the mobility advantage. Think beyond simple mobile usage and plan for wide-ranging implementation of mobility.

Manage the Risks: Mobility has risks associated with it. Understand those risks and then deploy an effective security mechanism to mitigate those risks.

Be Patient: It takes time to get returns on your investments from mobility. So be ready for a long haul.

Lay down the groundwork for next generation of mobility. Be prepared to leverage from emerging technologies like RFID, NFC etc.

It’s Just the Beginning

Mobility is more than mobilizing existing processes or providing mobile access for your employees to the corporate network. The application of mobility, we are witnessing today in manufacturing enterprises are just the tip of iceberg. There is much underneath to explore and leverage. A long-term mobile strategy with sufficient ground work for future up-gradation and improvements therefore is the right way to approach.

Mobile devices and apps can be a key enabler for the industry seeking to answer many challenges like quality improvement, cost-efficiency, improved margins and to be competitive in the current business environment. Now is the time for manufacturing organizations to seriously consider mobility and make it a part of the overall business strategy. Invest in it today to prepare your organization for tomorrow.

Blog, Education

Mobility in Education

August 8, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Mobility is influencing every part of a human’s life. As the technology evolves, we are witnessing increased adoption of mobile technology in various spheres of life. Learning and educations has also not remained untouched by it. Here’s an interesting infographic from Online Colleges that showcases the influence of mobility in education with interesting data like- Smartphone ownership among adults aged between aged between 18-24 years have increased from 49% in May, 2011 to 67% in February, 2012. And, 60% of students in a survey say that they are willing to spend up to $7.80 for an app to support their learning.

Infographic: Near Field Communication (NFC)

August 2, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Mobile phones have become an integral part of a human being’s life and with an emerging technology like NFC, the reliance on these devices is just getting more fervid. Mobile posters, mobile coupons and mobile tickets – NFC is making all that possible. Here is an infographic on NFC that encompasses its history, roadmap, its comparison with other wireless technologies, adoption across industries and the challenges confronted. A technology like NFC is a big sigh of relief to any individual or business as it gives a face-lift to the day-to-day operations allowing for easy sharing of contacts, photos, videos and files. Research says, NFC enabled phones will grow from just 7 million in 2011 to 203 million in 2015, taking its CAGR to 208%. Check out our exclusive infographic for more interesting facts on NFC.

To view the full infographic click here.

Blog, Marketing

Mobile Advertising: How Enterprises Are Clicking It?

July 19, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Mobility through its various features like location-tracking, user profiles etc., offers an opportunity to brands to cut the clutter and distinctively target their audience. Consumers with an urgent need engage with the brands while on the go through their mobile devices. Brands can reach out to such audiences, influencing their decision-making and meet their well-defined needs. Mobile has re-defined the contextual point-of-purchase marketing, an effective strategy to know the needs of a consumer and then immediately present your product or services as a solution to his needs. Add mobile payment to the context and you have really shortened the sales cycle allowing users to satiate their needs, while on the move. Contextual marketing and its resultant effect, in soaring brand engagement, while trimming down the cost per sales, has made mobile a key channel in advertising. Needless to say, we are witnessing many enterprises following the mobility route to connect and target their audiences. A study by IHS estimates the global mobile ad spend in 2011 to be over $5.3 billion. So how exactly are brands engaging with their consumer base through mobile and how effective it is?

The vertical mix

A look at the mix of verticals across the globe shows that entertainment, media, technology and telecom brands are most active participants in the mobile advertising space driving 67% of the total spend.

The device mix

Studies suggest that consumers are more likely to click on a search advertisement when using a smartphone or a Tablet. The CTR or click-through rates is found to be 72% higher on smartphones and 32% higher on Tablets when compared with searches on computers. However, a key indicator for the success of any campaign, the conversion rate- the percentage of users who took the desired action by advertiser after they click an ad- is found to be highest in computers followed by Tablets and then smartphones. The lowest conversion for smartphones highlights the role of screen size in the success of a campaign.

The Price-Performance Mix

The price-performance comparison suggest that Automotive, Style & Fashion, Social & Dating and FMCG & Retail industries have been in the lead in converting their mobile add campaigns into real sales validating that mobile advertising is yet to realize its true potential. But then, the m-advertising market is still in its early years. As it evolves further, we will see greater value generated by enterprises in terms of converting consumer interests into real business.

Retail, White papers

Retail Mobility – Welcoming the consumer on mobile

July 9, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

The retail industry has witnessed a massive change in the recent years. While the internet revolution of the last decade enabled shopping anytime, anywhere; the mobile revolution led by smartphones and applications propelled on-the-go shopping and made a radical shift in the way brands, consumers and retailers interact with each other. As consumers use mobile devices and apps to research, browse, compare and shop, mobility solutions are poised to become a significant business channel in retail.

Retailers too are realizing this and hence are adopting mobile, quite enthusiastically, resulting in Tablet catalogs, mobile billings, mCoupons, mobile apps and much more. The growing surge in mobility usage,both at the consumer and the retailer’s end makes for a riveting case study. Our cover story, this month, focuses on retail mobile solutions and endeavors to decipher the reasons behind retailers taking the mobile plunge, the seismic shift in the consumer behavior, the growth engines behind retail mobility, opportunities, challenges and advantages for various stakeholders and a look into the days ahead.

The Seismic Shift

Walk into a store, search for the product, compare between various brand choices, pay the bill and walk-out with the desired item in your bag. A few years back, it used to be the only way to shop. The advent of e-commerce made a major shift in the way people shop; allowing consumers to shop from anywhere, sitting in-front of their computer and without leaving their work or home, dismantling all the boundaries and giving them access to a global marketplace.

Online retailers, armed with a new, low-cost business model created a competitive marketplace giving a run-for- money to their brick and mortar counterparts. The arrival of mobile devices, the transformation from feature phones to smartphones, the arrival of Tablets and a galore of applications simply changed the order. Starting with SMS advertising to mobile websites and then to exclusive apps for branding and retailing, m-commerce brought a sea-change to the consumer shopping, in-sync with the new mobile lifestyle. Today, using advanced mobile applications, retailers have a direct communication channel to interact with their target audience, inform and convince them about products and influence their decision making.

