TabTimes

Verbs IM review: All-in-one chat for iPad

Ray Aguilera — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:39:23 -0400

Verbs IM is the chat client Apple left out of iOS. It’s clean, connects to most of your messaging accounts, and it just works. (Rating: 4 out of 5)

Once the province of bored teenagers, instant messaging (IM for short) has found its place in a business environment. Like email, it can be quicker than a phone call, but for a lot of people, it feels less formal, and easier to manage than a mailed message. Plus, it has an almost real-time feel that works for conversations with colleagues, whether they’re in the next cube, or in another time zone.

Unfortunately, instant message services are fragmented across several different protocols, most of which can’t talk to each other. Verbs IM solves that problem by logging into your Google Talk, AIM/iChat, MobileMe, and Facebook accounts, letting you have conversations on any of those services. Noticeably absent is support for Yahoo Messenger and Skype chat, but most of your contacts probably have at least one account on a supported service.

Entering information for your accounts is simple, and Verbs IM presents a consolidated buddy list for all your contacts. Tapping on a contact lets you type a message to that person, and you can also share files via integration with a CloudApp or Droplr account.

The features are all fairly standard for IM clients, but you can unlock some crucial features via in-app purchase. For $4.99, Verbs IM can also run behind-the-scenes, keeping you logged into your accounts and pushing chat notifications to your iPad. It’s a great solution for times when you’re away from your desk, but still need to be reachable via IM networks. Verbs IM can keep you logged in for up to one week after you quit the app.

In testing, Verbs IM worked perfectly with all the supported services, although there are a few minor problems. Individual chats are presented in a “card” interface that you have to flip between, but we’d prefer an option for a tabbed interface. Additionally, your contacts all get tossed into a single buddy list, so it can be difficult to keep everyone straight, especially if you use different accounts for work and personal contacts.

Overall, Verbs IM is an excellent performer, and it’s got a great visual style that fits right in with iOS on the iPad. If instant messaging is a part of your daily routine, Verbs IM is well worth the price.

Verbs IM

Rating: 4 out of 5
Price: $0.99
Company: #Include Tech

Ray Aguilera is the Technology Editor of TabTimes, and is based in San Francisco.

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Verbs IM, $0.99, available for: iPad

Topics: iOS Apps

Verbs IM review: All-in-one chat for iPad appeared on TabTimes on Wed, 16 May 2012 19:39:23 -0400. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Xigo on tablets in enterprise: 'Will BYOD turn out to be a home run or a foul ball?'

Doug Drinkwater — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:08:45 -0400

The ‘bring-your-own-device’ trend for tablets in the enterprise is gaining popularity, but as Dimension Data subsidiary Xigo Networks explains, the pitfalls of such a scheme should not be overlooked.

The bring-your-own-device trend has been all the rage of late, and featured prominently at TabTimes’ Tablet Strategy conference in New York City last month. But what’s the downside of this popular trend, and what issues still need to be resolved? TabTimes spoke to Dave Snow, chief marketing officer (CMO) of telecom expense management firm Xigo, to find out more.

Through Xigo Enterprise, you’ve seen a lot of customers deploy tablets. How is that playing out?

Most of our customers are becoming deeply impacted by tablets. A lot of them are doing very well but some are honestly struggling because they took on tablets in a reactive way. They’re now finding that they have a myriad of problems on their doorstep.

What are the successful guys doing differently?

They’re taking it on as a strategic initiative, and see tablet as a way to greater enhance a product or service delivery, compress a sales or service process, or expand the time availability of their employees. We’ve certainly seen a great many positive cases of that.

What kind of customers have you been working with?

Our clients range from Fortune 100 companies to those smaller firms in health and retail, as well as quite a few government agencies. Intel is probably our largest customers in terms of global deployments of our Xigo Enterprise product, but the US Army is the largest in terms of the total number of services under management.

Do you see any cross-over between company-purchased and bring-your-own tablets among your client base?

A great many of our clients are moving from corporately liable to partially liable or just BYOD programs, but many are struggling with this.

We need to try and get some understanding to see if BYOD is the way of the future, or if it is a foul ball. It sounds very appealing, as end-users can get their own devices, and corporations can shift expenses. But when you start to peel the onion what we have seen is that the number of BYOD programs are surprisingly low.

