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In a move to beef up its enterprise mobile capabilities to meet a growing demand for all things mobile, IBM on Tuesday announced an agreement to acquire Worklight. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The Worklight acquisition sets the stage for Big Blue to offer mobile application development, integration, security and management at higher levels. By integrating Worklight into IBM’s mobility strategy, clients can tap an open platform that aims to help hasten the delivery of existing and new mobile apps to multiple devices while also safeguarding the connections between smartphone and tablet apps in enterprise IT systems. In other words, it’s all about rapid deployment and security. “If you think about what people expect from IBM, they expect a breadth of vision and implementation,” said Bob Sutor, vice president of IBM Mobile Platform. “They don’t want one mobile solution. They want the full range of what you need to build apps, build them securely, communicate to the back end, and connect to the database. We found Worklight to be extremely consistent with how we view the world of mobile.” A Spending Priority IBM has done its homework on the mobile front. In a recent IBM study of more than 3,000 global CIOs, 75 percent of respondents identified mobility solutions as one of their top spending priorities. In fact, IBM noted, for the first time ever, shipments of smartphones exceeded total PC shipments in 2011. Worklight supports both consumer and employee-facing applications. A bank, for example, can create a single application that offers features to enable its customers to securely connect to their account, pay bills and manage their investments, regardless of whether they are using an iPhone or Android device. A hospital could use Worklight technology to extend its existing IT system to allow direct input of health history, allergies, and prescriptions… Continue reading IBM Acquires Worklight in Mobile App Management Play →

Move over Hewlett-Packard, and move over desktops and notebooks. If tablets are counted, Apple is now the leading computer vendor in the world. According to industry research firm Canalys, Apple’s 15 million iPads and 5 million Macs shipped globally in the fourth quarter represent 17 percent of the total 120 million personal computing devices. Tablets were 22 percent of all PC shipments, including Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet. The entire PC market, which includes netbooks, grew by 16 percent compared with a year ago. HP and Tablets The Canalys report also indicated the importance of tablets to the overall computer market. If tablets are excluded, PC shipments actually dropped by 0.4 percent. One reason: Floods in Thailand affected the output of hard drive assembly plants there, which caused some disruption in total PC shipments. Lenovo was the only other PC vendor among the top five to have shown a market share increase, but that was only by two points. By contrast, Apple posted a six point increase year-over-year. The other three — HP, Acer, and Dell — showed declines in market share. HP, which has stopped making its TouchPad tablet, dropped to second place. If HP is to regain its previous top place, or even stay in the running, clearly it has to get back into the tablet game. Canalys analyst Tim Coulling noted in a statement that the computer maker is now focusing on enterprise-oriented, Windows 7-based tablets, such as its recently launched Slate 2, and it intends to join the Windows 8 bandwagon once that OS is launched. But, Coulling said, while early demonstrations of Windows 8 “seem promising,” the technology giant needs to create “an intuitive user experience that is far less resource intensive.” What’s a PC? Canalys also noted that Lenovo’s adoption of the flourishing Android platform for its… Continue reading Counting Tablets, Apple Takes Top PC Vendor Spot →

While much of the technology world is focused on Facebook’s valuation in the soon-promised initial public offering, others are looking behind the numbers at what may become an even larger thorn in the company’s revenue-generating side: privacy. To be sure, Facebook has long drawn the ire of privacy advocates and put consumers up in arms with its information-sharing practices. And in November, the Federal Trade Commission made it painfully clear that Facebook engaged in unfair and deceptive practices, deceiving consumers by telling them they could keep their information on the site private — and then repeatedly allowing it to be shared publicly. Meanwhile, the Irish Data Commission audited Facebook’s privacy practices and also found problems. In December, Facebook agreed to a number of improvements, like simpler explanations of privacy policies and a better ability for users to make informed choices. But with the new Timeline feature about to become activated across the social network, Facebook probably hasn’t heard the end of privacy complaints. The Privacy Challenge “While going public will raise as much as $100 billion, it will also expose Facebook’s business practices, including how it captures and resells data to developers and others that create new applications or services,” said Jake Wengroff, global director of social media strategy and research at Frost & Sullivan. Facebook is already under heavy government scrutiny. Every two years for the next 20 years, Facebook is required to have independent, third-party audits certifying that it has a privacy program in place that meets or exceeds the requirements of the FTC order, and to ensure that the privacy of consumers’ information is protected. “One may wonder why Facebook is now deciding to go public,” Wengroff said. “Of course, it means a big payday for employees — including Mark Zuckerberg — but Facebook needed to address business challenges that might serve as a… Continue reading Privacy Concerns Cloud Facebook IPO →

