Nokia closing business mobility segment: so long Intellisync.

"Nokia quietly announced yesterday it is refocusing its business mobility business by stopping development and marketing of the 'behind-the-firewall business mobility solutions'...

Nokia looks to be turning its attention more to the consumer space which fits with their making Microsoft's Exchange Server support available to all the S60 line. That move brought enterprise support to the individual Nokia customer and paved the way for this strategy change. Unfortunately this announcement means the venerable syncing solution from Intellisync will be shut down and no longer available as Nokia bought them in 2005."

44% of used devices still contain sensitive info.

"Based on what they could dig up, the researchers could figure out who the employer and previous owner were on a quarter of the devices, while the data on 43% of the devices could threaten the companies in question."

Google’s End Run Around the Wireless Carriers.

"The Google patent for 'Flexible Communication Systems and Methods' contends that cellphone users should also have the freedom to connect through various networks and methods, and that the communication service they choose at any particular time and location should be determined by competitive market forces... As Unwired View emphasizes, and the patent outlines explicitly, such a system would require a 'a transparent auction marketplace with wireless providers bidding in real time to provide the communication services to users.' Google may be well-suited to establish such a marketplace because of its experience with AdWords and AdSense."

Background Updating Comes to the Foreground.

"With Background Updating [from Red Bend], the phone is only down for as long as it takes to reboot. The actual update happens in the background while the phone is fully operational. Since the updating process requires memory and processor resources, and these are not as abundant on the phones as they probably are on your PC, running resource-hungry applications, such as watching video or playing some games, would not be advisable during an update, as they might work somewhat sluggishly. But there is nothing to stop you from making and receiving calls, browsing the Web and generally using the phone as you normally would."

The darker side of Android.

Andreas Constantinou writes: "The G1, the first phone to carry the Android OS has been discussed extensively across the blogosphere. Those expecting an iPhone killer have certainly been disappointed. So have those who expected Google’s first phone to be 'truly open' as Google pledged for the Android OS.

The HTC smartphone is locked to the T-Mobile network binding eager fans with a two year contract. T-Mobile won’t allow VoIP applications running on the handset either. Plus you need an GMail account to use the G1, prompting concerns about whether Google is tracking phone usage (neither confirmed nor denied at present). The phone is also pre-packaged with Google services: search, YouTube, GMail, Calendar, Maps and Streetview, as well as access to Google’s Market and Amazon’s mp3 download service."

Google Android is about advertising, not the enterprise.

"J. Gold Associates recently conducted a study of large and small businesses regarding their expectations for which mobile platform they expect to use within the next three years. The study of North American companies found that Android comes in last place, with 4.8 percent of businesses in the study saying that the platform will be important to them within the next three years. "

How Google Can Save Android From Certain Failure.

"Android [might] quickly disappear into the morass of poorly-branded smartphone operating systems that consumers don't give a damn about, alongside Symbian, Windows Mobile and the Palm OS. And Google will have lost the mobile game." [the entire opinion piece by Dylan Tweney is worth reading]

Study says mobile sector booming despite financial turmoil.

"A study by Portio Research says that the worldwide mobile industry appears to be resilient to the financial turmoil that many other industries are experiencing. The top growth markets for wireless are China and India (not surprising), which will contribute more than 1 billion additional subscribers between 2007 and 2013. Brazil is a distant third with 132 million additional subscribers expected by 2013."

InnoPath Delivers Mobile Device Management for the Android OS.

"Already supporting Windows Mobile and Symbian operating systems, the InnoPath OMA-DM device management client is unique in equipping mobile operators with standards-based, over-the-air support for their frontline care organizations, even for phones already in the field. The client is modular, portable to a variety of operating systems and may be downloaded at the time of the first care call. In conjunction with InnoPath’s iMDM Server, the client creates an over-the-air channel to the phone permitting a full range of device troubleshooting, monitoring and configuration capabilities. In addition, the client may be loaded onto the phone at the time of manufacture, permitting firmware updates over-the-air, known in the industry as FOTA."

Verizon Wireless goes contract free; how hard will swapping multiple handsets be?

Kevin C. Tofel writes: "That's right, you'll be paying full price for a handset with no contract, but at least you now have the option of bringing your own CDMA handset to the network. That's something the GSM-based customers of AT&T and T-Mobile have done for years due to their easy-to-swap SIM cards.