Why do you think adoption is so low?

I think there are three things coming to the surface. Firstly, not every employee can go and spend $1,000 on a fully configured iPad, and there’s certainly an issue around what happens when you shift the operating expense to the user for repairs and replacements. If someone breaks a device, how does it get paid for, and are these employees essentially out of business while the device is down?

The third reason is more subtle, and it’s on this personal space issue. Companies need to protect data on personal devices, but we’ve seen cases where enterprise policy is viewed by the employee as evasive. These users then understand the whole picture and what the security policy might inflict on them, and say that it might be too much. So they stick with the corporate plan.

There are a lot of issues here that need to be taken into account.

What would you suggest then to anyone deploying or thinking about using tablets in business?

There are probably two recommendations we should to make to anyone deploying tablets.

We think companies should be more aggressive negotiating data pooling plans from service providers, as it still absolutely one of the best ways to reduce costs overall. Some carriers have resisted it because they benefit from under and over usage, but the data pooling plan kills that. Ask your service provider if they have one; if they say no ask again, and if they still resist, let them know that you’ll be speaking to other service providers.
Companies need to be aware of the drag-along costs associated with tablet usage. Services like WebEx and GoToMeeting look free after you’ve paid the licensee fee but there are incremental fees. If you’re dialling into an 800 number, you’re paying nine or 18 cents a minute, which is 40 times more than a standard enterprise voice call. And if you’re inviting people to this conference, then you’re taking the bill.

As you mentioned earlier, this personal space issue is tricky. How can companies get around this?

I think that a secure space for enterprise data and apps might win the day, and if I had to place a bet today, I’d say that some kind of virtualized space will be the winner.

You raised an interesting point on pushing expenses to the employee earlier. What do you make of expensive data plans? Surely that’s also hindering adoption?

Some companies are asking guys to go out and buy an iPad for $300-400, and then service it on their own. Most employees can’t do that and that’s where the collision is.

This is where BYOD is a roadblock; the employee can’t or doesn’t want to deal with a long two or three year contract from Verizon Wireless, Vodafone or ATT.

You’ve said yourself that you’d love to bring your own device into work, so do you think BYOD will take hold eventually?

You’re right that I want my own device in work and it’s likely that it [BYOD] is not a passing fad, but we won’t see that broad adoption until we get to a place where there’s a virtual workspace to control work content securely.

I don’t think BYOD will be a foul ball, but I do think adoption will be a lot slower than some writers would have you believe.

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Topics: Deployment & Strategy Enterprise IT solutions BYOD

Xigo on tablets in enterprise: 'Will BYOD turn out to be a home run or a foul ball?' appeared on TabTimes on Wed, 16 May 2012 19:08:45 -0400. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IT survey shows tablet deployment payoff is increased productivity

David Needle — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:57:26 -0400

The latest results from giant IT products and services giant CDW’s quarterly survey of IT decision makers shows that a significant number of companies with tablets deployed are seeing productivity gains tied directly to their use.

In the survey of over a thousand IT decision-makers, 74% indicated that using tablet computers and smartphones led to an increase in productivity in their organization while 25% of those said it has led to a significant increase. In addition, half of those surveyed said they felt the use of tablets and smartphones has led to cost savings in their organization.

Addressing the so-called BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) trend, 64% of the IT decision-makers at large businesses reported that consumer technology adoption has led to cost savings, while 42% said they experienced significant cost savings.

The survey results also showed tablets are being used in a variety of ways by different organizations. The most common use is for sales or sales representatives (48%), followed by replacing printed materials (36%) and workgroup collaboration (32%).

Most of these IT managers (61%) said they preferred Apple iOS operating system overall, with Android a distant second at 24% and BlackBerry’s Tablet OS even further back at 9%.

"Tablet computer data uncovered in the latest IT Monitor proves that tablets and other consumer technologies certainly have their place in the work environment," said Neal Campbell, senior VP and chief marketing officer at CDW. "As more organizations allow tablet computers and smartphones in the workplace, it will be important for IT decision-makers to ensure the technology can truly improve productivity, be integrated into their IT infrastructure and be protected through IT security solutions."

