Surfacing: Can Microsoft Get Above Water in the Tablet Storm?

By Jason Hiner @TechRepublic

Surface Pro preview: Triple-play UI is its best innovation

Takeaway: As a hybrid tablet/laptop, Microsoft Surface Pro makes a bold pitch to reinvent the portable PC, but a few big caveats get in the way. Read TechRepublic’s product preview.

 

Photo credit: Microsoft

Over the past six months I’ve asked a lot of IT professionals, business folks, and technophiles what they think about Microsoft Surface. I asked them whether it could be the kind of work tablet they’d want to use, and whether they expect it to be more friendly to business and IT than the Apple iPad and Android tablets. The responses have been surprisingly optimistic. Very few people have been dismissive of Surface, even though it’s fighting from behind in the tablet race.

As I dug deeper with the people who were excited about the Surface, I quickly realized that most of them had very little interest in Surface RT — the less expensive, ARM-based version of Surface that can’t run traditional Windows apps. By far, the most interest — especially from IT pros and techies — was focused on Surface Pro, the Microsoft tablet running a full version of Windows 8 on an Intel processor.

As a result, I’ve been looking forward to taking one for a spin and reporting to the TechRepublic crowd on how it performs. With Surface Pro officially launching on Friday, I can report that I’ve been trying out a Surface Pro and I can share some of my early observations and conclusions.

As a frame of reference, I’ve also been using the Surface RT since its launch in October and I’ve been regularly using the Nexus 7, iPad, and iPad Mini in recent months. In the past I’ve been pretty skeptical about the usefulness of tablets for general computing. I think tablets have their place for specific tasks and functions and as companion devices, but I think most knowledge workers find that using a tablet as their primary system involves too many compromises.

Of course, Microsoft set out to change that with the Surface. Just in case you get distracted and don’t finish reading this post then I’ll give you my two quick takeaways on the Surface Pro: It feels like a much more complete version of Surface RT and I can say without hesitation that Surface Pro is capable of doing more than other tablet on the market.

Does that mean I’m ready to make Surface Pro my next laptop, or that I would recommend it as a viable PC alternative for business professionals? Not quite yet.

How’s the overall user experience?

I’m not going to get into all of the specs for the Surface Pro or compare its details to the Surface RT or the latest iPad. We’ll do all of that in the full review on ZDNet next week. Suffice it to say, the Surface Pro is far more powerful than its RT brother, and the iPad, and virtually all Android tablets. But, the tradeoff is an $899 base price and battery life that is much more like a laptop than a tablet. For now, let’s veer away from the numbers and feature lists and focus on user experience and how well this thing really works as a product.

The first thing I noticed as soon as I unboxed the Surface Pro is how thick and heavy it is (even thicker and heavier than the Surface RT). We’ve gotten pretty spoiled in this regard, especially by Apple and Samsung and what they’ve pulled off in slimming down their products. The weight and thickness of the Surface Pro is much closer to the 11-inch MacBook Air and most 11-inch Ultrabooks than to iPad and Android tablets. Otherwise, it looks and feels very sturdy and has the premium finish of a high-end product.

Both the Touch Cover and the Type Cover that I already had for the Surface RT snapped right into place and started working just as well on the Pro as they do on the RT. With the Surface Pro, I also tested Microsoft’sWedge Touch Mouse (right) since the Pro is a full-blown Windows 8 machine. I was glad I did. It’s a handy little mouse (I especially liked the one-finger touch scrolling) and like most Windows operating systems Windows 8 works best when you have quick access to a right-click button.

Once I logged into the Surface Pro with a Windows Live ID, I immediately got many of the settings, accounts, and files that I had already set up on Surface RT. The SkyDrive integration is the highlight of the services experience. It’s nearly as simple as Dropbox and has a lot more options.

Surface also attempts to do some social integration with Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and a few other services, but the experience is a mixed bag. There are some things that are nicely streamlined, like replying to Facebook comments and Twitter mentions from within the People Hub, but other things like the ways it mixes up social network streams and notifications is a bit awkward. I kept wanting to just see my raw Facebook and Twitter feeds (displayed in Windows 8’s minimalist text style), but couldn’t find an easy way to do that and so I gave up.

Once you dig in to do some work, that’s where Surface Pro really shines. There are native Windows 8 Metro apps for Evernote and Dropbox — two of the most popular consumer apps that business professionals love — and you have the whole library of standard Windows apps to draw from and install in Desktop Mode.