In practice, I'm not sure it will be as easy as that however. You'll likely have to involve Verizon Wireless each and every time you want to switch handsets because there is no SIM card involved. The press release doesn't mention the particulars of how this will all work, so if you have half-a-dozen CMDA phones under your mattress, you might want to think this all through."

Mobilize: What’s the Future of Mobile Apps?

"How do cell phone users want to get their mobile applications, how do mobile developers want to deliver them, and what’s the future? Web or native, preloaded or installed, at a centralized app store or a distributed model, bundled or installed, offered by a company or a consortium, and open or closed?

OK, so the non-controversial answer is a combo of all these things, but the conclusion of the debates, including audience input, was that we want: web apps, centralized, installed, offered by a company, and open."

F-Secure, Nokia and TeliaSonera join hands in MDM.

"TeliaSonera will provide device management for SMEs as a hosted service for its enterprise customers. The Managed Device -solution combines the Nokia Intellisync Device Management platform and F-Secure Mobile Security solution, which together enable security for the company’s entire mobile fleet. TeliaSonera’s Managed Device concept will provide corporations with a solution to utilize the full potential of mobile devices and services in an easy-to-use package."

62,000 phones and PDAs left in London cabs.

"In the last six months, Londoners have left 55,843 mobile phones and 6,193 other handheld devices in the back of black cabs, according to a report by Credant Technologies."

Telefonica O2 signs with Sicap to set up Czech mobiles.

"The Sicap Device Management Center was launched last month as Telefónica O2 Czech Republic service 'O2 Settings'.

The platform automatically detects devices in the O2 network and sends them settings for services the customer is provisioned for, such as MMS and WAP browsing. The platform runs in real time and the setting is usually received within one minute of detection."

InnoPath Delivers MDM Client on Casio G’zOne.

"'As mobile devices continue to increase in complexity, the cost of customer care’s impact on operators’ bottom line will grow just as quickly. This means that now is the time for them to implement MDM and re-invent their frontline customer care,' stated David Ginsburg, vice president of Marketing for InnoPath. 'The ROI for MDM in support of customer care has been validated by analyst firms like Stratecast and represents immediate cost savings in the billions by 2009.'"

Fraser Speirs – App Store: I’m out.

Fraser Speirs writes: "Apple is now selecting for anti-competitive reasons. It came to light today that an app that will deliver a capability I really, really want was rejected by Apple because it replaces a feature in Apple’s own software. The app is called Podcaster and it would allow one to update podcasts directly on the device over wifi. I sync my iPhone to my Mac Pro - should I have to go home to put a new episode on my iPhone? I’d buy that app in a heartbeat."

Carrier IQ - Active Probes for Active Mobiles.

"Carrier IQ is embedding diagnostic software in the phone for the use by mobile operators to gain mobile service intelligence about devices that are in the field. The software logs everything from button presses all the way up to the software and applications on the phone and how the subscriber is using it... So while most probes are stationary, this is giving you real-time, in motion monitoring based on real usage, which is even better than drive-testing. Simon sites Sprint as a customer who has deployed this across several different phones and seen some interesting results."

DEMO: Maverick Mobile.

...a security application for your mobile device. Watch the demo.

related: Lost phones phone home and annoy new "owner" too

Cops Need Warrant for Cellphone Location Data, Judge Rules.

"The government cannot force your cellphone provider to turn over stored records about your location without proving to a judge there is probable cause you have violated the law, a federal district court ruled Wednesday."

LogMeIn helps IT solve mobile phone problems.

"The software... can be used by IT administrators or by an operator's customer service representative to remotely control a user's phone in order to troubleshoot problems or show a phone user how to set up features.

So far, LogMeIn supports certain models of Windows Mobile, BlackBerry and Symbian phones.

An IT administrator can begin helping a phone user by logging into the LogMeIn browser-based management console. Provided that the phone has a small application installed, the administrator will see a simulated version of the phone in the console. The administrator can preload the applet onto all workers' phones or send the user an SMS message with the application. "

Nokia brings Exchange Server support to entire S60 line.

