Mobile Apps in the Enterprise, Part 1
Who’s Doing What
Presented by Sean Gallagher
sean@seanmgallagher.com
Two Worlds of Mobile Apps:
Enterprise & Consumer
• Mission critical
• Bringing home the
bacon
When Consumer & Enterprise
Worlds Collide
• Consumer mobile apps have raised expectations
for what can be done on a mobile device
• Consumer hardware isn't up to field use, but...
• Mobile sales forces and other information
workers are using consumer mobile devices for
business already
• Midmarket and smaller companies can use
“BYO” technology for mobile apps on consumer
devices
Mission-Essential Enterprise
Mobile Apps Need:
• Persistent data, even when no network
• Integration with enterprise data
• Data integrity
• Data security
• Built-in I/O for barcodes, etc.
• Common support base
Which Is Why Enterprise Mobile
Platforms Are Generally:
• Windows CE .NET
• PalmOS
• Linux
But Customers & Employees
Use Other Platforms:
• Apple iOS
• Google Android
• HP/Palm webOS
• Research In Motion BlackBerry OS/
BlackBerry Tablet OS
• Microsoft Windows Mobile
• Symbian (outside of US)
The Mobile Platform Market
16 Months Ago...
Source: R2Integrated
The Market Now
Global
(Gartner)
US
Where's Windows?
(Nielsen)
Mobile Is Pervasive
• Smartphones and mobile devices have
consumerized mobile technology
• Employees and customers increasingly
expect “an app for that”
Using Consumer Mobile Platforms
Is Challenging
• “Always connected”... isn't.
• “Write once, run anywhere”... doesn't.
• Platform fragmentation, even on the same
mobile OS
• Varying app delivery approaches
• Security and loss risks
• Standards unevenly applied
Today’s Mobile Device
• Higher-speed networks
• 3G nationwide, “4G” and WiMax in metro areas
• WiMax and WiFi mesh for campus coverage
• Significant local data storage for offline use,
persistent data
• Persistent location information (GPS)
• Imaging built-in (most smartphones)
• “Standard” peripheral interfaces that can be
programmatically accessed
Trends in Mobile Application
Technology
• Location-based apps
• Cloud-based back-end
• Augmented reality
• Commercial peripheral devices for business
• Square credit card reader
• Tablets and bigger smartphones with more
screen real estate
• Faster networks: 4G comparable to full
broadband
Commercial Enterprise Apps Have
Embraced Consumer Mobile
• Cloud SaaS providers
• SalesForce.com
• Oracle, SAP
The Mobile Platform Contenders
• Windows Mobile/CE dominated businessto-employee app development, but
Windows 7 Mobile is a new platform – and
not picking up much market share
• Symbian matters overseas
Mobile Platforms: Apple iOS
• On iPad, iPod,
iPhone
• 25% of US smart
phones
• Over 100 million
devices in use
• 150 million iTunes
accounts with credit
cards attached
Advantages of iOS for Enterprises
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Large customer installed base
Rich client capabilities
Good Web capabilities
Enterprise SDK allows in-house app dev
and deployment
Growing number of development tool
options for client apps
HTML5 Web supported
Default on-device encryption (but you need
to use password for protection)
Good backup and restore capabilities
Disadvantages of iOS
• Single carrier for iPhone (for now)
• Customer-facing apps require App Store
approval, distributed through Apple
• Objective C for native apps, need to pay for SDK
• No Flash support, no Java support
• No multiprocess multitasking
• For-sale apps require approval by Apple, sold
through Itunes App Store (Enterprise apps can
be self-distributed but need specific phone data)
Mobile Platforms:Google Android
• “Open-Source” on
multiple hardware
devices
• Based on Linux kernel
Advantages of Android
•
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•
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Fastest growing platform, in terms of new device sales
Multi-carrier
Multi-device
Open-source tools
Java language based
Easy deployment – No gatekeeper
Free SDK
Flash-friendly, AIR-friendly, HTML5-friendly
True multitasking
Built-in SQLite DB
Android Disadvantages:
• Multiple versions in deployment
• Not all open-source, really
• Apps run in runtime, not native code
• Viruses
• Device dependencies
• Smaller app marketplace
• Java is dev language
• Oracle FUD
Mobile Platforms: BlackBerry OS &
BlackBerry Tablet OS
• Proprietary OS for BlackBerry phones
BlackBerry OS Advantages
• Market leader (until recently)
• Java-based development
• Web-based dev, good HTML5 and JavaScript
support
• AppWorld distribution for commercial apps
• Eclipse plug-in for Java
BlackBerry OS Disadvantages
• Separate OS for Tablet – uses Adobe AIR
• Developers have complained about UI issues
• Limited hardware access
Mobile Platforms: webOS
• Originally PalmOS, acquired by HP
• New tablet devices planned
• Proprietary, but based on Linux
WebOS Advantages
• Javascript/Web or C/C++ dev; most
apps require just Web developer skills
• Free SDK and frameworks
• Free distribution of code
• “Homebrew” friendly
WebOS Disadvantages
• Palm acquired by HP (good for enterprise?)
• If apps sold, must be distributed through
Palm store
• Limited device support now
• Relatively small market share for Palm devices
Mobile App Development
Cross-Platform
• Web-based apps
• Default approach to cross-platform
• Quick way to wire enterprise data to mobile
• HTML5 (mostly supported)
• JavaScript + CSS
• App builders (HTML, CSS,JavaScript)
• Phone gap
• Appcellerator Titanium
• App streaming through VDI
Conclusions
• Mass-market devices can connect to the
enterprise today.
• Windows Mobile will be a player in enterprise,
but iOS, Android, and BlackBerry OSs will lead
for information workers.
• Android has the largest potential hardware
platform reach, and new devices such as
Motorola Atrix make it attractive as a business
platform.
• Security remains a key issue that is unevenly
addressed across platforms.