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CDW IT Monitor survey

Topics: Stats & research

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HTML5 pioneer The Financial Times: 'It’s not like we hate Apple'

Doug Drinkwater — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:59:34 -0400

London, England – Described by one speaker as the ‘page boy of HTML5’, The Financial Times took to the World e-Reading Congress in London yesterday to explain why it ditched iOS for HTML5 apps, and how this move has affected its digital readership.

The FT’s Mary Beth Christie, the online product managing director, held a talk poignantly titled ‘Beyond the App Stores’, and began by detailing that the FT's web app has seen over two million downloads since it launched in June of 2011. The publisher has since canned its iOS version as recently as two weeks ago.

Christie showed a chart which demonstrated just how quick HTML5 adoption has risen, with the HTML5 app seemingly attracting around the same number of users as the iOS version only a few months after launch. Christie said that 40% of the app users have now saved it to their home screen on their tablet, and went onto later reveal that 15% of FT subscribers use the web app on a regular basis.

As with other presentations at the event, Christie reiterated that most tablet users are reading early in the morning (around 7-8am), just after they finish work (5-6pm) and as they go to bed (10-11pm), while this usage is also said to be stretching across the weekend, a trend which never really existed for those reading FT on a desktop, according to Christie.

Why the FT moved away from Apple

By all accounts, the FT’s iPad app was highly regarded by many, including Apple, but the publisher started moving away from its iOS foundation, largely because it disagreed with the 30% revenue charged by Apple as well as the firm’s demand to hold onto customer data. That said, Christie interestingly pinpointed the growth of Android tablets as another reason for moving away, because the FT wanted to ‘serve content across all devices’.

The FT exec explained that it hired development firm Assanka (now FT Labs after the publisher recently acquired the firm) in the summer of 2010 to look at a proof of concept for a HTML5 app, but then decided to go down this route on a permanent basis when Apple changed its App Store business model to take more revenue and customer details. “That’s when we went to plan B”, said Christie, who said that having a direct route to its audience was the primary concern, although the decision was also eased by not having to pay the 30% fee.

Despite this, the FT exec was generous towards Apple, and admitted that no animosity had built up between the two firms. “It’s not like we hate Apple, it’s just that our business models jived there."

The FT wants to build a HTML5 community, but admits it’s still a challenging landscape

“There are still lots of hurdles to HTML5 app development. You go on Apple and you have instructions, whereas developing HTML5 is a bit like a loose Lego piece”, said Christie.

“You’ve got to have smart people, who like challenges, but there are pros and cons. The cons are that there are a huge number of devices to test, no existing testing framework, and you can’t take advantage of some of the in-built features of native apps. But then you’re giving the same tools and technologies to developers, there’s portable code for many devices and it doesn’t require much upkeep."

“We don’t think it’s an either or situation, you can do both [native and HTML5], but the more talented people that get into the industry the more mainstream HTML5 becomes.”

Despite the great success, FT has some issues with HTML5 on Android

For all its success, the FT exec hinted at there being some issues in trying to stabilize the FT app experience across devices, certainly across those which run Android, which as we know comes in a number of different sizes and flavors.

“Android is not stable as a platform for HTML5, which is staggering given their [Google’s] experience. We have found that we can’t make the app generic across all Android devices.”

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Topics: Media Apps iOS HTML5 Apple

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Lebanon seeks tablet vendor, looks to offer tablets to 15,000 students

Doug Drinkwater — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:17:59 -0400

As the number of tablets continues to grow in education, news has emerged that Lebanon, the country in the Middle East with a population of around four million people, plans to push 15,000 affordable tablets to public school students in the near future.

The country’s telecoms minister Nicholas Sehnaoui and education minister Hassan Diab outlined Lebanon’s vision for using tablets in schools, with Diab hopeful of providing every public school pupil with a tablet PC by 2014.

Despite this optimism, Sehnaoui has admitted that the country will first launch an international tender for procuring the devices, a deal which they hope to tie up by the middle of next month, in order to sell affordable tablets to 6-18 year old students at a subsidized price.

