Following on from that, is that the new iPhone availability announcement will probably be made when Steve returns.  So the Apple rumor mill starts to spin faster & the speculation is that Steve will return sometime in July and during his comeback press call, will announce the new device. Check out all of the views on Google

I'm one of the folks that hope that Steve comes back refreshed and well, ready to retake the helm. What better way for him to make a great re-entrance, than to set all the iPhone  rumors straight?

If you thought that the iPhone 3.0 announcement was big news a few months ago, then think again, as if this announcement takes place, you will be hearing about it  everywhere! All we can do now is wait!

BTW Are you going to WWDC for the first time? If so, check out Jeff LaMarche's great blog posting here on surviving & enjoying WWDC.

I find myself in this exact situation after reading MSC Mobile here

Alexander IIg gives a very clear and honest opinion, as well as comparing the difference between SUP and SAP’s NetWeaver Mobile

Many thanks

Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms are the next-generation architecture for mobile enterprise application development. SUP provides a set of comprehensive services that allow customers to mobilize appropriate data and business processes for enterprises using virtually any mobile device. This combines 4GL tooling and integration with standard development environments for quick development, deployment across heterogeneous devices and device management in a comprehensive platform to handle all of an enterprise’s mobile application requirements.

I have had 4 years experience building Windows Mobile Applications with sybase PocketBuilder and believe me the ability SUP gives a developer to develop for multi-platform rocks! Power to the MEAP!

A while ago I reported on Sybase's announcement of a strategic partnership with SAP. When speaking about this new announcement, Dr Raj Nathan, CMO here at Sybase said 'Building on our SAP partnership, this partnership with Samsung SDS demonstrates significant synergistic momentum in our enterprise mobility strategy'. Raj also went on to say… 'There is a strong synergy between our companies, as we share a common goal of providing businesses easy access to valuable information contained within enterprise applications through tight integration with a wide range of mobile environments. Our leading mobile enterprise platform includes robust functionality and extensive heterogeneous support required to Unwire the Enterprise'.

For more information on the Sybase Unwired Platform check out http://www.sybase.com/sup From the product page you can find a link to the SUP Tech Corner, where you can get more technical information and view some videos.

Whenever I speak to folks about iPhone adoption, the subject of iPhone application development comes up and especially the thorny question of how to get your application noticed, will arise!

I usually follow it with the response of… ‘Ahh, now thats a good question’.

Last week I was having a conversation with a friend Chris Greening of Sudoku Grab fame, an application that has done reasonably well in the App Store. Check out his blogsite here.

Chris had some conclusions from his time on the App Store…

• You need an application with a unique edge to get Apple’s attention, to be featured
• You need to plan release time, so you appear higher in the ‘New and Noteworthy’ list
• Get folks to blog on your application… better still get a techie to blog on it such as Jason Langridge
• Create a YouTube video on it
• Sometimes it’s a bit hit & miss and luck

Well, I’ve just seen a posting on Mobile Orchard from Brian Akaka that gives some great advice, in 6 tips

Thanks to Brian and the guys at Mobile Orchard

Willie also said that “Unwiring the enterprise is proving to increase productivity, improve efficiency, and reduce costs in today’s rapidly changing business environment, but it requires a comprehensive mobile enterprise application platform that can support, manage and secure multiple device types”

Seriously though, think about it, this feat is outstanding when you realize that the iTunes store took about 3 years to get to 1 Billion downloads and towards the end of 2008 the App Store was only just over 0.5 Billion. So where was the turning point? As far as I can tell, after the iPhone 3G appeared and the native SDK became available to the ever growing throng of developers, application submissions increased and downloads along with the amount of apps available. This increase in developers and applications, has in turn fed the interest and uptake even more in a self perpetuating cycle.

The next questions are…
1. How will they get to 2 Billion?
2. When enterprise applications will become as ubiquitous as gaming applications for the iPhone?

Out of that 1 Billion approximately 25% (my ‘guestimate’) have been games and it leaves this business developer wanting the next milestone set by Apple to be met with adding more business-like applications. This is where companies like Sybase can step in, with enterprise adoption enabling applications such as mobile office and development tools/software the Sybase Unwired Platform, Mobile Office and MobiLink/Ultralite.