Starting [this week], travelers in about 500,000 hotel rooms across the USA will have the ability to channel surf using their smartphones instead of an old-fashioned remote control. LodgeNet, the biggest provider of hotel room television entertainment, has created a free app — the LodgeNet Mobile App — that turns iPhones, iPads and Androids into remote controls. Besides serving as a remote for free TV channels, pay-per-view movies and on-demand TV episodes, the app also contains information about the hotel, local events, attractions, directions and restaurants. About 2,000 hotels that carry LodgeNet’s TV systems have been updated to accept the app’s controls, LodgeNet CEO Scott Petersen says. Once the app is downloaded, users see a screen with directions on how to link to a specific hotel TV. The app can even let guests turn off their TVs from outside their rooms. LodgeNet expects the free app to be a hit for many reasons, such as being able to avoid handling a dirty remote. Studies have indicated that a TV remote is one of the dirtiest items in a hotel room. Dealing with a remote with dying batteries could also be a hassle of the past. Forty percent of users ages 18 to 34 prefer to control their TVs with a smartphone or tablet instead of a remote, Petersen says, citing data from Altman Vilandrie & Co. and Research Now. Keeping track of a phone or iPad can also be easier when watching TV in bed, because many of today’s travelers have a closer relationship with their smartphones than with a hotel’s remote. “The remote I can never keep track of,” says Greg Marquez, 36, of Chicago. “I’m always texting or Facebooking, so I always have my phone on me.” LodgeNet’s Petersen says the app can make selecting TV channels and pay-per-view movies faster because users touch the specific channel… Continue reading New App Turns Smartphone into Hotel TV Remote →

Starting [this week], travelers in about 500,000 hotel rooms across the USA will have the ability to channel surf using their smartphones instead of an old-fashioned remote control. LodgeNet, the biggest provider of hotel room television entertainment, has created a free app — the LodgeNet Mobile App — that turns iPhones, iPads and Androids into remote controls. Besides serving as a remote for free TV channels, pay-per-view movies and on-demand TV episodes, the app also contains information about the hotel, local events, attractions, directions and restaurants. About 2,000 hotels that carry LodgeNet’s TV systems have been updated to accept the app’s controls, LodgeNet CEO Scott Petersen says. Once the app is downloaded, users see a screen with directions on how to link to a specific hotel TV. The app can even let guests turn off their TVs from outside their rooms. LodgeNet expects the free app to be a hit for many reasons, such as being able to avoid handling a dirty remote. Studies have indicated that a TV remote is one of the dirtiest items in a hotel room. Dealing with a remote with dying batteries could also be a hassle of the past. Forty percent of users ages 18 to 34 prefer to control their TVs with a smartphone or tablet instead of a remote, Petersen says, citing data from Altman Vilandrie & Co. and Research Now. Keeping track of a phone or iPad can also be easier when watching TV in bed, because many of today’s travelers have a closer relationship with their smartphones than with a hotel’s remote. “The remote I can never keep track of,” says Greg Marquez, 36, of Chicago. “I’m always texting or Facebooking, so I always have my phone on me.” LodgeNet’s Petersen says the app can make selecting TV channels and pay-per-view movies faster because users touch the specific channel… Continue reading New App Turns Smartphone into Hotel TV Remote →