Why Mobile Marketing is important for your business!

This Video is having some interesting statistic content on Mobile Marketing with Smartphones. The animation, music, and the style of presentation is awesome for the content. It explains about why mobile marketing and mobile websites are important for your business. 

Smartphone Security - An Essential Guide

Smartphone security from Muthu Kumar

UX – the strategy for successful mobile solutions

[caption id="attachment_804" align="aligncenter" width="432"] UX – the strategy for successful mobile solutions[/caption]

“Mobile is the new face of Engagement” says Ted Schadler and John McCarthy, in their White Paper on ‘How enterprise mobile systems are going to empower customers and employees with context-aware apps’.  They estimate, by 2016, Smartphones and tablets will put power in the pockets of a billion global consumers. I am seeing wide range of articles and discussions on Enterprise mobility management, Enterprise Content access and collaboration solutions, and also on mobilizing UCC (Unified Communications and Collaborations) with Mobile Office Development.

It clearly shows the extensive range of opportunities for Mobile solutions development, and numerous start-up companies already started to work on cutting edge technologies to provide solutions.

As a part of my strategist profession, I also do reviews of many beta versions of such solutions; and I found a surprising gap between the requirement and solutions. It is nothing but End-User-Experience. The majority of the Mobile solutions are developed to solve the functional requirements of a business cases, but unfortunately they are missing the User Experience part of it.

[caption id="attachment_805" align="aligncenter" width="700"] The User Experience wheel [Image Courtesy: Diego Lago][/caption]Well, what is User Experience? Wikipedia says “User experience highlights the experiential, affective, meaningful and valuable aspects of human-computer interaction and product ownership, but it also includes a person’s perceptions of the practical aspects such as utility, ease of use and efficiency of the system.”

Being a mentor to many mobile development teams, I strongly suggest developers to use basic standards of User Experience in their solutions. Most of developers do ‘Coding’- and they think that’s all their job is. In my cases, I involve the developers in UI design phase too. They should understand at least the basics of clickable parts of the app, the application navigation from the end-user point of view, searchable content design, styling the UI components and visual feedbacks. In one of the recent discussion with an android app development team, I explained how they can design apps with multi-device compatibility using UI factors – which is an important strategy to reach more users.

The best User Experience makes the application user friendly, and it improves the usage of the application compare to other similar apps for same purposes. The User Experience is a business strategy too for impressing many users.  The organizations should focus to train their developers on User Experience through their designers or though a design expert. This cross functional training will definitely help in improving quality standards of mobile solutions.

Well, share your thoughts friends.

Microsoft ASP.NET - Platform for Mobile WEB Apps

[caption id="attachment_794" align="aligncenter" width="432"] Microsoft ASP.NET - Platform for Mobile WEB Apps[/caption]

Mobile WEB Apps – the next big business word for Start-up Smallbiz communities. Well, everyone is talking about these web apps, accessible through mobile devices for quite long time – but how many Indian start-ups really made business out of it. There are few mini social networks and shopping sites showing good growth but very less in other areas for example: productivity, travel, etc.

Mobile Web App is not just porting the existing Web app into mobile device for flexible access. I see many products are not considering about benefit able UI for mobile device, performance issues, etc. When I discussed in forums, many companies accepted that they are using the same web development strategy for their mobile web apps development too.

Recently I met a small team of developers at Coimbatore. They are in .NET programming for past 3 years – pretty fresher community, and I discussed with them on best practices in mobile web apps development through ASP.NET / SQL Server as technical background.  They invested for a Windows Web Server hosting and their products are mostly on LBS + M-Commerce.

Microsoft ASP.net for Mobile is an excellent platform - you can download Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 Express or Microsoft Web Matrix for Development and start developing apps. Build you knowledge in HTML5, CSS3 and Javascript / Jquery for advance Mobile Web Forms Development and rest all with ASP.net & SQL server programming  [of course you have to do a little study on mobile web controls too]. I used Microsoft visual web developer 2010 express for my practices. MSDN support is always available and developer community meetings provide great help.

The UI and performance strategies should be improved and there, I am supporting the Smallbiz teams. They take care of development of a product and my job is to make it perfect for users. For more information on using Microsoft ASP.NET Mobile WEB development – send me an email and follow me on twitter.