Check out my iPhone and Sybase related blog posts…

Sybase knows how to make the iPhone Enterprise-ready!
Securing and Delivering Business Data on the iPhone
i(Phone) have my data here, now I want it there…What's the problem?

I am also wondering about the difficulty around downloading business applications from the App Store. Companies, especially large enterprises, will not want to download individual applications for each employee using an iPhone. I believe Apple will need to change the downloading model/option for enterprise applications to experience significant growth in this area.

STOP PRESS - Even Industry Analysts Forrester Research are now suggesting that companies look towards the iPhone as a key platform for their Enterprise. Check out these other articles below…

AppleInsider: “We find the BlackBerry better for email and calendaring and the iPhone better for everything else,” he notes.

Computerworld: However, not everything was rosy with iPhone deployments, Schadler noted. Combining iPhone and ActiveSync for calendaring functions is still the “single biggest end user problem,” he said.

Fortune: There are the top four iPhone “challenges,” including the dearth of management tools, the lack of full support for VPN and the “usual litany” of “annoying” early-generation glitches (e.g., lack of cut-and-paste and click-to-call).

Grasshopper, here are my seven steps to becoming an iPhone Developer. Tread carefully and you will become a wise man...

1. Buy an Intel Based Mac & a Device - though the iPhone/iPod Touch device isn't 100% necessary for this early stage, as the iPhone simulator that you will get with the SDK is free and more that capable for initial development. Saying that, there is no replacement ultimately for having a device.
2. Join the Apple Developer Connection - It's free at http://developer.apple.com/ This is a great place to check out the very good Apple Documentation and gain access to some of the Developer videos on iTunes. I have enjoyed watching the TechTalks World Tour series, which gives a good introduction to many subjects from the Apple Evangelists.
3. Download the Apple iPhone SDK - It's a large download, but be patient, as with this software you can develop applications that run on iPhone and iPod touch. Once installed you will have access to the Xcode IDE, Instruments, iPhone simulator, frameworks, samples and more. Mastering this step as well as the next step will be your goal!
   
4. Learn Objective-C, Cocoa Touch - Books are a great start and I would recommend investigating the two that I'm reading... iPhone SDK Development - Bill Dudney, Marcel Molina, Chris Adamson (Pub. The Pragmatic Bookshelf) and iPhone in Action - Christopher Allen, Shannon Appelcline (Pub. Manning), though I know there are others available and more yet to hit the shelves. I'm also looking forward to the free Stanford University iPhone Development Course which is available via http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs193p/cgi-bin/index.php and the lectures that will be made available on iTunesU http://itunes.stanford.edu/. Each week, in the 10 week class, there will be a number of subjects covered in the tutorials and assignments set, that will build upon each other. OK for those of us that are not on campus, as we have the ability to take our time over each, but its a great concept and solves the age old problem of getting actual exercises. Now you have the inner power, you must channel it Grasshopper.
   
5. Write an iPhone application - though coming up with a cool idea can be easier said that done. As part of the process Develop & Test using your newly acquired skills, finally on a device (See below).
6. Join the iPhone Developer Program - this costs $99 for an individual year and will allow you to deploy/distribute your application to a limited number of devices that you have identified, via the iPhone Developer Portal. Remember, one man can succeed as well as many others
7. Submit your iPhone application to the iTunes App Store, this process is also part of the iPhone Developer Portal

And only then will you know true iPhone Harmony!

Thank you Master... I can now travel armed with my iPhone and its arsenal of applications

Ian

To get the best cross section of voters I placed it on various groups of which I'm a member, such as...

• Enterprise Mobility
• Mobile Architects
• Mobile Development Professionals
• Mobilists

Right from the offset I knew this would be an emotive question in the mobile arena and I had my own opinion who would win. I knew it would be close, but I did not know then how close it would be and how many times the lead would change.

Today, Monday March 30, the poll closed and could be described as a three horse race, in fact let me describe my poll like a day at the (mobile) races.

The runners and riders have been paraded around the paddock for us observers to look at  for a while now...