Metro apps are very visual and highly usable and I wish there were a lot more of them. If there were, I think it would make the Surface a much more attractive option for average workers. The ability to work with the large catalog of traditional Windows software helps soften the blow, but hardly any of that stuff works well in a multitouch interface. For that reason, I found myself relying pretty heavily on the Type Cover keyboard and the Wedge Touch Mouse for most of the time that I was using the Surface Pro.

That said, one of the most pleasant surprises was how effective it felt to move between the Type Cover/Wedge Mouse and the multitouch screen. There are some things that are faster and more effective with touch — like scrolling to a specific part of a page or flipping through images — and there are some things that are more efficient with keyboard and mouse — like long typing and right-clicking for options — and the Surface Pro was the first device that gave me the feeling that the future of business productivity will likely include both.

The digital pen for the Surface Pro also works beautifully. It’s the most accurate and precise digital pen that I’ve used. It can draw really thin lines and it draws on the screen precisely where it’s supposed to. I’ve never been a huge fan of pen computing, but this one gave me a sense that I could use this to annotate some stuff and do virtual whiteboarding that could actually be useful as part of my daily work.

That was my biggest lightbulb moment with the Surface — seeing how it combines a traditional mouse and keyboard experience with multitouch and pen computing in a way that works naturally and integrates the value of all three.

I have other thoughts and observations but I’ll sum up them up into a list of the kudos, caveats, and needs. Then, I’ll sum up my initial analysis about the Surface Pro.

 

Photo credit: Microsoft

Kudos

• Threads the needle between touch, keyboard/mouse, and pen computing
• Metro interface enhances usability and Metro apps continue to multiply
• Desktop Mode offers full Windows 8 and its traditional app ecosystem
• Type Cover, Wedge Touch Mouse, and the included digital pen are excellent accessories

Caveats

• It’s a hybrid that doesn’t stand out as a tablet or laptop
• Battery life is half of most tablets
• Won’t sit in a lap
• Not very useful in portrait mode
• Microsoft Office is installed, but costs extra

Needs

• A tiltable screen that can sit in multiple positions
• A desktop and laptop docking solution
• Digital pen should store in the casing
• Integrated wireless broadband should be an option

 

Photo credit: Microsoft

Analysis

Surface Pro flirts with greatness, but its caveats could become show-stoppers for a lot of users.

The product brilliantly weaves mouse and keyboard with multitouch and pen computing in ways that feel very effective and useful. When you compare it to other tablets, there’s simply a lot more you can do with Surface Pro because of its triple-play interface and its ability to run the full version of Windows 8 in desktop mode.

The problem with Surface Pro is that it’s trying to bridge the gap between two products, a laptop and tablet, and it doesn’t quite stand out enough at either function. It’s lacking a little bit as a tablet and it’s lacking a little bit as laptop, so you have to make too many compromises on both sides.

What makes tablets like the iPad and its top competitors useful is their ease-of-use, portability, battery life, and big catalog of third party tablet apps. Surface Pro fails most of those criteria. Its dual personalities of Metro and Desktop Mode are powerful but complicated. It’s nearly as heavy as three iPads. Its 4-5 hour battery life means it won’t ever make it through a full day without a charge. And, while Surface Pro has all of the native Windows apps, it doesn’t have many touch-friendly tablet apps. Even if the Windows 8 tablet platform becomes a developer favorite, it will likely take a couple years to get a critical mass of productive tablet apps.

So, what about thinking of the Surface Pro as more of a laptop replacement? After all, under-the-hood it’s more like a MacBook Air or an Ultrabook than a tablet. That’s how I spent most of my time with the Surface Pro thinking about it. However, from that perspective, it’s a laptop that won’t sit in your lap properly (the kickstand tips over). The trackpad on the Type Cover is nice for a tablet but doesn’t match the spacious trackpads on the MacBook Air or the best Ultrabooks. And, even some Ultrabooks now offer mobile broadband and much longer battery life than the 4-5 hours you get with Surface Pro.

I can’t help thinking that if you want most of the benefits of the triple-play UI and full Windows 8 in Surface Pro then you’d be better off with a product like the Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2, which has 10 hours of battery life, mobile broadband, an integrated pen, and laptop and desktop docks. The hardware isn’t quite as polished, the screen isn’t quite as impressive, and the accessories aren’t quite as slick, but it starts at $679 and overcomes several of the Surface Pro’s shortcomings.