Research shows that mobility is slowly gaining traction in retail. In United States, mobile commerce is predicted to generate more than $31 billion (from $3 billion in 2010) in sales making for over 7 percent (from just 1% in 2010) of all e-commerce sales in 2016. The mobile retail channel is swiftly moving from being an alternate communication channel to being a primary channel for interaction with consumers.

The Engines

Several factors are at play to drive the mobile retail boom. Mobile devices (smartphones and later-on Tablets) and applications have become part of a shopper’s life. With today’s shoppers embracing mobility as a way of life, retailers have no choice but to sync their strategy with the changing mindset.

Mobile apps allow retailers to make their interactions with the consumers, engaging and responsive, creating an appealing brand impression and occupying mind space of the prospective buyers. Moreover, retailers are adapting to mobility solutions buoyed by other business factors as well. The competitive retail marketplace and recent economic downturn has compelled retailers to look for low-cost, agile and innovative solutions that provide them with broader and faster reach-to-the market. Mobility solutions, when integrated with the existing ecosystem, can also play a big role in accentuating the shopping experience. A product demonstration on a tablet or price-comparison with a scan of the product not only helps to shorten the buying cycle but also helps the consumers take informed decisions.

The Opportunities for retailers

Today, mobility in retail has not only become a vital channel for branding and advertising but also is an enabler that can act as a force multiplier, in near and long-term future, to the overall operations in a retail organization.

Retail mobility solutions are making processes leaner and swifter not only with their own capacity but by also complementing other technologies. In short, mobility is creating new possibilities for retailers to manage their stores and make shopping effortless and pleasurable. From helping their consumer locate their nearest stores, to browsing catalogues on-the-go to read reviews of products and compare prices, retail mobility solutions have the power to integrate various components of the buying cycle into a seamless and fun exercise.

The big gains

One of the key factors behind the huge enthusiasm within retailers to adopt mobility is the game-changing business benefits it brings to them. Studies show that mobile applications not only play a huge influencing role in creating positive brand image outside the organization but also boosts worker productivity within the enterprise,thus decreasing asset failures, reducing operational costs and improve real-time decision making to help organizations improve their processes and potential.

Research also shows that by adopting retail mobility solutions, business can get a major lift in their various activities and make it more effective, culminating to significant financial benefits. A CISCO IBSG survey in 2011 shows that mobility adoption could bring as high as 10% boost to net margins for retailers.

Challenges & Advantages

While there are many exciting reasons for retailers to adopt mobility the path however is not so smooth. There are several critical challenges facing the retailers as they move on to leverage mobility in their business. Device diversity- with the availability of varied devices- and platform fragmentation- with multiple mobile platforms- brings up the challenge to look for solutions that can fit all. Internet connectivity and bandwidth concern can be a huge block in reaching to a vast audience in certain geographic markets. Privacy of customer is also a growing concern that has to be adequately addressed. It is also important for retailers to keep an eye on the reliability and scalability of their mobile infrastructure as the usage grows (in peak shopping seasons and times). And, above all, there is a huge challenge in rising and meeting up-to the consumer demands and making shopping via mobile a hassle-free and engaging activity.

Looking ahead

The future for retail mobility looks very exciting. As mobile devices evolve further, new technologies emerge and adoption grows and a lot of such innovation in the ways mobile technology will be leveraged in the retail businesses will be seen. Already there are talks of virtual shopping malls owned and managed by multiple retailers. Other key innovations that are most talked about and are gaining traction in recent times are the Near Field Communications (NFC) and Augmented Reality (AR).

Near Field Communications: NFC will allow shoppers to simply wave their phone to a tagged item in a store shelf, and get all the information about the product like prices, reviews, availability and even download discount coupons. NFC will also allow them to make payments via their mobile and also redeem reward cards.

Augmented Reality: AR is another technology, in use in its introductory phase, which when further evolved will change the shopping experience. AR will enable consumers get live view of a particular product, say how a particular garment will look on them or how painting a particular color will affect the ambience. In the days ahead, as retail mobility matures, there will be countless possibilities for its use.

Our Recommendations

Embrace mobility: Retail mobility is the future. And offers tremendous value to both, retailers and shoppers.

Engage with your customers: Mobility brings tremendous opportunities to engage and be responsive to consumer needs.

Focus on consumer experience: Create a smooth, user-friendly and enjoyable mobile shopping environment. Allow consumers to interact with your brands using techniques like Gamification etc.

Pick the right platform: Diversity in screen sizes, functionalities and operating system necessitates businesses to adopt a multi-platform approach.

Keep an eye on analytics: Monitor consumer behaviour. Customer intelligence will be the guide for future.

Lay down the groundwork for next generation of retail mobility: Emerging technologies like Augmented Reality, NFC, RFID etc., promises more opportunities. Be ready to seize them.

Final Thoughts

Retailers have to explore and adopt solutions that can help them reach their target audience, inform and influence their buying-decision process. Shoppers, on the other hand, would want the retailers to provide them with tools and solutions that play a role in their shopping decisions. Retail mobility solutions have emerged as an effective answer to myriad challenges facing retailers and will empower them to respond swiftly to the changing market dynamics and consumer lifestyle. However, right solutions beget expected results when employed at the right time. The time is ripe to go mobile. A revisit to the recent history exemplifies how early movers in e-commerce benefitted while laggards were found catching-up. A new model of retailing is emerging. It’s time to embrace it with full hands!

Enterprise Mobility, White papers

Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) – A solution to myriad challenges in enterprise mobility

June 6, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

As per Gartner CIO Survey, 2012, 61% of respondents plan to increase their mobility capability during the next three years, and 48% believe they will become leaders in their industries by fully adopting innovative mobility solutions. Truly, mobile devices and apps are changing the way enterprises interact with their processes, customers and employees. However, an important element in any mobility adoption process is the platform that hosts the mobile applications. Enterprises need to select a platform which provides an optimum mix of features and capabilities to ensure that they are able to mix and match devices, applications and can integrate it with their processes as per their budget, business goals and mobile strategy. MEAP or Mobile Enterprise Application Platform is one such solution, which is gaining considerable traction in recent years, as an effective way to design, deploy and manage enterprise apps.

Our cover story, this month, takes a detailed look at MEAP and will help understand why and how it could be a solution to myriad challenges in mobile adoption for enterprises.

Today, mobile application developers spend roughly

20 percent of their time on actual application development

80 percent of their time on adapting applications for deployment across multiple handsets and networks.

