Apple Stores, iPhones & Symbol MC50s an Interesting Combination

I was shopping in Portland, Oregon yesterday and observed a very interesting combination of handheld computers at work. As I was shopping in the Apple store at Pioneer Place, I noticed that the Apple sales people were all carrying Symbol/Motorola MC50 handheld computers with wireless support, credit card swipers and bar code scanners all running on Windows Mobile 5.0 operating systems. Do you see the irony in this? The Apple sales people are selling PDA phones and PDAs using the Apple operating system, but all of their sales people use Windows Mobile operating systems for their business applications. This is just not right.

The way the Apple sales people were using the MC50s was very cool. They could swipe debit and credit cards anywhere in the store, give you the product and email your receipt to you. That is very cool! No long lines at the cash register, the sales people can take care of all credit card and debit card purchases anywhere in the store. Now if only they could figure out a way to accomplish that using their own Apple PDAs.

Broncos vs Vandals and Using Mobile Handheld PDAs

Our office in Boise, Idaho is nicely decorated today in two different color sets. One is black and gold - representing the University of Idaho Vandals football team, and the other color scheme is blue and orange for the Boise State University Broncos football team. This week the two interstate rivals will be playing each other.

Nick Martin, a Boise State University graduate and technical support guru, arrived at his office to an unpleasant surprise this morning. His desk was fully decorated in his rival's colors. I am sure revenge and conspiracy course through the halls.

How does this relate to mobile handheld computers? I took this picture with my Palm Treo 750 PDA phone running on Windows Mobile 6.0. I synced the image back to my desktop where I am writing this blog. Using the software solution PointSync Mobility Platform I can do the exact same thing with any business application - work orders, inspections, asset tracking, proof-of-delivery and more. The world is now ready for mobilized business applications of all kinds. If you would like to discuss your thoughts on mobilizing business applications please contact us.

Handheld Computer Considerations

There are a lot of good handheld computers available and some bad ones. I will leave the bad ones for a future discussion and focus on some of the points to consider when selecting good handheld hardware.

1. What environment will you be using the handheld computer in - is it hot, cold, wet, dusty or filled with explosive vapors? Is it a clean office environment, or a rugged out-of-doors environment?
2. Is your software application focused exclusively on bar code scanning, RFID reading, GPS, or do you need a multi-purpose device?
3. Will the hardware configuration ever need to be changed? Some handhelds can be configured at will, others are locked and can only be used with the original configuration.
4. What hardware does your selected software require?
5. Will the battery last long enough to accomplish your work? Do you need back-up batteries? Can you use batteries purchased at the local market, or are they vendor specific?
6. What is your budget? What does the value of using a handheld computer justify spending? Do you have enough budget to purchase the software and hardware you need? Does your budget only allow for low cost consumer devices? How many replacements cover the cost of a ruggedized handheld?
7. How do you replace broken devices? Can you get a replacement in 24 hours, or must you wait on the slow-boat-from-China?
8. What kind of support contracts and warranties are available?
9. How long will you new handheld computer be supported, serviced and manufactured by the vendor. Is it near end of life and being discounted for a reason?
10. Can you upgrade the operating system when Microsoft releases a new version of their mobile operating system?
11. Can you use standard laptop data cards in the handheld, or do you need to pay for high priced vendor specific cards?
12. Can you view the screen effectively in the sunlight?
13. Does the bar code scanner work effectively in real-world environment? Some scanners can not scan effectively through glass or plastic.
14. Is the size and weight of the handheld appropriate for the user and environment?
15. Can your handheld computer support all the add-ons you require at the same time? Some devices can only support a specific number of add-on components so you are forced to choose. Some can not support both a GPS and a data card at the same time. Some devices can not support both a bar code scanner and a GPS add-on. This is an important consideration.
16. Do you need only a touch screen and navigation pad, or a number pad or a full QWERTY keyboard? This is very important for user acceptance.
17. Is the handheld device also going to be used as a phone? Is a 2 pound industrial grade handheld really a usable phone?
18. Does your low cost consumer grade PDA need a rugged case like the ones Otterbox sells?
19. If you only have a budget for a low cost device, does it support the battery life and add-on components you require?
20. How will the device be transported around a job site? Will it strap to a belt, swing from a shoulder strap, sit in a holster or be mounted to the dashboard of your truck? Does your device support your chosen method?
21. Where is the closest inventory of the handheld computers? Where is the closest repair depot?
22. Will your vendor loan you a device on trial?
23. How will your handheld computer send data back to the office - cradle sync, WiFi, bluetooth, GPRS/GSM, CDMA?
24. What size screen do you need? Some devices like the Jett-Eye have a "landscape view" others a "portrait view" many have different sized screens. What do you require?
25. Do you need an integrated digital camera? Do you need a low or high resolution camera and does your device support it?
26. Does a refurbished device from Ryzex make better sense that a new device?
27. Where is your vendor's office? Are they in the neighborhood or on the other side of the planet? Does their location offer you the support and attention you deserve?
28. Does your handheld computer run on the same operating system that your software solutions require?
29. Does your handheld computer come with a pistol grip or other straps that help you avoid dropping it?
30. Can you comfortably hold the device in your handheld and complete the required job? Some devices have scanners on the side, on the end or underneath.
31. Can you effectively view the data you need? Some jobs simply require a full keyboard and a full screen for viewing large CAD files or Maps. Does your screen size match your requirements?