1. Blackberry (BB), the original, with the most form and probably the favorite...
2. Windows Mobile (WM), the close runner to BB in previous races, making ever increasing advances into BB's area
3. iPhone (iP), the hot new pretender to the crown of BB & WM... a good outside bet
4. Andriod (AN), the latest and second new pretender, out of the Google Stables
5. Symbian (SY), the longest in this race out of our 5

There are in the stalls, the tension is high & there off! Over the two fence race

• 11 February... the first Jump, iP is hot into the lead, ahead 7% from 2nd position BB and BB 3% ahead of WM in 3rd spot. This could be due to the extra training the Apple Stables have given with the release of the SDK in the latter part of 2008.

• 27 March... BB has come back into the race ahead of iP by 5%, iP in what looks like a solid 2nd position, 7% ahead of WM. BB digging hard into the experience of previous outings.

• 30 March... WM has fought back, for a while going ahead of iP and BB is starting to fade slightly. This is a surprise, iP was pulling ahead, partially due to the knowledge of future outings with SDK3.0 as the rider. WM has been training well in the last two years.

The finish post is in sight and iP pulls back.

• Its a photo finish!.. The Final results are in... iP Wins 1% ahead of WM, with BB in third

Could this be due to the news that Citrix  has just released an ICA Client for iP , along with the news from Sybase that the iPhone can now support Enterprise email, calendar, tasks and contacts with Mobile Office and Sybase's partnership with SAP?

Only time can tell. What is sure is that the Apple iPhone is now a definate contender and we will have to watch this three horse race closely.

If the answers yes, but you don’t really know how, then check out this great 3 page article written by Adrian Bridgwater, the Editor of the ISUG Technical Journal.

The article contains a wealth of information and advice that will get you up to speed with writing as well as a indispensable Writers 9-Point Checklist. You may be asking yourself of the credentials of the author and I can happily say we have one of the best! Adrian is a Technical Journalist with over 5 years experience communicating software application development as well as the wider technology market. He has been published in such magazines as International Developer as well as our own ISUG Technical Journal and has even had two pieces of work in the Wall Street Journal. Adrian also blogs on ZDNet and is currently the #2 out of their top 100 most read bloggers! So you can rest assured that any advice that Adrian gives will be of the highest quality, assured to give you the skills and confidence to get published.

Now is the time that you should be putting fingers to keyboards, stepping up to the plate and sharing your Sybase knowledge and experience to get yourself noticed as a Sybase domain expert. Take it from me that it is a great feeling to get published and help your peers.

Check out the article here (Page1, Page2, Page3) and contact Adrian at editorial@isug.com

Ian

At a high level, Web Developers benefit from ease of simple development, deployment and updating speed, where SDK Developers benefit from integration with the iPhone core device features and native speed that allows the creation of complex solutions.

So I set out over the last two months, with the aid of the LinkedIn Polls feature to gauge the trend and here's my result



As I mentioned already, each way of developing has advantages, so the figure of 47% for those quite rightly airing on the side of caution and taking the conservative view of 'it depends' is no surprise. What is more telling is the figure of 40% of developers polled that think the iPhone Software Developer Kit is the best way to develop.

When you break down Apple's latest figures from last week, that state over 800,000 downloads of the SDK & 50,000 companies & individuals who have joined the Apple iPhone Developer Program (62% whom have never developed for Apple before), it shows a wave that is ever increasing. Now with the announcement of the SDK & OS for 3.0 containing 1000 new API's for developers that follow SDK development, I believe the SDK route has cemented itself as the #1 way for innovative and exciting application development.

On top of these facts, the figures of over 25,000 Applications submitted to the iTunes App Store and 800,000 downloads of those...which is more likely over 1M now, must be very compelling to developers.

I am told that every self confessed gamer will know that Nintendo have dominated the hand held gaming market for many years. What got my interest was that Jason Bradbury, of UK's Channel Five - The Gadget Show tested three of the latest hand-held gaming devices, the Nintendo DSi, the Sony PSP 3000 and the Apple's iPod touch. Now that got me interested

Here is a breakdown of what he reported...

• Nintendo DSi - Graphically No better that model before, straight forward and simple. No games yet for new forward and rear facing cameras

• Sony PSP 3000 - Good graphics, great screen, good device but not the mass market appeal

• iPod Touch - Great device using Accelerometer and Touch Screen in new ways for gaming

Check out Jason's report here or if you do not have time to watch the 6min video, here are the results which are based upon G ratings, 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest...