Companies must flip that ratio to fully realize the benefits mobile applications can bring.

Source: AT&T

What is a MEAP?

MEAP is an acronym coined by Gartner in its 2008 Magic Quadrant report. A Mobile Enterprise Application Platform is an integrated development environment that provides tools and client/server middleware for building, deploying and managing mobile applications.

MEAPs address the challenges of mobile app development by managing the diversity of devices, platforms, networks and users. It allows an enterprise to develop an application once and then deploy it to a variety of mobile devices.

A MEAP brings following capabilities and support for mobile software-

Complete integrated development environment.

Support for design, develop, test, deploy and manage mobile apps.

Graphical WYSIWYG development.

Run-time middleware server to handle back-end systems of the enterprises.

Robust security capabilities.

local and remote data handling capability.

Ability to integrate external devices like credit card readers, scanners, printers etc.

Benefits of MEAP

Faster app development and deployment: MEAPs address the challenges of diversity in devices and platforms thereby eliminating the repetitive, resource-intensive tasks of building applications for each device type and OS. This enables companies to spend less time on adapting applications for specific devices.

Multiple feature integration: MEAPs allow easier integration of mobile apps with the unique features and capabilities of mobile devices and peripherals like credit card readers, printers and barcode scanners.

Management: MEAP interfaces with client middleware server and back-end infrastructure to provide high visibility and control via web-based console over the environment. This makes it easy for the businesses to centrally manage devices and apps, and install and update mobile software over the air.

Security: MEAP enforces guards against unauthorized access and helps in data security, in the event of loss or theft of device. It also enables constant monitoring in the mobile environment by generating detailed reports on user usage, devices and apps. The reports can not only be used for surveillance but also to manage various issues in the environment.

Off-line Connection: Mobile apps, as smart clients in a MEAP environment, can work independently of a central server connection, allowing users to continue to work off-line.

Robust back-end connectivity: MEAP provides strong connectivity between back-end infrastructure and mobile devices through mobile middleware thereby ensuring smooth flow of data to specified device.

Support for scalability and new technologies: MEAP provides a highly scalable infrastructure to support dynamic increase in devices, apps and users. Being an open, flexible architecture, the platform also enables easy integration with emerging technologies.

What are MEAPs trying to solve?

Write app once, run on any device and platform

Write application in single language and re-compile for native platform

Take advantage of device hardware

Provide abstraction layer to take advantage of the device hardware

Integrate with different data sources

Set of adapters for XML, databases, web services, SAP, Siebel etc.

Deployment of applications

Hosting of application, manage updates and analyze usage

Management of devices

Asset management for devices and restrictions for trusted devices

Source – Neudesic

When is MEAP a right solution?

Analyst firm Gartner proposed The Rule of Three, whereby enterprises are encouraged to consider MEAP as a solution when they need to support

Three or more mobile applications

Three or more mobile operating systems (OS)

To integrate three or more back-end data sources

1. Multi-platform deployment
Is your business planning to deploy mobile capabilities on two or more operating systems? If yes, then a MEAP will be the right solution to your needs. A MEAP will provide you with the ways to leverage a single development capability to build mobile apps across a wide variety of mobile platforms like iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, etc.

2. Multiple applications in the environment
Is your enterprise’s mobile strategy includes 3 or more apps? If so, then adding a MEAP to the mobile environment is a necessary step for sustained monitoring and management.

3. Connecting to Multiple back-end systems
Your sales team wanted mobile access to CRM. Now your inventory team requires real-time data on mobile. The requests simply don’t end! The minute you feel the need for integration and connectivity from multiple back-end systems, it’s better to have a MEAP in place. A MEAP will not only ensure smooth data flow across the mobile environment but will also enable safeguards for its security.

Issues with MEAPs

On-premise installation: MEAPs are on-premise software and therefore would require in-house expertise for development, maintenance and trouble-shooting in the long run. This means costs in training personnel or recruiting MEAP experts.

Expensive: There is significant expenses in license, hardware, maintenance of a MEAP making it difficult for enterprises with limited financial resources to adopt it into their ecosystem.

Adaptability: Each organization has its own set of requirements and therefore a standard solution like MEAP needs to have customization capabilities to align with the mobile strategy of the enterprise. Meeting the customization requirements of an enterprise and extending all its benefits is a challenge for the MEAPs.

Recommendations on choosing a MEAP solution

Selecting the right MEAP solution is of critical importance to enterprises as it can not only impact the entire mobile strategy but also business efficiency and the finances. Here are a few major points of considerations while picking the right MEAP solution

Productivity: Is the MEAP solution answering to your mobility requirements? Is it helpful in reducing app development efforts of your organization? The MEAP solution you pick must satisfy most of your needs and mix well with the objective behind adapting mobility in your enterprise.

Support: The MEAP you choose must also provide end-to-end solutions in app development efforts. Some solutions don’t provide complete support through the full mobile app lifecycle and may require further developer interventions in native coding, debugging and other manual tweaking.

Flexibility: Ask your vendor whether the said MEAP solution only supports mobile apps or can also support desktop or web apps? Some MEAPs are restricted to supporting mobile apps only and have no capabilities for supporting other types of applications. This means you have to build apps for other environments on your own.

Integration: Does the MEAP enables complete and easy integration with back-end systems? Smooth integration to enterprise systems, databases and processes will help you save time, efforts and make your mobile environment efficient.

Emerging technologies: With technology continuously evolving, it is of utmost importance that your MEAP solution must also support emerging technologies such as HTML5 to make your mobile environment sync with changing times.

In addition to above, the expertise and experience of the vendor should also be considered while buying the MEAP solution.

Conclusion

Use of mobility devices and applications in enterprises is growing at a brisk pace. While mobile adaption is bringing considerable benefits for organizations but is also posing challenges in terms of efficient management of devices and applications, platform fragmentation, data security and higher costs etc., which calls for innovative and functional solutions that can reduce app development efforts, lower costs and bring efficiency in the systems. MEAP can be a solution that can help an enterprise in answering the myriad challenges and can help it adopt mobility in a secure, organized and efficient way.

Enterprise Mobility-Apps, Platforms and Devices

Infographic:Enterprise Mobility

June 5, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Mobile devices and apps are quickly becoming essentials tools in enterprises. Today’s enterprise hinges on mobility solutions to inspire innovation and facilitate transformation. Anytime, anywhere access to valuable information has become critical for business organizations at a time when the lines between professional and personal space are blurring and when, there is an unprecedented pressure on organizations, to be nimble-footed, cost-sensitive and innovative in their approach.