The government is also liaising closely with the country’s Central Bank to offer interest free loans to the students, so that they can pay for the tablets - through instalments - over a two-year period.

The tablets will feature both WiFi and 3G connectivity and although further specification details are not known as this time, it is thought that telecom operators Alfa and MTC Touch will subsidize 3G subscription rates for the tablet users. The first slates are expected to go on sale to school students in September.

Sehnaoui said that the country is pushing ahead with tablets in a bid to boost the Lebanese economy. “Increasing mobile broadband penetration rates by 10% would boost the economic growth by 1%”, said the minister, when speaking to The Daily Star.

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Topics: Education Deployment & Strategy Lebanon

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Flipboard adds audio to iPad and iPhone apps

Doug Drinkwater — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:35:24 -0400

Flipboard, arguably the king in the news aggregation space at the moment, has revealed that it has now integrated audio into its iOS apps for iPhone and iPad.

Flipboard has partnered with SoundCloud, National Public Radio and Public Radio International (PRI) for the integration, which will allow readers to flick through content while listening to music or radio channels in the background.

Curated audio is included so you can access hand-selected picks from Flipboard, SoundCloud, NPR or PRI, while editorial selections also include interview programs like Fresh Air, All Things Considered, original beats from Snoop Dogg and songs from the Atlantic Records.

The move marks the first time a mobile news reader has integrated audio technology up to this level, although the likes of Google Currents, Pulse and the CNN-owned Zite do offer some audio elements, albeit mainly through video links and embedded YouTube clips. The Daily, the tablet magazine from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, is slightly more advanced, and offers a tool for selected news stories to be read out to the reader.

Clearly, this would indicate that Flipboard is not the only news aggregator making strides in this space, as TabTimes learnt yesterday that smaller rival News360 is looking to track the ambient noise in its apps, essentially so its knows when to deliver short or long form content.

To date, Flipboard’s iOS apps have been downloaded around eight million times, with the firm recently telling the BBC that there are 1.6 billion “flips” through its content per month. Flipboard users are also thought to average around 90 minutes in-app each month.

On a more international front, the firm said recently that it expects app downloads in China to soon surpass those in the US, and launched localized versions of Flipboard for the markets of China, France and Japan.

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Flipboard, Free, available for: iPad

Topics: Media Apps iOS Flipboard China

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Google wants to launch five Jelly Bean smartphones, tablets by the end of 2012

Doug Drinkwater — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:06:58 -0400

Marking something of a shift in company strategy, new rumors suggest that Google will work with as many as five hardware manufacturers to produce five Jelly Bean (Android 5.0) smartphones and tablets by the end of the year.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the first of these devices will come to market from the end of November, and all five will be preloaded with the Jelly Bean operating system (Android 5.0). Despite the claims, it is not yet known what sizes these products will be, or how many of the five will be tablets.

Google has a history of launching its latest operating system on just one leading smartphone or tablet, and employed this strategy when unveiling both Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) and Honeycomb (Android 3.0). Towards the end of 2011, Google pushed Ice Cream Sandwich to the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and did the same with Honeycomb – the first OS optimized for Android slates - when Motorola’s Xoom tablet tipped up at the start of the same year.

This move to include five hardware manufacturers on the latest launch of Android would then seem to indicate that Google is switching to a more aggressive deployment strategy, one of which could also help ramp up the penetration of Jelly Bean.

This has certainly been an issue in the past, with Ice Cream Sandwich in particular hampered by Google’s previous desire to push new software out to just one hardware vendor first, before making it available to the rest of the market. This approach tended to rely on the sole hardware vendor selling the product via wireless carriers, and so this new move would suggest Google is cutting out the middle-man, a tactic could result in a 10-15% rise in operating profit per sale, according to previous estimates from market analysts.

These new rumors follow on from a number of reports that Google plans to launch a budget 7-inch Android tablet in July, with Samsung, and not Asus, now thought to be Google’s vendor of choice for creating the product.

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Topics: Android Tablet manufacturers Ice Cream Sandwich Jelly Bean Honeycomb Google Google Tablet

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iPad won’t miss a beat in 2012 despite competition from new Kindle Fire and Windows 8 tablets

David Needle — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:00:58 -0400

Strong sales of Amazon’s Kindle Fire may have got Apple’s attention in the fourth quarter of last year, but new research indicates the iPad will retain its dominant market share in 2012.