Mobile Marketing – The Analysis for Strategy

[caption id="attachment_787" align="aligncenter" width="432"] Mobile Marketing - The Analysis for Strategy[/caption]

Couple of weeks before, I was invited by a team of well-known marketing management company in Coimbatore, for a discussion on Mobile marketing strategies. The mobile marketing is not a new buzz word anymore, because there are many business teams started to build success stories in metro markets.

We discussed about all available opportunities to reach the target crowd through mobile marketing – based on various constraints, and content styles. I suggested them a strategy which was cost effective – at the same time, can produce a measurable response. I would like to share some points; we came across in the discussion – to give an idea about how mobile marketing can help you in business marketing services.

The important understanding required about Mobile Marketing is ‘understanding the attitude’ of Mobile Users. We referred some study reports before finalizing the strategy, and we found some interesting facts. Almost 65% of smartphone owners are interested in receiving offers, deals in their phone. 15% of users are interested in upgrade plans, top-up discounts etc from their mobile operator. Nearly 50% of users are fine to receive mobile advertisements and offers from third parties [shopping, entertainment, education and life style].

The next question is – the advertisement should be in Mobile Internet or in Mobile Apps? You are right – Mobile Internet is the preferred choice for many users whereas SMS is still dominating the mobile marketing business, along with email, twitter DM etc.

My suggestion to mobile marketing professionals is understand the attitude before you build content. Plan the frequency of advertisement delivery and track the responses every time. Build different channels to track responses, it can be the number of replies, hit-rate of a website, number of purchases in e-commerce or even visitor count with token number from advertisement.

Let’s discuss more about this in coming days – meantime, share your points and questions with me.

Question: Why Indian Android Mobile devices are not popular compare to Samsung and HTC Android Devices?

There are Lava, Videocon, Karbonn and Micromax Android devices, less popular even in Indian cities. Everyone prefers Samsung and HTC. Why? Do we need more advertisements and promotion activities?

Best Indian Android Mobile Devices – a Study

[caption id="attachment_691" align="aligncenter" width="432" caption="Indian Android Device - Study"][/caption]

Android – the Mobile Operating System is surprisingly becoming more popular in India – not just because of its variety of applications availability, but also for the Hardware devices from Samsung, HTC and others. Many users prefer to use Samsung, LG and HTC – the stylish look and feel makes them decide.  On the downside of it – these devices are costly and not suitable for rough industry level implementations. What you need is a cost effective device, which is fine for rough usage and of course for custom developed application implementations.

Android OS based Indian devices are best choice for this standard.  I met a client last month for a business discussion on enterprise level mobile applications for manufacturing industries. The client was already having a software package for manufacturing industry MIS. The idea is to extend it to mobile devices so that the usage of Computers can be minimized and instead their clients can go for more Smartphones. The advantage of mobility, instant status reports and communication can be achieved. We worked on an analysis report based on the available suitable Indian android devices for this business idea – so that we can offer these devices with pre-installed configured apps for quick startup.

I am just sharing few points from our analysis – to show how Indian android devices are valuable, and why you can consider them for your next purchase.

• We reviewed 4 affordable mobile brands for our analysis – iball, Micromax, Karbonn, and Videocon


• Micromax is based in Gurgaon, Haryana, India. The mobile devices are in good quality. We reviewed 3 devices from this brand – A60, A70 and A85.


• A60 is with Android OS, v2.1 (Eclair), and the Processor is 600 MHz. J2ME apps are not performing well, but Android 2.1 Business apps are fine. Network [GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Bluetooth, WI-Fi, USB] connectivity is good. Display is fine for Business apps [240 x 320 pixels, 2.8 inches]


• A70 is an improved version with 320 x 480 pixels, 3.2 inches (~180 ppi pixel density) and Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo). The processor is again 600 MHz ARM. There is GPU [Graphics Processing Unit] with Adreno 200. This is a preferred device for business users and professional purposes.


• A85 was announced 2011, Q3 – with 480 x 800 pixels, 3.8 inches (~246 ppi pixel density) and Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo). It comes with Nvidia Tegra 2 AP20H Chipset and Dual-core 1 GHz Cortex-A9 Processor with ULP GeForce GPU. 8 GB internal storage is also available. This device is little costly compare to other devices in same range.