We, at [x]cube LABS, view mobility as a long-term solution to myriad challenges facing the enterprises. Our latest infographic ‘Enterprise Mobility’ presents before you critical data and information on how organizations are adopting mobile solutions, the business benefits driving mobile computing, the device policy of organizations, platform preferences and many such vital components of the enterprise mobile ecosystem. Check out our infographic for interesting insights and astonishing facts on mobility in enterprises-

To view the complete infographic and for a high resolution image click here Re-tweets and feedback are highly appreciated!

Our other infographics-

The Mobile Employee

Healthcare, White papers

Healthcare Mobility: Prescription for success

May 2, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

A study commissioned at the start of 2012 by Telenor Group and the Boston Consulting Group titled “Socio-Economic Impact of mHealth,” revealed two interesting points: 30% of smartphone users are likely to use “wellness apps” by 2015 and secondly, as per the survey, smartphone is the most popular technology among doctors since the stethoscope, underpinning the growing role of mobile technology in patient care. The survey further revealed that- the costs in elderly care can be reduced by 25% with mobile healthcare; Maternal and prenatal mortality can be reduced by as much as 30% and twice as many rural patients can be reached per doctor through mobile solutions.

The above data and many similar reports showcase how mobile devices and applications are changing the face of patient care and healthcare administration across the globe. In our cover story this month, we get an overview of healthcare mobility solutions, and discuss

The reasons behind the growing acceptance of mHealth among various stakeholders- patients, physicians and providers.

How can mHealth address the challenges faced by healthcare organizations?

How are patients reacting to mobile healthcare solutions?

How the healthcare landscape is changing through mobility?

And, many such pertinent questions…

The shift

Healthcare industry has been one of the early adopters of enterprise mobility with mobile devices and apps significantly contributing towards improvement in every aspect of healthcare. Healthcare mobility solutions are playing an excellent role in solving some of the major challenges faced by the industry today including rising costs, fast-changing regulatory environment, increasing error-rates, decreasing profitability, and demand for quality healthcare.

Mobile health which started-off with simple services like call centers, getting doctor appointments, alerts etc., over the phone, has over the years, widened its scope covering a major part of healthcare processes. Cynicism, in the early years, on the utility and success of mobility in healthcare is now replaced with growing trust and expanding role for mobile devices and apps in healthcare administration. Today there is a major shift in patient care and administration with mobility becoming an important medium for both patients and healthcare organizations. A survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute, to study the attitude of US internet users towards mobile health solutions revealed that users are slowly lapping up to the idea for patient care via mobile. The study found a strong preference among respondents for accessing medication and health care services through mobile devices.

It’s not only smartphone users who are keen to use healthcare apps but doctors too are eager to leverage mobile technology into their day-to-day tasks. A survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute (PwC HRI) came up with interesting statistics on how clinicians perceive healthcare mobility solutions to be beneficial for them. As per the study,

56% of physicians believed m-health could help expedite decision-making.

39% said it would reduce the time it takes for administrative tasks.

36% said it would increase collaboration among physicians.

26% said it would increase time spent with patients.

40% said they could eliminate 11% to 30% of office visits through the use of mobile health technologies such as remote monitoring, email or text messaging with patients.

The motivators

According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), there are now over 5 billion wireless subscribers; over 70% of them reside in low- and middle income countries. The GSM Association reports commercial wireless signals cover over 85% of the world’s population.

Source- WHO

The growing acceptance and usage of healthcare mobility solutions can be attributed to two broad factors- industry challenges and rapid advancements in mobile technology. Healthcare systems, across the globe, are facing myriad constraints like an increasing population without access to quality healthcare, shrinking pool of qualified healthcare professionals, emergence of new diseases and limited financial resources. On the other hand, mobile devices like smartphones and Tablets have become ubiquitous. Bandwidth is getting increasingly faster. Mobile applications have become more feature-rich and much-secured to integrate with processes and operations of healthcare organizations. The combination of these two factors and, growing preference among the masses, buoyed by the comfort, convenience and cost-effectiveness are catalyzing the growth of mobile healthcare solutions.

Scope and opportunities

Using key mobile applications leads to improved use of healthcare workers time; approximately 39 minutes per day were recovered, a benefit which improves upon itself by leading to additional benefits in better patient care, reduced medical errors and a improved in employee efficiency.

Source- Motorola

Today, mobility for healthcare has not only become an important medium in delivering healthcare services but also is an enabler that can act as force multiplier, in both near and long-term future, to the overall operations in an organization. Many electronic healthcare practices prevalent in the industry can be further extended, in scale and operations, by complementing it with mobile technology. mhealth is creating new possibilities for physicians and patients to monitor important health information and manage their care. Healthcare mobility solutions are making processes leaner and quicker not only with their own might but by also complementing other technologies.

Scope in mobile healthcare

Services Description

Health call centres/ help lines Created to deliver health care advice services by trained health professionals in case of an emergency.

Treatment compliance Sending reminder messages to patients with the aim of achieving treatment compliance.

Appointment scheduling and reminders For patients to schedule or remind to attend an appointment.

Community mobilization & health promotion For health promotion or to alert target groups of future health campaigns. Raising public awareness through health information products, games, or quiz programmes.

Mobile telemedicine Consultation between healthcare professionals and patients using the voice, text, data, imaging, or video functions of a mobile device.

Health surveys and surveillance Use of mobile devices for health-related data collection and reporting.

Patient monitoring Using mobile technology to manage, monitor, and treat a patient’s illness from a distance with the help of remote sensors and imaging devices linked to mobile phones.

Decision support systems Software to advise healthcare professionals on clinical diagnoses of patients based on health history and medical information, such as prescribed drugs. Mobile devices are used to input data and obtain targeted health information.

Patient records Collecting and displaying patient records at point-of-care through mobile technologies.

Administration Asset tracking, demand & capacity management, job scheduling & tracking, business analytics

Mobile integrated devices Devices to check sugar levels, blood pressure and other vital parameters.