The Surface Pro is one of the most ambitious products I’ve reviewed. It’s trying to do a lot — ultimately, a little bit too much. But, even if it doesn’t sell well, I expect that Surface Pro is going to be remembered as the product that showed us how keyboard/mouse, multitouch, and pen computing can work together in smart and useful ways. And, either Microsoft will fill the gaps in version 2.0 or other products will run with the triple-play UI.

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About Jason Hiner

Jason Hiner is the Editor in Chief of TechRepublic. He writes about the products, people, and ideas that are revolutionizing business with technology.

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Double Your Twitter, Double Your Customer Satisfaction

“Sorry, I was sending a tweet”

One of the funniest scenes in the recent Seth McFarlane movie Ted is when the titular ursine character crashes his car and then offers this feeble apology to his victim.  This incident reflects the ubiquity of Twitter everywhere from business, to politics, to running.

My SMB Matters colleague Richard Lee recently mused about the US Postal Service’s poor customer relationship management practices.  In contrast, I’d like to share an episode that illustrates exemplary customer service, enabled in large part through Twitter.

Take the Good, Take the Bad
I’ve mused before about the consulting profession, wherein the unparalleled intellectual opportunities, exposure to diverse organizations, and network building co-exist with the challenges of a peripatetic lifestyle.  As I’d noted at Built in Chicago, there are a host of products to help manage these issues, but at the end of the day they can still be taxing.

It goes with saying that the hotel stay is a central element of the consulting lifestyle.  On the recommendations of a few colleagues, I recently stayed at a DoubleTree.  The burnt cod and limp, flavorless asparagus I had for dinner at the hotel restaurant one evening left much to be desired.  My dissatisfaction was compounded by two other factors that greatly reduced my productivity:

1. Dysfunctional wireless service that made the days of dial-up seem like science fiction
2. Disinterested waiters whose turnaround time would frustrate even Rip Van Winkle

Inspired by Dave Carroll’s now-classic video diatribe against United Airlines, I took to social media to voice my discontent, firing off this angry tweet:

Don’t know what’s slower at this DoubleTree – the disinterested service staff or the poky wifi #Hotels #FirstWorldProblem

— Nikhil Torsekar (@torsekar) January 15, 2013

Barking up the Right Tree
While I’d previously used Twitter for a variety of purposes, customer service hadn’t been on the menu.  DoubleTree definitely changed my viewpoint that evening.  They quickly responded to my tweet, sent me an email, called me, and made every effort to rectify the situation.  The pièce de resistance was an assortment of wine and cheese waiting for me that evening in my hotel room, along with a handwritten letter of apology.  A cursory glance at their Twitter feed reveals that it is standard operating procedure for DoubleTree to keep close tabs on all customer feedback (positive and negative) and respond quickly.

Obviously, for a hotel with so many locations, (along with the fact that there are many travelers with axes to grind and Twitter accounts), there is a high degree of automation to the process.  Nonetheless, the human followup was excellent, and a nice contrast to the disinterested “yeah, not our problem” responses I’d previously received from the front desk.

Not a Game Changer, But…
Between the two hotels I’d recently stayed at, I definitely preferred the Marriott to the DoubleTree – mainly because of the high number of Marriott Rewards points I’ve socked away over the years.  However, the highly responsive, proactive behavior of the DoubleTree increased my satisfaction with the chain.  As such, I made sure to sing their praises the next day via Twitter.

Having witnessed the perils of TWD (Tweeting While Driving) that befell Ted, I also made sure to put my car in “Park” first.

It’s 2013 and I’m just finding out about the Xbox Smartglass!

The Xbox Smartglass app is an enhanced technology that allows your android or apple device to communicate with your Xbox 360! “How does this work?” You might ask. The answer is simple. Your devices and tablets can communicate with each other, so why not with your gaming console? The technology works whether you’re at home or another location and with any system just sign in.

As I’ve previously said, the Xbox Smartglass app and your tablet, as long as it runs on androids operating system, or your iDevice it will automatically connect once you’ve signed into your Xbox live profile and opened the app. From there you can control your Xbox and do things like stream videos from the web, play a DVD, or start your game. However from that point you will need to connect your controller. You can use your keyboard on your tablet or iDevice instead of opening up the not so sufficient and slow keyboard method that your Xbox 360 offers.