Sony PSP 3000 given 3G's

Nintendo DSi given 4G's

iPod Touch given 5G's

The iPod Touch is hailed by Jason as, the New and unexpected hero of gaming... The future of portable gaming. Do not worry I am NOT losing sight that I believe that the iPhone will be the widestly adopted Enterprise Mobile device this year... reality restored.

Ian

The new release offers enhanced administrative, network security, deployment features and allows the extension of enterprise-class email and PIM data from Lotus Domino and Microsoft Exchange mobile devices. In turn this will allow the reduction of the total cost of ownership when extending email and business processes.

In particular this is major news for the iPhone's ability to be adopted by businesses, as iAnywhere Mobile Office provides a unique approach for security with an enterprise application sandbox model for email, calendar and tasks along with on-device and over-the-air encryption as well as application password protection. It also allows users to synchronize contacts and perform a corporate directory lookup to find colleagues.

Currently for iPhone users, all data in the native iPhone inbox, calendar, and contacts applications is unprotected and stored in clear text. Furthermore the iPhone does not have a concept of tasks, that most of us rely upon day-to-day, so the creation of that within iAnywhere Mobile Office will be a great benefit. Of the other two solutions that are available, Microsoft Exchange relies on the unprotected native applications on the iPhone, as do other public email services and IBM Lotus Notes users have no native iPhone solution, but a browser-based solution, that does not allow the interaction with PIM and email, if connectivity is lost.

So I can safely say that Sybase knows how to make the iPhone enterprise-ready!

The iAnywhere Mobile Office iPhone client can be found on the Apple iTunes App Store from today here or search on the keywords “Sybase iAnywhere" and if you want to learn more there is an iAnywhere Mobile Office – iPhone Webcast on March 26th, 11 a.m. Eastern. You can register here.

NOTE: The Mobile Office Client requires use of iAnywhere Mobile Office Server and a client access license to connect with email systems.

Its now been three days since the announcement of the iPhone 3.0 SDK and OS from Apple, ample time for the eager developers and users to have made their mind up. In fact I set a Linkedin Poll as soon as the announcement finished and already have had over 100 responses. I have felt a bit like a reporter following President Obama's first 100 days in office and we all know first impresstions count, so whats the score?

Firstly, not surprisingly to me, nobody polled thought that Apple did not deliver the goods with this announcement and only 19% wanted Apple to deliver more. Maybe those 19% wanted video recording, background processes or some other features that did not make it into this cool enhancement list. Well you can't please everyone, but along with the 16% who were still thinking the features over, I am sure they will see a way forward.

What is encouraging is that 65% of those polled, were happy with the features announced and 38%, even within three days of the announcement were already developing with the 3.0 SDK. Though we will have to wait to nearer the summer for the official release of the OS onto iPhones and the swell of 3.0 enabled applications. I am expecting 3rd party Vendors also to take advantage of the new release.

• iPhone now in 80 Countries - 13.7M units in 2008
• 17M altogether.,.. including iPod Touch 30M units
• 800,000 downloads of the SDK & 50,000 companies & individuals join the Apple iPhone Developer Program (62% never developed for Apple before)
• Over 25,000 Apps Submitted 96% approved... 800,000 downloads

3.0 is a major update for iPhone & iPod Touch for Developers...

• 1000 new API's
• App Store, new model of selling  added, called In-App Purchase (sell the app, then sell new content within the app as it comes... same as iTunes username/password and API's)
• Peer-to-Peer Connectivity - New API's to discover & connect to other iPhones over Bluetooth
• API's for accessory developers able to build custom apps to talk to their new hardware via the dock-connector or bluetooth using standard protocols & custom protocols
• Google Maps API for embedding Maps into your own applications and developers can use core location to make turn by turn directions in their applications.
• No background processes - bad for the consumer & bad for the battery life 98% drop)
• Push Notification is now good to go! (Battery Life on 23% drop) - Apple Push Notification Service.. rather than background services Push Notification Service.
• API for in-game voice
• API's now open for UIAlertView, streaming audio & video, data detectors, text selection, playing music in your application and battery API's etc
• CUT, COPY & PASTE...cool interface... undo using SHAKE!
• MMS

3.0 Also introduces Landscape mode to email, calendar etc as well as some search facilities and a brand new home screen.

Interesting fact for Enterprise users... JD Power ranked the iPhone #1 for customer satisfaction for business smartphone users.