Challenges

The path of adopting mobility for a healthcare organization is, however not so smooth. There are several challenges facing the organizations as they move on to leverage mobile technology. There is a massive explosion of devices differing in form, features and functionalities in the market. The challenge for the organizations is to come-up with healthcare solutions that fits all. Similarly, there are multiple mobile platforms like iOS, Android, Windows and Blackberry etc., and solutions must be compatible to all the platforms. While the world may be moving into next generation of internet connectivity, but bandwidth latency and coverage is still an area of concern if mHealth has to truly stand to its promise of delivering services to the remotest of locations. Security of patient data is another complicated challenge which calls for continuous monitor and intervention as the technology evolves. It’s also important to keep an eye on the reliability and scalability of the mobile infrastructure as the usage grows and more people gets covered by it.

The adoption

As healthcare organizations, across the globe, reel under the pressure of shrinking financial resources, and need to expand their reach and deliver quality services, we are witnessing rapid adoption of mHealth initiatives, at varying scales and levels, globally. The enthusiastic adoption of mobile health solutions clearly showcase the merits and benefits of employing mobility in the delivery of health & wellness services and the growing acceptance of mHealth practices among various stakeholders in the industry.

Looking ahead

Emerging trends and areas of interest in mHealth-

Emergency response systems.

Mobile synchronous (voice) and asynchronous (SMS) telemedicine diagnostic and decision support to remote clinicians.

Clinician-focused, evidence-based formulary, database and decision support information available at the point-of-care.

Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Integrity & Patient Safety Systems.

Clinical care and remote patient monitoring.

A survey conducted in 2010 by research2guidance predicts that smartphones, mobile phones and Tablets will present the best Mobile Health Business Opportunities in 2015 thereby, revealing that mobility is the future of healthcare.

Mobile devices and applications have the potential to play a very significant role in every stage and aspect of the healthcare. Mobility solutions can not only bridge the gap between the doctor and patient but also have the potential to radically transform the way diseases are diagnosed, monitored and treated. Moreover, anytime and anywhere accessibility and availability of health & wellness information and professional advice can be a key factor in the prevention of diseases and promoting wellness.

With further advancement in the mobile technology, the scope and role of healthcare mobility solutions will only grow. It can’t be denied anymore- mobile and wireless technology is set to transform the face of healthcare administration across the globe.

Our Recommendations

Embrace healthcare mobility. mHealth offers tremendous opportunities and value to an organization. It is the answer to myriad challenges faced by the industry.

Focus on user experience. Create a user-friendly, reliable and secure mobile environment.

Pay special attention to data security. Employ adequate authentication and authorization processes.

Pick the right platform. Diversity in screen sizes, functionalities and operating system necessitates organizations to adopt a multi-platform approach.

Monitor user behaviour. Customer intelligence will be the key to success of your mHealth initiative.

Lay down the groundwork for next generation of mHealth. Emerging technologies in mobility promises more opportunities. Be ready to seize them.

The beginning

In spite of the upsurge in adoption of mobility in the healthcare industry, there is still a lot to happen. The pervasiveness of mobile computing is leading to the evolution of new business models, reinvention of delivery methods and innovation in patient care. Healthcare mobility solutions are bringing tremendous value to organizations but still there is a huge area of opportunities to be seized which will further add to the value proposition. Organizations, which adapt to mobility early, will not only gain competitive advantage today but will also, be in a better position to leverage further advancements in mobile technology. And, make greater success of their mobile initiatives.

Enterprise Mobility-Apps, Platforms and Devices

Infographic: The Mobile Employee

May 1, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Do you know that there will be 397.1 million mobile workers by the end of 2012? Clearly, the era of 9-to-5 work-culture is passé. Today we have a growing tribe of mobile employees, armed with smartphones & Tablets, working from anywhere, anytime. We, at [x]cubeLABS, tried to understand the mobile employee, his preferences on devices, platforms and apps through various research reports to provide you with a visual description in the form of our latest infographic ‘The Mobile Employee’.

To view the complete infographic and for a high resolution image click here. Re-tweets and feedback will be highly appreciated!

Our other infographics-

Blog, Design, Marketing

Primary vs. Secondary Users: The Power Behind Developing for not 1, but 2 Target User-bases

April 25, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Marketing media have been evolving digitally for decades; with numerous companies jumping on the mobile bandwagon in the past 3 years, apps are an essential delivery method for tailored mobile experiences however, it is important to realize that amidst the excitement and melee that ensues with initial conceptualization, a well-defined target user-base should be at the forefront of development intentions.

Building an app around specific concepts and functionality but without substantial thought to a target demographic inevitably leads to an unfocused and unsuccessful app. Remember, apps do not have to solve all of the word’s problems. The most successful apps do one thing really well thereby providing a definitive asset to anyone who uses them. Businesses can only drive usage with a primary base that finds value in the app and a secondary base that has the potential to apply and influence said value.

In the early stages of ideation, don’t simply generalize audience analysis. Determine a sharp, clear-cut definition of who your users are. Perhaps you want to launch a user-centric app for self-proclaimed foodies. Here, your primary consumer target consists of involved, cuisine-aficionados across various communities.Involvement from these key individuals mobilize restaurants (secondary base) with incentive to comply with the app’s ranking system. To appease the “buy-local” movement, perhaps these restaurants work with local suppliers, thereby stimulating a foundation for new business development as well. This sort of targeted engagement allows for primary and secondary targets to organically evolve and expand your overall user-base.

BYOD Vs. Consumerization of Enterprise Mobility

April 6, 2012 [x]cube LABS 2 Comments

BYOD or Bring Your Own Device has been the buzz word for the Enterprise mobility space, however, unfortunately often times there is some ambiguity about what BYOD actually means and the word is thrown around in different contexts, besides its own. One of the most common misuse of BYOD is when people confuse it with CoIT or Consumerization of IT. While both of these are closely inter related they are still two very much different and distinct issues.

BYOD is very simple. Employees want to bring to their workplace the devices that they have bought for their personal use and use the same for work. This is primarily because the person has made a conscious decision to identify the device of their preference and would love to use it. The increasingly vanishing border between work hours and off hours and the need for a modern employee to be connected 24/7, makes a person spend considerable time and effort in working beyond their “working hours” or rather in their “personal hours”. So why not use the device of their preference for both personal and professional use ?