Being able to type a message and even search the web from your tablet to your console is a simple and pretty cool feature. With Xbox Smartglass I’ve noticed that it memorizes what games or apps I play most on my console. It has even memorized movies that I’ve viewed from watching previews and performing searches. It keeps up with your achievements and awards. I thought that the Smartglass app was especially needed seeing how often I game, use Netflix, search the web, and chat with friends. Another cool feature is the ability to change and edit your profile and avatar. You can multitask and still access your friends list to see what they’re playing or watching.

I can’t see a reason not to download this app onto your device right now and get connected without a controller and the difficulties of typing from your own keyboard. So go and download the app and explore all it has to offer!

Leap Motion is set for take off!

Sometime early this year, Apple will be releasing a new wireless device that has been compared to Microsoft’s Kinect. This new device or technology is called the Leap Motion Controller/ Sensor. This device acts as a wireless controller for your computer, whether you have a Mac or a PC this device is compatible and lets you scroll, pinch, click and grab using only your hands!

 

The use of Leap Motion will electrify you and you’ll get a totally different feel for your computer, job, and gaming console. Yes, I just said gaming console, but for now, let’s stay on the path discussing how this technology works. Leap Motion brings together the works of touch free, 3D motion sensing and motion control, sounds a lot like the kinect right? Well with this technology being about the size of an iPod will give you a whole new look on computing, LEDs, and sensors. The way it works is you just simply plug it into your computer like a USB, install the software and wave your hand to begin.

Besides the technology impacting the world of gaming, it will also bring endless possibilities to healthcare, engineering, and art. We’ll find out next time just how much of an innovation Leap Motion really is!

Clash Of The Titans: The Battle Over Skydrive On iOS

by BruceB.

 

Microsoft Battles Apple’s IOS

Microsoft is embroiled in a conflict with Apple that is part of a bigger story. Today I’ll tell you about the details of the standoff over whether Microsoft will be allowed to keep giving away a Skydrive app for iPhones and iPads. In the next article, I’ll give you the bigger picture, which will help you understand some of the battles to come – and perhaps help you make decisions about what devices you buy.

Today’s flap is about whether Microsoft will be able to update an app for iPhones and iPads that provides access to files and pictures stored in Skydrive.

BACKGROUND

Skydrive is Microsoft’s cloud service for storing files and pictures online and syncing them to your computers and other devices. If you’re not familiar with Skydrive, take a look at this article for some background.

Signing up for Skydrive is free – 2Gb of space is available to anyone with a free Microsoft account. If you want more space, you can sign up for additional space for a modest subscription fee.

Most people will use Skydrive by installing a small program on a computer or phone or tablet. On computers, it creates a special Skydrive folder that is synced with the online storage and any other computers connected to the same account.

On a phone or tablet, a Skydrive app displays everything in the Skydrive folders and allows them to be reviewed or downloaded. I have access to all my client files on my Windows Phone 8 device and my Microsoft Surface tablet, in addition to my laptop and desktop computer.

The Skydrive apps for phones and tablets have other features unique to those devices. For example, you can have your phone automatically upload all the pictures you take to your Skydrive folders, where they can immediately be viewed on your computer or tablet.

Microsoft has been continuously improving Skydrive for the last few months. It is built deeply into Windows 8 (all sizes – computer, tablet, phone) and it will take center stage in January when Office 2013 is released and Skydrive becomes the default location for saving files. Developers have been given tools to create programs that integrate with Skydrive in interesting ways. Skydrive fits the new age of mobile devices, meeting your expectation that you will be connected to your stuff everywhere – every computer, every device.

There are competitors to Skydrive which have their own strong points. Dropbox continues to be a compelling, secure service for file syncing and sharing, with good cross-platform support, for example. But Microsoft’s plans to integrate Skydrive with everything are well under way. If you’re a Windows user and you’re not already committed to Dropbox or SugarSync or one of the others, you should be using Skydrive.

THE DISPUTE WITH APPLE

There is a Skydrive app for iPhones and iPads in the iOS App Store. Microsoft has an update ready that will fix bugs and add some new features. Apple won’t approve the update.

Apple wants money.

See that reference above to a subscription fee? A few months ago, Microsoft gave users the ability to buy more online storage space for an annual fee. You can sign up from the Skydrive web site.

Apple’s position is that it must be paid 30% of all money collected from a user who signs up for extra space, if they have the Skydrive app installed on an iOS device.

Forever.

Even if the purchase is not done through the iOS app. Microsoft offered to take out every vestige of a purchase mechanism from the app. Apple said it didn’t make any difference.