It will be interesting to see how these announcements will be accepted by developers, 3rd party software vendors and users alike, but time will tell!

The SDK 3.0 will be available immediately for developers already registered on the iPhone Dveloper Program and will be available on devices from the summer.

The upgrade will be free for iPhone users and at a cost for iPod Touch users.

Ian

Ian

Ian

iAnywhere have the leading mobile database and synchronization technologies, that enable data to be shared and updated between
the enterprise and remote users - SQL Anywhere, which drives some of the largest mobile database deployments in the world. SQL Anywhere databases
already support a wide range of handheld devices and smartphone platforms, including Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, and Palm OS.

When I travel into any city I see folks performing many tasks, reading a book, listening to music, texting on phones and catching up on emails (sometimes on laptops or mobile devices). These are all great uses of that commuting time and is the way that workers are now extending their normal hours into the ‘grey’ time between home and the office. Let’s face it, it makes the mundane journey pass in a flash and relieves some of that stress. Problem is, that with each of these tasks, usually comes a different item and the mobile commuter/worker becomes less than mobile and more like a walking IT/Electrical store.

So I was interested in seeing that today Amazon has released Kindle for iPhone, which is an iPhone application that lets you read Kindle e-books on your iPhone or iPod Touch. With the release of this application, Amazon has extended the reach off its own e-book reader for the first time. The application allows users to buy Kindle e-books on your computer, then transfer them to your iPhone or iPod touch over WiFi. But what about if I’m mobile you ask? Well you can purchase books from the Safari browser on your iPhone. There are other e-book readers available, but without the brand recognition of Amazon and I now wonder if the introduction of Kindle for iPhone will take Kindle to the mainstream as a platform, rather than a proprietary device?

Now the mobile commuter/worker can sit comfortably with one device for everything and if that device is an Enterprise owned device, have it secured with the same policies that exist in their non-mobile world. Check out one of my previous posts on iAnywhere Mobile Office for the iPhone. This will allow corporate IT to isolate and secure their business data on the iPhone, with a new security model, without touching the users’ own personal data…Why? Well, the fact that the iPhone is such a personal device means that the traditional approach of enforcing corporate policies across devices may infringe on usage habits around applications like iTunes, videos and e-books.

Possibly the security purists amongst you will be shouting that ‘never should a Enterprise device be used for personal activities’. Now I put it to you that as long as a security/management application like iAnywhere Mobile Office is being used, allowing the cross usage of certain personal ctivities and still securing the Enterprise data, becomes a benefit. I believe that with this cross usage, the corporate device now takes on a personal aspect, that it has never before and along with that personal aspect comes an increased sense of responsibility and this in turn will reduce the amount of loses etc. Clever eh?

One World, One Life, One Commute, One Device

Ian

The Wireless University Forum (www.twuf.com)  is the largest global on-line community for academia and industry in the field of wireless technology. Sybase has been a proud sponsor of TWUF for the last three years and has enjoyed a high profile in a community that has a massive global reach. The TWUF brings together industry partners with professors, senior lecturers and students for graduate recruitment, work placements and collaborative research; it provides a platform to communicate and share ideas and information.

Why was TWUF created?

TWUF was created in response to a demand from universities and industry to have an open on-line community. In 2002, Vodafone conducted a research project within universities in the UK, Italy and Germany to investigate the development of an on-line community for the wireless industry and academia. The results provided such positive feedback from these universities that Vodafone commissioned Wildfire to develop an international forum (TWUF), with Vodafone as the founding sponsor. Industry members sponsor TWUF with a range of objectives that include: graduate recruitment, raising brand awareness, to build and maintain relations with academics and industry partners, to effectively communicate with a range of academics across Europe and collaborative research opportunities.

Where is TWUF Now?

There are now over 980 university members across Europe and USA. It is a well established, vibrant community. Members receive e-newsletters throughout the year (sent out monthly) and I believe TWUF are looking a webcast events.

It is my opinion that, in the times of Economic slowdown, acedemia is our future... an Investment in tomorrow. If this is of interest, Gabrielle Kuzak (Commercial Director, Wildfire Communications) can be contacted at gabrielle@wildfirecomms.co.uk

Ian

Thanks