Now if we are looking at Consumerization of IT or in this context consumerization of enterprise mobility, the concept is definitely different from BYOD. “Consumerization” basically means making something fit for consumer use, or in other words making it easy to use for everyone. So consumerization of Enterprise mobility would mean making the use and adoption of mobility much less complex and simpler.

Usability is one of the major areas for consumerization of IT / Enterprise mobility. If we are looking at most enterprise applications developed a few years back, usability would probably not be their strongest point to talk about. However, today most organization are spending considerable time and resource in ensuring that their enterprise applications, mobile or otherwise, offers great usability. It is becoming increasingly essential for even enterprise applications to have the finesse of consumer apps and that is significantly adding value in terms of increased employee efficiency. Similarly, another critical spoke in the enterprise mobility wheel, devices too have gone simplified and more user-friendly. The soaring acceptance of Tablets in enterprises and its growing role in overall mobile strategy is a case in point. Tablets with bigger screens, intuitive interfaces, faster computing power and higher capability are influencing mobility adoption and making things easier for the users. In short, complexity associated with enterprise grade tools are giving way to simple, easy to use tools and that is what is considered as true consumerization of IT.

If there’s still some residual doubts about Consemerization of enterprise mobility vs. BYOD, let’s look at few examples :

a) Your company allows you to use whatever device you want for your work and you can continue to use your personal device for work : that’s BYOD

b) Your company allows you to use whatever device you want for your work, but it is purchased by the company and provided to you : that’s not BYOD, that is rather CoIT

c) Your company specifies which device you have to use for work and provides the same to you : that’s neither BYOD, nor CoIT ( at least in respect to choice of device)

With businesses investing more and more in enterprise mobility solutions, BYOD and Consumerization of enterprise mobility would always be discussed in tandem but it is essential to understand that while there are certain overlap between the two concepts, they do have enough exclusivity to claim their share of importance.

Blog, Platform

Native, Web and Hybrid Apps – Understanding the Difference

March 20, 2012 [x]cube LABS 1 Comment

As newer technologies emerge, the mobile landscape is becoming incredibly intriguing. While currently everyone is gung-ho about native or HTML 5 apps, a considerable section is also rooting for the third approach called Hybrid mobile applications, which combines the best of both native and HTML 5 apps. As the debate rages on which one – HTML 5, native or hybrid – is the right choice; we present before you a feature-wise comparison of each category to help you make your own choice. But, first a brief introduction on each-

Native Mobile Apps- Built using native programming language for the platform- iPhone or iPad apps are built using Objective-C, and Android applications are built using Java. Native apps are fast, provide better user experience and interface and have access to all device features for which it is built. On the down side, a native app can be used only for its specific platform thereby restricting the reach. For e.g., an android app cannot be run on an iPhone and vice versa. If you want to cover a larger audience across all platforms, you will need to have separate native apps for them.
Web Apps- A website built using HTML5, CSS3 etc., which resembles an application and can be accessed through a mobile browser is called a web app. The biggest advantage of web apps is that it can be used across all platforms and devices. However, web apps are not accepted in any of the native app stores thereby cutting off an important distribution channel for the app developers. Also, web apps cannot access or use the native APIs or device specific hardware features.
Hybrid Apps- While many confuse a hybrid app with a native app, but there is a fundamental distinction. A hybrid application is built using web technology, and then wrapped in a platform specific shell. The native shell not only makes it look like native apps and makes it eligible to enter the app stores, but also, developers can build in some of the native functionalities into it, to access some of the native APIs and use device specific hardware features to some extent. A hybrid app is basically an app developed in combination with HTML 5 and native technology. For cross platform reach, developers would need to code the native part separately for each platform but they can use the same HTML5 part across all of them.

Features	Native	Hybrid	Web
Development Language	Objective C for iOS, Java for Android	HTML plus native	JavaScript, HTML
Tools	iPhone SDK, Android SDK, Windows SDK	RhoMobile, Titanium Appcelerator, PhoneGap, Worklight etc.	HTML5, Sencha, JQuery Mobile
Code Portability	None	High	High
Publication & Distribution	App Stores	App Stores	No Stores
Access to device hardware	Yes	Yes (need to write platform specific wrappers)	No
User Experience	High	Moderate	Low
Upgrade Flexibility	Low	Moderate	High
Development Cost (relative)	High	Low	Medium
Speed	High	Moderate	Low
Maintenance	Complex	Simple	Simple
Content Restrictions	Must adhere to app store guidelines	Must adhere to app store guidelines	No restrictions
Offline Capabilities	Yes	Yes	No
Pros and Cons
Pros	Best performance & user experience Works offline Visibility in app stores Full access to device features	Build once, deploy multiple times Lower development costs Visibility in app stores Access to all device features Easy maintenance & upgradation	Largest reach Lower development costs Easy maintenance & upgradation
Cons	High development costs Requires good development experience Longer production cycle Complex maintenance.	Performance and experience weaker than native Apps require tweaking for each platform	Performance and experience weaker than native Don’t have access to native functionalities Don’t work offline

As we see, the jury is still out on which one is the best approach. It all boils down to your requirements and the way you want your user to interact with your app. While you have all the options, selecting the right platform could be a critical factor in the success of your app.

Announcements

[x]cube GAMES participating in Inside Social Apps 2012!

February 9, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

At [x]cube LABS, we enthusiastically look forward to interact with various stakeholders of the mobile computing ecosystem. Such interactions help us not only to understand the swiftly changing landscape but also, many times, act as a guide to explore new opportunities and broaden our outlook that often culminates into better products and services.

[x]cube GAMES, our gaming division, is participating in the Inside Social Apps 2012, San Francisco. The 2 day summit brings together leading mobile app and game developers and contemplates on the future of mobile app and game growth and monetization on social and mobile platforms. We will be represented by a high-level team led by our CEO, Mr. Bharath Lingam, and comprising Mr. Ravi Korukonda, COO; Mr. Jason Franzen, Chief Design Officer and others.

If you too are attending the event, then please drop by and visit us at our booth!

Announcements

[x]cube LABS wins honors at HOW Interactive Design Awards

February 9, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Our design team, over the years, has been consistently rolling out highly creative and ingenious designs, which are not only well-appreciated by our clients but has also been winning laurels at various platforms. Adding yet another feather in our cap, the team has brought home the “Merit” award in OTHER/APP category at the 14th Annual HOW Interactive Design Awards. The annual award event recognizes the year’s top digital projects judged on a range of parameters including design, technical expertise, UI/UX etc.