Thoughts on the Business of Mobile Software Development

Software and IT Consultants that wish to offer general mobile software development services and mobile handheld solutions to a broad market have the following important business management questions to consider:

• how do you achieve economies of scale (get better and faster over time to increase profitability)
• how do you manage risks (from many new and custom development projects)
• how do you develop in-house expertise in a broad market with a large number of different business processes
• how do you develop all the appropriate technology skills necessary to deliver a wide variety of applications using different synchronization, security, integration, database, business process and connectivity options
• how do you develop a complete quality assurance plan for every new custom mobile software application (make sure you include this time in your proposal)
• how do you efficiently test and de-bug a large number of custom mobile applications
• how do you document how each customized software application works (make sure you include this time in your proposal)
• how do you maintain and support a wide variety of custom mobile software applications
• how do you keep your customer’s mobile software applications current with new versions of mobile operating systems and new handheld device technologies
• how do you integrate your custom mobile software applications with a large variety of different backend databases and database applications
• how do you do this all profitably

I have had many software and IT consultants contact me and say they have tried to develop a business targeting mobile software applications using Microsoft’s .NET development environment or other coding environments like Appforge, but it simply takes too long, and the cost is too high for the majority of their small to medium sized customers. They contacted me to ask if MobileDataforce has a solution that can address their business needs. The short answer is yes.

In order to profitably develop customized mobile solutions for a large variety of business processes and/or industries, one must standardize as many of the design, development, deployment and support processes as possible. This goal is most easily accomplished by using a mobile software platform that provides these features in a configurable environment.

A mobile software platform enables your professional services organization to train on a standardized platform and to use a standardized methodology for rapidly developing and delivering custom solutions. With a common platform in use, the following benefits can be recognized:

• Many of the requirements that mobile projects have are already pre-built in the mobile software platform
• project estimates become increasingly accurate
• software developers can easily support each other's projects and mobile applications
• synchronization does not have to be developed, rather it is configured
• mobile application screens don't have to be developed, rather they are configured
• connectivity options don't have to be developed, rather they are configured
• handheld device support is configured, rather than developed
• mobile databases don't have to be developed, rather they are already included and only need configured
• common templates and functions can be re-used on many different applications
• technical support staff can easily de-bug and support new custom applications using visual de-buggers and management tools
• design standards and functions make screen creation quick and efficient
• application "clips" are reusable configurations and features that can be re-used on many different projects
• the function library has over 220 pre-built functions that save design and development time
• existing application templates can used and customized for multiple customer projects
• new versions of mobile solutions can be published to the mobile user from the server
• one set of code can work on Windows XP, Windows CE, Windows Mobile, Tablet PC and multiple screen sizes

The bottom-line - a large variety of mobile applications can be rapidly designed, developed, deployed and supported profitably if they are produced using a mobile software platform like the PointSync Mobility Platform. To program or code a large variety of different and customized mobile applications using .NET or Appforge is simply too expensive and takes too much development time for the average small to medium sized business. Speed and efficiency is required to serve this market. Mobile applications should be configured for these clients, rather than programmed.

Here are a few articles that address these issues in more detail:

• http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2007/04/mobile-solution-warning.html
• http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2007/03/what-happens-after-mobile-deployment.html
• http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2007/01/mobile-platforms-for-enterprise.html
• http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2006/11/managing-mobile-software-deployments.html
• http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2006/10/mobile-software-platforms-and.html
• http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2006/12/mobiledataforce-launches-pointsync.html
• http://www.mobiledataforce.com/ceoblog/2006/11/mobile-software-platform-thoughts.html

Symbol MC35 - More Smart Phones

Ninety-one people looked up Symbol Technologies' MC35 yesterday on Google. That is quite impressive for a new handheld PDA from Symbol. This device includes a phone, Windows Mobile OS, GPS, keypad and much more in a semi-rugged form.

Symbol/Motorola has been rapidly releasing new mobile handheld devices intended for the "mobile" category of workers. The true field services worker who does not want to pack around a large and heavy industrial handheld computer.