Even if the app is immediately uninstalled. Apple says it has a right to 30% of the revenue from that user’s subscription forever.

Even if the user stops using an iPhone and switches to an Android phone or Windows phone. Apple wants its cut forever.

What’s more, at the moment, Apple is blocking apps from third-party developers who integrate with Skydrive in any way, because Apple must get a cut from anything that touches money even indirectly. You can’t get an iOS app to play music stored in your Skydrive folders because Apple isn’t getting a cut of Microsoft’s Skydrive revenue.

Apple’s position is that it must be given 30% of the revenue from a product which roams across multiple platforms – lifetime fees for a subscription which was not purchased through the Apple store and which is not directly related to use of the service on an Apple device and indeed which might never be used on an Apple device.

The story was broken by The Next Web a few days ago, and has been confirmed by Microsoft.

It is extortion by Apple, driven by greed and its desire to keep Microsoft away from iOS devices – a bit ironic, since Microsoft has arguably done as much as any third party to keep Apple’s computer business alive. Microsoft Office has long been one of the most popular third-party programs for Macs. Microsoft even invested $150 million in Apple when the company needed a boost to survive at the end of the nineties.

That’s old history, though. Apple is ascendant today in phones and tablets and aims to stay that way.

The companies will negotiate and eventually it will be resolved. We may never know what they decide. When the giants fight, the little people don’t always get to know the details. You can and should use Skydrive while they work it out.

There is a bigger issue behind this fight, though – specifically for Microsoft and Apple, as well as many more fights to come as Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon jockey for position in the new world of mobile technology. I’ll step back and give you a broader view in the next article.

Making Mobile Apps Accessible For SMBs

Mobile Software Development Community Meeting (Photo credit: Michael Kappel)

APPs For SMBs

Summary: More frequently, the first impression that a small business might make on a potential customer is via a smartphone or tablet.

By Heather Clancy for Small Business Matters

My post yesterday about FileMaker Pro got me thinking about an item I wrote back in April called “14 Do It Yourself mobile application development platforms“ (especially since many of you keep reading it).

In that spirit, here are four more offerings that have come to my attention since I pulled together that article. I am only focusing on development environments or services that a small-business owner should be able to use herself or himself.

Sorry to those of you that are pitching full-blown toolkits for creating commercial mobile apps, but that just isn’t the focus of this blog.

Application Craft - The company’s development environment uses a drag-and-drop interface for assembling features and touts one-click application deployment on platforms including Apple iOS, Android and, actually, Facebook. It uses HTML widgets for geo-targeting, analytics, and social media sharing. The company’s free version supports creation of up to 10 apps (but you have to run the company’s ads in them when you distribute them). The paid service starts at $45 per month or $450 per year for unlimited applications.

App Press - Founded in 2010, the company behind this cloud platform for Android and Apple iOS apps created it with graphic designers and creative agencies in mind and it shows. A small business can rely heavily on existing content to create highly visual mobile applications. The App Press service offers an instant preview feature so progress can be reviewed along the way. A basic version of the service starts at $30 per month.

Mobile Roadie - The first thing you’ll probably notice when you visit this site is that the company touts high-profile celebrities as some of its customers. That said, it serves plenty of small businesses looking to create a native mobile presence, according to the company’s CEO Michael Schneider. “Consumers aren’t really consuming the information that small businesses are putting out online in the same way that they were in the past,” he said.  You can use the platform to create a mobile version of your web site for free; the service starts at $99 per month for creating native iPhone or Android smartphone apps.

MobileAppLoader - This platform offers templates for all sorts of small businesses to use in their mobile app development — that includes everyone car dealerships to contractors to automotive services companies to hair salons. Its claim to fame is “app in a snap,” which lets a small business get an application created and published fairly quickly. There’s a set-up fee (generally $99.99) and then you pay fees starting at $9.99 per month, depending on whether you’re publishing for Apple iOS, Android, iPad or all of these.

For two more resources about mobile apps development:

14 DIY mobile app development resources for small businesses

Filemaker seeks credibility as mobile apps development platform

Topics: SMBs, Mobility

About Heather Clancy

Heather Clancy is an award-winning business journalist with a passion for green technology and corporate sustainability issues.

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And Now For Something Completely Different – Windows 8…

Windows 8 Is Completely Different From Windows 7!