Our entry to the event was ‘LoytalTree Rewards’, an application for iPhone, iPad and iPod developed for our client Cardeeo Inc. The award winning application offers users a brand new way to save money and earn rewards at favorite local destinations in their city. The app has previously won the prestigious Bronze award at The Dallas Show 2011 organized by DSVC (The Dallas Society of Visual Communications).

Blog, Marketing

Mobile apps enhance company perception and customer satisfaction

February 1, 2012 [x]cube LABS 1 Comment

Mobile applications are fast gaining prominence as essential tools in the enterprise ecosystem. As the world witnesses a massive proliferation of mobile devices and consumers spend more time on apps, there is a significant opportunity for businesses to leverage applications to target, reach and connect with the audience and enhance their brand value.

Apps impact customer opinion

A survey by Nuance Communications reveals that companies that deploy mobile apps seem to gain in company perception and customer satisfaction. The majority of respondents (72%) in the survey said that they have a more positive view of a company that has a mobile application. In addition, 81% said that they will share the positive experience with others. When asked, how an app would increase their level of satisfaction, 35% were of the opinion that easy transition to a live agent from an app would most likely to drive its usage, while 21% expect more functionalities in the app to better meet their needs.

App Downloads is on the rise

Mobile app downloads is maintaining its upward growth as more and more customers are willing to try new apps. As high as 89% of smartphone users are found to download at one app every month on their device with 70% having downloaded more than 10 applications, while 29% have over 30 apps on their phone. Another 12% of smartphone users have downloaded over 50 applications on their device.

Customer engagement with mobile apps

Mobile applications are fast becoming a popular channel for customer service. More than half of the respondents in the survey have said to download their carrier and bank’s app. Of the users who have downloaded the carrier’s app, 25% use it while 27% of smartphone owners use the banking app.

The above figures highlights that mobile apps are increasingly becoming a must-have in the overall communication architecture of an organization. Armed with high-powered mobile devices, consumer expects services on their devices. Businesses have significant opportunity in reaching to their respective audience through apps. And, therein lies an opportunity for businesses to differentiate themselves from the competition. However, it is critical for them to meet the rising consumer expectations through seamless experience and better functionality. In near future, a powerful app experience could turn out to be a key element in driving brand loyalty.

Blog, Enterprise Mobility, Marketing

Infographic on Enterprise Mobility- Apps, Platforms and Devices

January 10, 2012 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

The enterprises are witnessing a transformation led by smartphones and Tablets. Mobility is slowly becoming a critical part of IT strategy. As employees and business processes go mobile, we, at [x]cube LABS, tried to decode enterprise mobility, crunch numbers to present before you an informative infographic detailing out the technology used in enterprise mobility, industry verticals that are at the forefront of mobilizing its operations and why enterprises are adopting mobility solutions. Our enterprise mobility infographic also takes a look at the state of enterprise applications, the smartphone deployment approach by industries and how big brands are increasingly deploying apps.

To view the complete infographic and for a high resolution image click here. Re-tweets and Feedback will be highly appreciated!

Our other infographics-

Announcements

Wishing You All Happy Holidays!

December 26, 2011 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Dear friends,

At this Holiday season, we feel thankful to those who have made our progress possible. [x]cube LABS wishes you all happy holidays and a joyful and prosperous New Year!

We look forward to your continued encouragement and support in the year ahead.

Blog

Key focus areas for mobile app developers in 2012

November 24, 2011 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

More than 40% of mobile app developers participating in the Millennial Media survey say that developing new application will be the key focus area for them in 2012 clearly underling the potential of mobile app development in future. There is also a growing need to maximize revenue in applications among app developers with around 21% marking it as the focus area for 2012. Improving discovery of their apps, marketing and advertising them and learning new skills has emerged as the new goals for mobile app developers for 2012.

While the latest data reveals the potential in mobile app development, it also highlights the developer need for maximizing revenues. With most app developers adopting Freemium model wherein the app is sold free but users are charged for any further up gradation or in-app purchases in games, developers are looking for new ways to maximize revenues. With millions of applications in app stores, there are also concerns among developers to make their application visible and gain consumer attention.

We believe mobile app development to gain more traction in 2012. The markets are expanding and the prospects look brighter for a mobile app developer.

We have to wait and see how it actually unfolds!

Blog

Changing Patterns In Mobile Application Usage

November 24, 2011 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

The mobile application usage has also undergone a major change in the last one year. With the collection of smartphone applications in app stores expanding, both in terms of numbers and categories, there has been changing of positions in the app ranking chart. Music & Entertainment led the application categories in October, ranked by impressions, with productivity and tools applications; and books & references being the new entrants in the list.

The latest ranking by Millenial Media clearly demonstrates that mobile devices have now expanded their scope. It’s no more only about entertainment, gaming or music but the app usage has moved further beyond into user’s professional life. Mobile applications are also becoming access points for getting information, expert advice etc., on topics of user’s interest.

We believe there will be major changes in the app usage patterns in the near future. The future will see the rise of smartphone applications in enterprises. Healthcare, retail, banking and travel are already adopting enterprise mobility apps for their internal as well as external usage. In future, we will see massive adoption of mobile apps in industries, big and small, and across all verticals. Similarly, as smartphones become powerful, there will be a much broader role of apps in personal lives of users.

Blog

Mobile OS space- Its a two-way battle between Titans

November 24, 2011 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

The mobile app development space is on a constant churn. The mobile OS battle which has been heating up over the last year or so has now seems to be settled into an Apple iOS vs. Google Android race with RIM’s BlackBerry being a distant third. A latest report by Millenial Media for the October, 2011 seems to suggest exactly that. As per the stats revealed in the report, Google’s Android seems to have overhauled Apple’s iOS to emerge as the leader in the mobile platform race. Android represented 50% of the Application Platform Mix, ranked by ad spends, followed by iOS with 40% and RIM with mere 6%. Other including Windows Phone 7, Symbian and webOS could only manage to gain 4% in the platform mix.

