Mobile Technology, the next enabler

Technology can be an enabler and there is no better example of that today than the space currently known as the "mobile" market.  Advances in mobile chip technology and availability of services have exploded recently and created a market that is simply ripe for change.  While mobile technology and services have flourished, adoption has dramatically lagged behind similar services offered on more traditional platforms.  A key part of this limitation in the US market has been the fact that development for mobile platforms and wireless services has been controlled by a very few companies with a level of proprietary knowledge and risk associated with entrance into the platform.  

To date there has been a lack of cohesion between mobile platforms acting as a traditional personal computer and mobile wireless devices designed to connect users to a wireless service.  Enterprise solutions to mobile needs have followed the same path, and thus have resulted in what we have today.  Development for these distinct areas has thus been somewhat disconnected and not collective.  On one side you have traditional development for mobile platforms sprouting as an off shoot of old fashioned client / server development and on the other you have the retooling of web developers into a new mobile web category.  

The managing of of these efforts in separate spaces, as most do, presents an interesting challenge for the enterprise.  Where business needs are in concert with mobile platforms talent is not often aligned with the effort.  The result is a product that is poorly received overall or not adopted as a service that enables the platform but rather the opposite.  With the introduction of crossover devices like the iPhone, integrating these groups in an enterprise will become more of a natural migration than it is today.

As we saw in the late 90's individual software achievements have the ability to change the world, but blending those talents into a business strategy is what gives the those ideas a place to grow (Steve Jobs Quote).  As mobile platforms begin to integrate, enterprise based approaches to managing technology and aligning it with new mobile business strategies will evolve, the choice we have is to choose that which is right for our needs.

-Robert Zullo

Enterprise Approach to iPhone Development

Apple has updated it's latest release of the iPhone SDK. With the fury at which the last release was downloaded this one is sure to be a hit. While the details of the upgrade are still sketchy and it would appear that Apple is dedicated to the market it has found for mobile development platforms.

As mentioned in the a recent article over on the iPhone Development Blog the reach that this product will give Apple into the enterprise could be big. I would argue that with regular updates and what is seemingly a caring / nurturing attitude from Apple this could be a revolution in the making for the industry yet again.

Many corporate I.T. departments will find development in this area hard to categorize and even tougher to fit in to a standard CMMI, Agile, RUP methodology. Over the next few months ZuCom will evaluate the impact this has had in the industry and look to develop strategies that partners and clients can use to help better cope with this next wave of innovation.

-ZuCom