Courtesy of BruceB Consulting

On October 25, Microsoft will formally unveil Windows 8, followed closely by a separate presentation of Windows Phone 8 on October 29. Windows 8 computers, notebooks, tablets and hybrid devices will go on sale on October 26, and Windows Phone 8 phones will go on sale through all carriers in early November.

Taken together, the releases represent the most significant change in business and consumer technology since Windows XP arrived eleven years ago. Apple’s mobile devices have changed the world for consumers but Microsoft’s vision is broader and might even have a greater impact in the long run.

Microsoft is engaged in remaking itself on a scale that is rarely attempted by large companies. If it succeeds it will maintain its place on a playing field that increasingly appeared to be limited to Apple and Google and perhaps Amazon. We will be using computers running Windows for many years but the shift to handheld devices is profound and Microsoft was in danger of being left out of it. This is the bet-the-company attempt to avoid turning into IBM, successful and rich but no longer important to anyone outside of enterprises. (And make no mistake – Microsoft’s attempt at a makeover might fail, brought down by poor execution and torrential criticism, and send it down that road, not irrelevant but increasingly ignored.)

Over the next few weeks I will be writing extensively about Windows 8. I’ve been using it exclusively on my computers for months and I have some ideas of what it will take for you to understand it, how I can help make it easier for you to get started, and who should ignore it and stick with Windows 7. I’ll have tips and tricks for you to file away for the day when you get your first Windows 8 computer. I’ll give you some advice about whether to upgrade your computer. I’ll give you some perspective on why you’ll see so many reports by people who just hate it with a white-hot fury. (Or so they’ll say. There might be some other agendas at work.)

Over the next few days we’ll start with a view of Windows 8 from 36,000 feet, the very big picture.

There will be two articles aimed specifically at people using computers in very small businesses: one demonstrating that Windows 8 is exactly the same as Windows 7, the other showing that Windows 8 is completely different than Windows 7. Both articles will be right.

---

Let’s see if I can answer your first question before we get to any of the details.

Should you buy Windows 8 the minute it comes out?

No.

Okay, is that clear? Stand down. Nobody should be getting worked up blindly. This is a time for paying attention. By the time it arrives, you’ll know if you’re the kind of person who is excited enough to step up right away.

Now let’s look at the nuances, because I said “no” mostly to make you feel better. Actually it’s possible that some of you should be lined up outside the (virtual) stores on October 26.

Computers

When you buy a computer after October 26, you will likely have a choice between Windows 8 and Windows 7. Some (but not all) of you should choose Windows 8. Many businesses, especially enterprises, will choose Windows 7 for continuity and compatibility. A fair number of people will skip Windows 8 completely. In any case, most desktop computer users will use Windows 8 in a way that emphasizes its similarity to Windows 7.

Notebooks

There will be dozens of new notebooks and hybrids on the market in November with new features – redesigned keyboards and touchscreens and innovative form factors. If you’re in the market for a notebook, wait until November.

There are compelling improvements in Windows 8 for notebooks – some of you may want to replace an existing notebook sooner rather than later to take advantage of Windows 8 as well as the hardware changes that have made notebooks lighter, thinner and faster with longer battery life.

Nonetheless, just as with desktops, many people will want Windows 7 on their new notebooks for familiarity.

Tablets

Microsoft will be selling the Surface tablet, similar in size and concept to an iPad. Lenovo and other manufacturers will have similar tablets – ten inch screens, light, long battery life.

The Windows 8 tablets deserve special attention! They are designed for touch, just like an iPad, but almost all of them will include a lightweight keyboard, making them better suited for doing real work. All of the Windows 8 tablets will have a desktop that resembles the Windows 7 desktop slightly modified for touch, and they will either include Microsoft Office or they will be capable of running Office programs.

Phones

Windows Phone 8 phones will be available from all the carriers starting in November. They will have the same interface as Windows 8 on computers and tablets, an interface that works particularly well on a small device.

If you get a Windows 8 tablet or phone, you will be much more interested in getting a Windows 8 desktop or notebook, because your experience will flow from one to the other seamlessly. The interface, your documents, your Internet favorites, your wallpaper and so much more will be the same on all your devices. Microsoft is creating a walled garden to rival Apple and Google and your experience will be better if you stay within the garden.

Technology is arriving at a dizzying pace. You’re feeling overwhelmed. Clear your mind, take a few deep breaths, and follow along with me as we start down the road that leads to Windows 8. You’ll arrive relaxed and in a better position to make some informed decisions about how it affects you.

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Enterprise Tech’s Latest Buzz…

SDN? OMG!