The $199 Kindle Fire attracted millions of buyers over the holiday shopping season after its release last November, dropping the iPad’s share of the tablet market to 55.1%, according to the IHS iSuppli Worldwide Tablet Market report. But IHS says the iPad is set to recover and maintain a comfortable 61% share of the tablet market for all of 2012.

At its height last year, Kindle Fire had 41.1% of the market, but now IHS predicts the tablet will drop to 38.4% in 2012, despite reports the online retail giant will ntroduce new models later this year.

In IHS’ view, those new models won’t be enough to counter the popularity of the iPad including both the new model and the discounted ($399) iPad 2. IHS also confirmed numerous reports via its supply chain contacts that Apple will introduce a smaller version of the iPad later this year. Specifically, IHS expects the smaller iPad will sport a 7.8-inch display, though it’s unlikely to match the Kindle Fire’s $199 price.

“Apple will place continuing emphasis on the quality of the overall tablet experience and the benefits of selecting the company’s products,” IHS said in a release.

While not a threat to the iPad this year, IHS predicts new ultrabook offerings and the release of Windows 8 later this year will help drive stronger sales in 2013 and beyond of PC-type tablets.

“The key to Apple’s media-tablet success has been its offering of a complete hardware-plus-content ecosystem,” said Rhoda Alexander, director for monitors and tablets research at IHS. “The combination of a good-looking device, well-designed applications, video, books and music has provided consumers with an easy-to-use product and an appealing use case. Such an ecosystem took Apple years to put together, starting with the iPod plus iTunes Music Store more than nine years ago, and it’s proving to be a challenge for the company’s competitors to replicate it.”

Topics: Tablet manufacturers Stats & research iPad Kindle Fire

iPad won’t miss a beat in 2012 despite competition from new Kindle Fire and Windows 8 tablets appeared on TabTimes on Tue, 15 May 2012 20:00:58 -0400. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ZTE Optik review: Sprint's $99 Android tablet is affordable, but has costs of its own

Ray Aguilera — Tue, 15 May 2012 19:37:51 -0400

Sprint's 7-inch Android tablet is easy on the wallet. It won't dazzle you with cutting-edge features, but the Optik offers a solid Android experience at an affordable price. (Rating: 3 out of 5)

Without an iPad to beef up their tablet line, Sprint has to go in another direction. In this case, they're hoping that smaller will be better, at least for some people. At 7.6 x 4.7 inches, the Optik by ZTE is a compact tablet running Android 3.2 Honeycomb.

Picking up the Optik, it feels solid in your hand. The black and gray case has rounded corners, and two rubberized grips on the back. The Optik features a seven-inch WXGA 1280 x 800 pixel capacitive-touch display.

When using the Optik in landscape orientation, the grips are a nice design element. I just wish the camera lens wasn't embedded in the exact spot where my finger rests. It complicates snapping photos, and pretty much ensures that the the camera lens is covered in fingerprints all the time.

The Optik features a 5MP rear-facing camera and a 2MP front-facing camera for video chat. Camera quality is adequate, with the expected fuzziness in low-light and indoor situations, but you're probably not buying this tablet for the camera anyway.

Under the hood, the Optik features a speedy 1.2 GHz processor, and 1GB of RAM, as well as 16GB of internal storage. The Optik also features a recessed SD card slot for adding more storage.

Using the Optik is fairly smooth, although there can be a slight lag when clicking icons or swiping over to another screen. The overall experience is good, and the Optik would make a great choice for someone looking for a tablet mostly for email and moderate web surfing.

Unlike the other guys, Sprint chooses to leave the Android interface alone for the most part. There are a few lightly-customized icons here and there, but Optik is almost pure Gingerbread. They added a few custom apps, including Sprint TV and Music Plus, but Sprint thankfully goes light on the bloatware.

The Optik connects to Sprint's 3G network, so if 4G LTE support is on your wish-list, the Optik isn't for you. But at less than a hundred bucks with a two-year data plan commitment, the Optik is an attractive device for light tablet users. And if you're often using the tablet on Wi-Fi networks anyway, the slower 3G connection isn't a problem.