With RIM seeing fast erosion in its market base and no visible challengers to Apple and Google, we believe it to be a two-way battle in the mobile operating system space. With a majority of mobile app developers getting attracted to iOS or Android or both, others will have to come-up with something special to challenge the giants. There are many reasons for the supremacy of Android and iOS in the market. While Android scores above iOS in the numbers and range of handsets sold in the market, Apple’s iOS provides a bigger collection of applications, a key influencer in user’s purchasing decision. Android app developers see a future in developing apps whereas iPad and iPhone app developers are hooked to the monetizing opportunities and volume sales in Apple app store. So, any worthy contender must have to bring the best of both of the worlds to make his presence felt in the market.

Blog

Healthcare apps: Prescription of success for mobile app developers

November 22, 2011 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Mobile applications are turning out to be a great source of user empowerment. The smartphone apps have engulfed every sphere in personal and professional life and are ever-expanding their role and significance by catering to the varied needs of the users. The app phenomenon has significantly impacted enterprises, big and small, and across all verticals. Healthcare is one such industry where smartphone applications are quietly empowering various stakeholders and aiding and enabling them to make healthcare more accessible, affordable and efficient. The resultant hype around rapid adoption of mobility in industry has attracted many mobile app developers who are developing and marketing a range of mobile health applications catering to the various needs in the industry. However, the question to be asked is: Will healthcare adopt mobile apps in a big way? Should healthcare become the new focus area of mobile app developers? We believe it so. Here’s why we believe that healthcare is something for mobile application developers to be upbeat about:

Patients are slowly lapping-up mHealth…

A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute, “Healthcare Unwired,” Sep 8, 2010 to study the attitude of US internet users towards online/mobile health options revealed that users showed a strong liking for patient care via mobile. There was a strong feeling among respondents with regard to the role of mobile healthcare applicationsand mobility based services.

Moreover, a Consumer Health Information Corporation (CHIC) survey, conducted in April, 2011 to understand the US consumer’s attitude towards mobile healthcare applications found that-

79.9% would be more likely to use an app that can analyze information input by the consumer and give feedback.
42.2% are likely to use an app to find information about drugs.
26.5% are likely to use an app to find information about disease states.
39.8% are willing to use an app several times a day.
33.4% prefer free health apps.
30.9% are willing to pay $1.00-$5.99 for health apps.

Physicians are bullish on mobile health…

It’s not only consumers who are willing to use mobile health apps but doctors too are eager to leverage mobile technology into their day-to-day tasks. A survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute (PwC HRI) came up with interesting statistics evidencing how clinicians perceive mobile healthcare solutions to be a boon for them. As per the study,

56% of physicians believed m-health could help expedite decision-making.
39% said it would reduce the time it takes for administrative tasks.
36% said it would increase collaboration among physicians.
26% said it would increase time spent with patients.
40% said they could eliminate 11% to 30% of office visits through the use of mobile health technologies such as remote monitoring, email or text messaging with patients.

The Market is gearing for it…

A survey by research2guidance released in 2010 predicts that smartphones, mobile phones and Tablets will offer the best Mobile Health Business Opportunities in 2015. Thereby revealing that mobile healthcare solutions is the way to go in healthcare industry.

One of the key stakeholders in the industry, the healthcare manufacturers are also banking big on mobile applications. A survey by Vital mHealth and Trinsic Interactive revealed that manufacturers in US and Europe see a bigger role for mobile applications and therefore a majority of them are already using or are planning big to use mobile channel to reach out to their consumers.

Mobile apps have the potential to play a significant role in every stage of the healthcare. These applications can not only bridge the gap between the doctor and patient but can also radically transform the way diseases are diagnosed, treated and monitored. Moreover, the 24X7 accessibility and availability of health & wellness information and expert advice can be a key factor in the prevention of diseases and promoting wellness.

With the advancement in the mobile technology, the scope and role of mobile healthcare applications will only grow. As mobile phones become more feature-packed and add better functionalities, it will widen the coverage of smartphone applications in the industry. The growing adaptation of mHealth or mobile healthcare solutions is and will offer myriad opportunities in future for mobile app developers to develop applications for various smartphone platforms and tap the expanding market. Are you read to seize it?

Announcements

[x]cube LABS mov(i)e to New Downtown Dallas Studio

November 3, 2011 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Our Dallas Design Studio gets a new address! After 2 years in the Dallas Design District, the team moved into a spacious studio near historic Deep Ellum, in the heart of Downtown Dallas. While moving to a new address requires lots of efforts in collecting your stuff, packing, un-packing and then putting all of it in the right place so as to re-create or better the old-office environment. But, we had great fun!!

Here’s the video capturing some of the best moments –

[x]cube Dallas mov(i)e from [x]cube LABS on Vimeo.

Announcements

[x]cube LABS stamps its brilliance once again, wins Silver at W3 Awards

October 20, 2011 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

While we derive great satisfaction from building high-quality mobile applications that ensures commercial success for our clients and wins hearts and minds of end-users. We also look forward to participating and proving our mettle in various awards and competitions. We consider awards and appreciations as another appropriate barometer to judge our work, learn and get inspired by it.

The [x]cube LABS team, this time, has brought home a ‘Silver Award’ in the Mobile App (Health & Wellness) category at W³ awards. W³ Awards honors creative excellence in web and mobile and is sanctioned and judged by the International Academy of the Visual Arts. The invitation-only body consists of top-tier professionals from a “Who’s Who” of acclaimed advertising, media, interactive, and marketing firms. Our entry to the contest was Alertometer, an iPhone, iPad and iPod application developed for our client Bowles-Langley Technology LLC.

The winning application, Alertometer measures brain performance and computes alertness level of an individual. It’s a highly practical application for those who operate dangerous equipment or work in high-consequence job in an environment with a low tolerance for accidental errors.

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Infographic: Smartphone and Mobile App Usage

October 11, 2011 [x]cube LABS Leave a comment

Smartphones have fast replaced feature phones to become essential part of our lives. And, smartphone apps have given a completely new definition to mobility and further expanded the utility of smartphones. Do you know how people use their smartphones? What percentage of people use it while watching Television or reading newspapers? Do you know that smartphones have also metamorphosed into a shopping tool helping their owners find a retailer, compare prices and then make an informed buying decision? We, at [x]cube LABS, have collected data from various research reports to present before you an infographic- THE SMARTPHONE AND MOBILE APP USAGE– showcasing smartphone user behavior. Our infographic will also take you through the world of mobile applications and provide you with rich insights on the popular app categories and mobile games.

To view the complete infographic and for a high resolution image click here. Tweets and Feedback will be well appreciated!

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