From The Business Insider, Julie Bort

Software-defined networking, or SDN, is a new technology that has the hardware industry in a tizzy. But what exactly is it? To answer that, we talked to networking veteran Arpit Joshipura, Dell’s vice president of marketing for its networking business.  He shared the graphic below.

Networking hardware is a $37 billion market, and everyone from Cisco and Lucent to Dell and HP and even software players like Oracle andVMware are angling for a piece of it.

Software-defined networking could seriously upend the way networking hardware is bought and sold, favoring cheaper, simpler boxes running more sophisticated software.

Its arrival has already lead to some big acquisitions including the $1.26 billion purchase of 100-person startup Nicira by VMware in July, and Oracle’s acquisition of Xsigo.

With SDN, some challengers see the potential to topple Cisco. But Cisco, which is making its own investments in SDN, could seize it as a big opportunity. HP and Dell could grow their networking business, too, if they create new products to cater to it.

SDN will certainly fuel a whole new crop of startups includingBig Switch Networks, Midokura, Embrane, Contrail Systems, and others.

Point is, it’s all up for grabs.

Take a look at this graphic. That spot on the right, circled in red, is what all the fuss is about.

You’ve got hardware on the left. That’s the traditional way of thinking about putting a network together.

The new way, powered by software-defined networking, is on the right. SDN lets you stop worrying about the hardware and focus on the services that run across your network. It lets networks be more flexible.

A network’s job is to send data from one point to another. Say you want to view a video posted on the Web. That data has to get from the server hosting the video to your computer. All along the way, it hits various pieces of networking hardware running networking software.

In addition to simply transmitting the data, network equipment also controls its flow. It chooses the fastest or cheapest route, prioritizes some kinds of data (voice or video) over others (email), and keeps it all secure.

SDN inserts a new layer of software in between the hardware dealing with data, and the software that controls it.

This layer tricks applications into thinking they’ve got the network to themselves when they are reallying sharing it with lots of other applications. It lets more servers use the network, saving companies money. More importantly, it will also let companies information-technology departments move pieces of the network around as they need them.

“The physical network is decoupled from the control plane, so IT can write apps on their own and can give you much faster service,” explains Joshipura.

For instance, let’s say your board of directors decides to meet in a conference room that isn’t set up for videoconferencing. With SDN, IT can, in a heartbeat, add more capacity to accommodate that new usage scenario.

That’s very different than how the network works today where someone has to physically install switches and configure them.

So SDN is a good thing. The question is who’s going to make the most money off of it.

Don’t miss: The 10 Most Disruptive Enterprise Tech Companies

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Revenge of the SMBs – How Small Businesses Can Turn the Tables on Showrooming

Summary: Brick and mortar stores were leapfrogged by Internet retailers in the dot-com era. Now it’s their turn to leapfrog their e-commerce rivals.

By Eric Lai – Republished from UberMobile

 

 Traditional retailing, at least in the U.S., is in a funk. Of the 100 largest U.S.-based retailers according to STORES magazine, only 17 are growing in the double digits. Fast risers are either growing overseas or are in hot categories like mobile phones (Verizon Wireless and AT&T) or discount goods (Dollar General).

You could blame this on the uncertain U.S. economy. But I put equal blame on the mainstreaming of e-commerce. Everyone I know who is my age or younger buys a ton online. There are sexy category specialists – Newegg, Gilt Groupe, Groupon and Zappos – but Amazon.com gets the lion’s share of their dollars.

Fittingly, Amazon.com is the fastest riser on STORES’ list (42.5% year-on-year growth). Ranked 15th, Amazon.com already sells more than Safeway, Sears and Macy’s. It is the poster child of how to win in e-commerce: low prices, speedy shipping and personalized offers that leverage its rich data on customers. Add a fourth factor: the hot trend of consumers “showrooming” goods at a brick-and-mortar store while checking online prices via a smartphone, from whom they will presumably eventually buy.

How can retailers fight back? I don’t think it’s through expensive attempts to amp up the EQ (Entertainment Quotient) of their stores. It doesn’t fly with time-pressed moms, who control the majority of household budgets.

Nor is the solution to further streamline their supply chain in order to compete with Amazon.com and its ilk on price. Most of the retailers around today survived the initial dot-com onslaught by deploying ERP software and successfully adopting lean and Just-In-Time techniques to cut costs.