Speaking of Wi-Fi, the Optik was a bit finicky when connecting to my network, although once it connected, the Wi-Fi performance is solid. That said, onboard Wi-Fi is only 802.11 b/g, so you won't be able to take advantage of faster 802.11 n networks.

Indoors the screen is plenty bright, although it washes out in even indirect sunlight. That said, text is crisp and easy to read.

The Optik is powered by a non-removable 4000 mAh lithium-ion rechargeable battery, which is plenty for moderate daily usage. Charging and syncing comes via the included proprietary USB cable. Keep a close eye on that cable, because replacements run $20 at Sprint's online store.

If you're looking for a light-duty tablet, the Optik fits the bill. It's affordable, but lacks many of the bells and whistles of fuller-featured, higher-priced tablets.

ZTE Optik

Size: 7.6 x 4.7 x .5 inches (H x W x D)
Weight: 14.1 ounces
Telecom provider: Sprint
Price: $99.99 with two-year plan
www.sprint.com

Ray Aguilera is the Technology Editor of TabTimes, and is based in San Francisco.

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Sprint blasts ahead with $99.99 Android-based ZTE Optik tablet

Topics: Android Tablets Sprint ZTE

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Google might tap Samsung for low-priced Nexus tablet

David Needle — Tue, 15 May 2012 16:25:38 -0400

It now seems a foregone conclusion that Google will shakeup up the tablet landscape by releasing a low cost branded Android device.

But a few key questions remain including when the device will ship, price and specs.

Officially Google hasn’t confirmed rumors it plans to unveil a low-cost ($199 or perhaps even lower) 7-inch tablet in the next few months. But a number of reports based on supply chain partners and other sources indicate the search giant plans to do just that.

Google CEO Larry Page hinted as much in an earnings call with analysts last month when he was asked about the market for Android tablets.

“We believe there will be a lot of success at the lower end,” said Page. “It’s definitely an area we think is important and we’re very focused on it.”

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal reported today that its sources claim Google plans to sell Nexus-branded smartphones and tablets from as many five different suppliers. The new devices will run on new software, Android 5.0, due out later this year, and Google's goal is to have them available for sale by this November.

If Google does go after the low end it will be competing more directly with the likes of the Amazon Kindle Fire ($199) than Apple’s market-leading iPad. As it did with the original Nexus phone, Google would also be giving other Android tablet makers a cutting edge model of where it would like to see the platform develop. The Kindle Fire uses its own variant of Android and directs users to its Amazon's own online story for apps and products rather than Google’s Play

Several stories today picked up on code leaks reported by developers that suggest Google’s tablet manufacturing partner will be Samsung which already makes Google’s Nexus S smartphone. That device is available from Verizon Wireless and Sprint, but also directly from Google online without a contract. Google’s expected to offer its tablet at its Google Play store online along with other company’s tablets.

Earlier reports had Google rebranding a version of the Asus Transformer. There’s also been speculation the company might use Motorola Mobility which it bought last year for $12.5 billion though there are still some regulatory hurdles to clear before that deal is complete.

The price is right?

Analyst Roger Kay says Samsung might be the best of all potential hardware partners for Google to team up with. “Samsung’s done pretty good on quality, they’ve become like the Sony of Korea,” said Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates.

As for price, he thinks Amazon has established the $199 price point with consumers so firmly that it would be very risky for Google to come out with a 7-inch tablet priced any higher.

However, Kay thinks Google also risks alienating other tablet vendors it depends by making its tablet too attractive. “This is where I think Google doesn’t understand the dangers of competing with partners,” says Kay. “You don’t just throw meat ahead of the pack and expect everyone to follow you.” (EDITOR's NOTE: If the Wall Street Journal story noted above is true, Google plans to take a new tack with this release by partnering with five different manufacturers to offer Nexus smartphones and tablets).

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Topics: Tablet manufacturers Android

Google might tap Samsung for low-priced Nexus tablet appeared on TabTimes on Tue, 15 May 2012 16:25:38 -0400. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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