A recent event co-hosted by the Mobile Data Association and the Location and Timing Knowledge Transfer Network, looked at new and emerging location based technologies and applications that have the potential to change the way people and professionals plan their journeys and travel. ...
28/07/2009 | QUO the informed traveller.pdf | VIEW
"Mobile application stores - should they be controlled by handset manufacturers?" This question was circulated among members of the Mobile Data Association (MDA) group on linkedin last month, and it was clear from the responses and other recent announcements from across the industry, that this is a key battleground for the many different players in the mobile ecosystem. As well as the handset vendors such as Palm, BlackBerry or Nokia and software platform vendors like Microsoft, these also include mobile operators who have devices tailored or tuned to their specifications and networks, and a number of independent portals who offer applications across all networks and devices. ...
02/07/2009 | QUO mobile app stores.pdf | VIEW
This question was recently asked of members of the Mobile Data Association (MDA) discussion group on linkedin. In the context of the mobile world, messaging typically refers to Short Message Service (SMS) or text messaging and so the question was trying to gauge when SMS will cease to be important. Despite the protestations of those with a strong vested interest - operators who still make a tidy return on text traffic, and the rest of the industry that makes a turn on the movement of 160 characters - ultimately perhaps SMS should disappear. It is too basic, terse, insecure, non-interactive, is mostly limited to mobile handsets and endures a very high cost per character. ...
24/04/2009 | Is messaging immortal.pdf | VIEW
Businesses of all sizes adopt technology to make them more productive, cost effective or flexible and help them compete. Over the years the adoption of tools such as mobile phones, wireless laptops, the internet and email have all been driven by such expectations. Small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) are often at the forefront as these technologies can give them a lead on their larger competitors. What starts as a useful extra tool or ‘competitive edge' soon becomes the accepted norm and a search for improved quality and utility then ensues. ...
26/06/2008 | Loud and Clear1_opt.pdf | VIEW
When faced with what appear to be insurmountable challenges, what are the options? Think about Keith Waterhouse's challenged hero Billy Liar, agonising about the future with his (favourite) girlfriend. He said he turned over a new leaf every day, but the blots still showed through. She said he was like a child on the edge of a paddling pool, wanting to step in but afraid to take the plunge. So he thought he should turn over a new paddling pool. ...
16/02/2009 | Thinking outside of the paddling pool.pdf | VIEW
Companies are faced with increasing pressures on the communications capabilities they offer their employees. More employees are mobile, working from home or in other remote locations with a growing need to talk and share information with their colleagues. This cuts across fixed and mobile communications, but businesses still want the flexibility of mobile, and the costs, predictability, quality and service models of fixed. The convergence of the technologies involved is creating a collision of service provider business issues and a confusion of alternatives for customers. This report seeks to draw out some of the important questions businesses need to address with their communication services providers ...
02/08/2007 | convergence_report_final.pdf | VIEW
Effective communications make use of many of our senses but what we see presents a huge amount of information - a picture is worth a thousand words - and can convey all sorts of meaning with a glance. Face to face, we can rely on visual cues, but the amount of information transmitted in more distant communication is limited by cost and complexity. As this cost falls, while the costs of transportation, both environmental and commercial, rise, broader use of remote visual communications becomes increasingly viable. But, after the relative anonymity and privacy of more discrete forms of communication - letters, email, the telephone - is the experience useful and comfortable for the individual and does video now add sufficient value to the organisation to justify the cost? ...
11/03/2007 | Video_Report.pdf | VIEW
The personal mobile channel in every consumer's pocket. In a shrinking world where individuals have more choices in almost any aspect of their lives than ever before, and more ways to communicate with each other and the world at large, the bonds and inertia that held consumers and employees loyal to their suppliers and employers have disappeared. Markets are fragmenting, industries are converging, and relationships are more dynamic and fragile. So how do organisations build a connection and maintain an ongoing dialogue with their current and future customers? ...
11/12/2006 | mobile_market_paper.pdf | VIEW
Mobile or remote working is not new, nor specific to the use of mobile technology, but the increasing dependence on instant access to IT has led to an increasing demand for mobile data services. Operators recognising the long term decline of voice revenues are keen to offer potentially lucrative mobile data services, but will mobile data rapidly follow the path of voice services to become a cost conscious commodity, or are there additional services mobile operators can offer to add value and build loyalty? Certainly mobile data services can be complex, and in a rapidly maturing technology sector, it is valuable to be insulated from the effects of rapid change and unnecessary complexity. But ultimately mobile or remote access should be regarded as just one aspect of IT usage within a regular business environment, and not a separate entity in its own right. ...
02/08/2006 | transition_report_-_final.pdf | VIEW
Working with technology outside the office brings many challenges. Use of laptops has grown from limited user communities to widespread desktop replacement and broad deployment. The complexity of managing these devices outside the walls of the office is something IT departments have learned to address. Remote connection has extended from fixed location dial-in to wireless on the move, and smart handheld devices such as PDAs have become networked, converging with mobile phones. This larger and more diverse community of mobile users and their devices increases the demands on the IT function which has to secure the device, data and connection to the network, keeping control of corporate assets, while at the same time supporting mobile user productivity. ...
01/06/2005 | Mobile devices and users.pdf | VIEW