"Nokia team informed us that they are immediately bringing Exchange Server support to their entire S60 3rd Edition line. Nokia has been pushing into the enterprise market with the E-series but will immediately start including Mail for Exchange for all S60 3rd Edition phones. This includes the N-series line that includes a lot of Nokia's hot new handsets. All S60 based phones going forward will have Mail for Exchange pre-installed and owners of existing handsets will be able to get Mail for Exchange from Nokia through the normal download channels. This brings Exchange support to 80 million handsets (handsets shipped globally to date) making Nokia the largest supporter of the Exchange Server crowd."

Managing the Mobile Enterprise.

"The opportunity is significant. IDC forecasts the worldwide market for enterprise mobile device management (MDM) software to reach $345 million by 2011. For mobile operators, providing such software — or more likely, in the case of operators, managed services — is also very strategic, allowing them to deepen their relationships with and ultimately increase sales of a variety of high-margin services to important enterprise users... some larger telcos — both in the U.S. and abroad — have begun to deliver or are prepping services that will help enterprises manage devices that run not only on their own but on other carriers' networks as well."

Sprint employees to become phone counselors.

"Sprint employees are now phone counselors who set up email access, move contacts from old phones, connect Bluetooth headsets and explain other functions during 10-minute to half-hour sessions."

InnoPath: The Billion Dollar Impact.

"Stratecast concludes that using MDM within mobile operators’ customer care organizations could have a major impact on global operational and support costs in the range of $3 billion in 2009 to over $23 billion by 2013... Some future uses of InnoPath’s technology would be to integrate with enterprise applications, such as rule-based applications, policy managers, IT security application to be able to remotely manage mobile device issued to workers, minimizing downtime, help desk tickets, and associated costs."

Stratecast Quantifies the Positive Billion-Dollar Impact of MDM on Customer Care Expenses.

"Stratecast and InnoPath predict that these cost savings, when applied to an average North American operator (with 70 million subscribers), would result in a total savings of $2 billion dollars over five years. "

Sicap enables the non-iPhone, non-Android market to get even with software.

"The Sicap device management platform [carries] out live capability and « vital statistics » device checks... administrators of the platform are fed a complete list of installed applications, their versions as well as other software and hardware details for each device in the network. The Sicap platform allows the subsequent installation, updating or removal of phone clients to ensure that software downloads work first time...

Users are able to install and remove applications seamlessly, accept prompts for subsequent updating operations and gain control over application usage in an assisted manner. Because the logical downside of third party applications is an increased risk of malware and virus attacks, Sicap integrates the application « kill » facility into its platform, enabling an operator to detect devices concerned in the network, advise affected customers of an attack, then disable and remove malicious programmes...

... based on OMA DM SCOMO standards as well as proprietary manufacturer implementations. Supported natively by all recent Symbian and Windows Mobile based devices, Sicap’s use of open-standard protocols will encourage the overall development of mobile software and help bring the smart phone market back into balance.

Sicap application management is available as a managed service and can be deployed by an operator as part of a corporate offer for example."

What's coming in SCMDM SP1.

"System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 Service Pack 1 will deliver improved performance and scalability, increased reliability, and an expanded set of supported topologies.

The key new features of SP1 are support for multiple instance, PIN reset, and support for running with Windows Server 2008 Active Directory Domain Services. "

InterNoded IMDM manages multiple messaging platforms.

"The InterNoded Mobile Device Manager (IMDM)... can manage devices based on the BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Good Messaging platforms, all from within the same system... the user is able to provision their device of choice via a simple self-service portal. While other features, such as password resets and device wipes, can be found on the latest versions of Windows Mobile and server-side software for the BlackBerry, IMDM offers a consistent interface and platform to do it. On the administrative end, the consistent interface also makes defining IT policies across various smartphone platforms a breeze."

Red Bend Enables Lenovo Mobile to Manage Software Over-the-Air.

"Red Bend Software... today announced it has signed a licensing agreement with Lenovo Mobile to integrate Red Bend’s [client] in Lenovo Mobile’s i399 feature phone for China Mobile Communications Corp... In a separate news release today, Red Bend also announced a licensing agreement with Nollec, a Chinese manufacturer of mobile phones for leading electronics brands around the globe. In February, Red Bend announced a deal with ZTE Corp. to license its software for ZTE’s mobile PC modems and home gateway modems for WiMAX networks."

Microsoft looks to build one-stop mobile apps store.

"Microsoft is preparing to launch in the next few months a Web site called Skymarket to sell Windows Mobile OS applications, a job advertisement suggests. "