In other words, they’ve done a good job of playing defense. Now, it’s time to play a little offense – use technology to enhance customer service, boost sales and, rather than lamenting sales lost through “Showrooming,” take advantage of it.

Mobile Point of Service

On customer service, retailers are arming their floor salespeople with smartphones and tablets and apps that allow them to reprice items, check inventory for customers and speeding transactions by conducting them where-ever they are in the store.

Large retailers doing this include Lowe’s, which has given iPhones to all 42,000 employees, Sear’s, J.C. Penney, Costco, Sam’s Club, Nordstrom, Apple, Urban Outfitters and Sephora, the 1,300-store cosmetics chain.

Sephora is using the Mobile Point of Sale app for iOS developed by SAP and partner, Agilysys. Check it out at the SAP Retail Forum North America in Dallas this week.

 

 

 

Precision Retailing

Good customer service is not just providing information on demand and accelerating purchases. It’s also about anticipating consumer wants, and delivering them personalized discounts and offers not just in real-time, but at the right time.

If it sounds like I’m going to talk about marrying Big Data and mobile, you’re right. This is taking customer data from every channel, from Web to POS, and applying predictive analytics to it, so that you can augment the in-store shopping experience with mobile coupons and reminders that are relevant and not spammy.

“Instead of old-school loyalty programs with their points and reward schemes, you want to give consumers real, meaningful relevant information based on what they’re looking for,” said Colin Haig, the retail industry principal for SAP.

In other words, the exact opposite of that scene in Minority Report where Tom Cruise is bombarded with ads as he runs through the shopping mall.

That puts the Precision in Precision Retailing.

Rather than describe how this would play out real life, I’ll let this video do it so much better. Click on the image below or this link. Added bonus: there’s a rom-com storyline cuter than a Katherine Heigl movie and a box full of kittens:

SAP is showing off a Precision Retailing solution, which combines a mobile app with cloud-based analytics courtesy of SAP HANA on the back end. Retailers from L’Oreal, European grocer Groupe Casino and the Montreal Transit Agency are already using SAP Precision Retailing, said Haig.

Haig says that Precision Retailing’s ability to help shoppers build lists of recurring items (think kids’ clothes, batteries or toothpaste) and offer them discounts means that the solution today makes it perfect for grocery stores and other general stores (think Wal-Mart or Target).

But Precision Retailing can also help speciality stores, the kind that offer high-ticket items or are beset by showrooming customers. Here’s how. First, we must note that only 25% of shoppers who check competitor prices in a store actually end up buying the item online.

That means 75% of shoppers or more are potential net new customers for the store. And the amount of sales lost to showrooming can be reduced – through precision.

Imagine a consumer visiting a retailer’s Web site to check if a large-screen TV is in stock. That raises a red flag to a retailer that the consumer may be coming to a store soon to inspect that particular item. When he or she enters the store, the store’s app on the customer’s smartphone can immediately open and buzz, alerting him or her to a coupon that for that item or category of items that would match or beat competitors’ online prices.

Such tactics can win back the shoppers who came into a store fully intending to showroom, says Roland Gonzalez, senior directory for mobile industry marketing at SAP.

“Retailers have always been customer-centric. But now they are trying to be customer-intimate,” Gonzalez said.

Related Articles

• Turning the Retail ‘Showrooming Effect’ into a Value-add.
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• How retailers can use QR codes to prevent showrooming. 

SMB Tech Issues: BYOD, Anyone…?

BYOD Poster presentation at ISTE11 (Photo credit: micwalker84)

From ZDNet.

For some small and midsize businesses (SMBs), the cost of embracing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) may sometimes outweigh the benefits.

According to Drew Graham, director at IT services company eVantage Technology, there are significant overheads in implementing BYOD management policies and accommodating personal devices in the workplace, especially for SMBs with larger IT departments.

“On a cost-benefit ratio, it can be a pretty onerous consideration for SMBs,” Graham said. A key focus, for instance, should be on controling access to data rather than devices which is typically done in traditional policies, he added.

He pointed out SMBs can tap existing infrastructures available without having to go down the route large organizations take, which can be out of reach for the typical SMB budget. This includes the use of existing public key infrastructure, which can help control access to devices, he said.

Graham also underscored the importance of thinking from a functionality perspective, rather than an IT perspective, when developing policies for small businesses. “Once you figure out what the workflow demands, then you can start putting a policy in place,” he said.

He added it was also critical to consult users on these policies because “if they don’t like [the policy], they will just ignore it”.

ZDNet Video

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