• Micromax A60 is around INR.4000, Micromax A70 is around INR.8000 and Micromax A85 is around INR.17000


• IBall - is a privately-held computer hardware company headquartered in Mumbai, India that develops and manufactures peripherals related to computer.


• We received and reviewed IBall ANDI – an Android 2.2 based Device with DUAL SIM capacity. It comes with a 416 MHz processor and network connectivity features are good. It is a slow device for business applications but good for common android users. The price is just – INR 6500.


• Karbonn Mobiles is a Telecommunication firm which was founded in March 2009. It is a joint venture Mobile manufacturing company between the Bangalore based United Telelinks Limited (A group of Telecom Major, United Telecoms Limited) and Noida based Jaina Marketing & Associates.


• Karbonn A1 was the suggested mobile device for our review. It is a 3G enabled device and comes with Android 2.2. The processor is 600 MHz and Screen Size is 2.8 inch (240 x 320 pixels) 256k TFT touch screen display. 150MB internal memory and expandable memory up to 32GB with MicroSD is provided. Karbonn new article says – there are more new phones to come in Android series. Karbonn A1 is around INR 7000. We also recommended this phone for business purposes.


• Videocon is a very popular company in India. Their Android Mobile devices – Zeus V7500 [Android 2.1] and V7400 [Android 2.1] are relatively costly compared to other all devices – Price around INR. 12000 each. The features are limited and we felt it is not for core business users.

Finally we recorded, Karbonn and Micromax are best phones – based on the reviews in multiple scenarios, and we suggested the same in our reports. Now, based on your experience – what is your opinion? Are you using any Indian Brand? How about your experience?

3 Quick tips to create secured Smartphone access

Are you using a Smartphone? Yes..? Oh Good. !! I am sure you are using your phone not just as a device to talk to your friends, send and receive messages – but also to store email messages, personal and office documents, presentations, audio, video files etc. When I discussed about their usage of smartphone devices, many friends accepted that they are using it as a mass storage device too – Just like a personal USB drive.

Security becomes an essential point, when your device is used as an information storage gadget. Smartphone device can be protected by using passwords / PINs.  Strong passwords are vital for maximum security. I propose these quick tips to create secured smartphone passwords / PINs.

1. Use folder security settings always. Nokia, Samsung devices are having inbuilt folder management tools with encryption options. Android devices, Windows Phones and Iphone devices are having operating system level file / folder security settings with encryption, and password protected.

2. Create passwords with combination Text and Numbers. Change your passwords often. Never keep text passwords related to you, your work or family member names. Secure your memory card, Bluetooth access with PIN password. This will be usually numbers only. Don’t use continues numbers, same numbers, birthdays / anniversary dates etc.

3. Create multiple profiles and use a profile with less information visibility while traveling. Create un-usual gestures, while using Android point based locking system or similar.

Share your tips to secured smartphone access – and follow me in twitter for more ideas.

3 essential security policies for Smartphone usage inside Office

Small Offices, Medium size organizations or Large corporate– the official Information should be secured, and managed to its maximum level through defined security policies.

The security policies should be a formal, brief, and high-level statement that embraces an organization’s general beliefs, goals, objectives, and acceptable procedures for a specified subject area. In our case, it is all about smartphone usage.

Define a mandatory require compliance, standards and guidelines, failure to comply results in disciplinary action for every policy division.

I advocate these 3 fundamental security policies for smartphone usage inside office.

Policy #1: Every Smartphone use should activate phone locking after a period of inactivity and use strong passwords or PINs for reactivation.

Policy #2: An Employee must connect from smartphone to the corporate network over secure VPN’s always.

Policy #3: An Employee must encrypt all corporate information stored on the phone using provided tools

I am sure; these policies can be a good start for security management in organizations. Share your comments and suggestions for more discussions.

Android Smartphone Security Management

If you are an Android smartphone user, I am sure you are aware of its security risks too. So, what steps you took to secure your device and information? Well, I would recommend the following Android app to increase the security management on your devices.

NetQin Mobile Security - designed to protect your devices against viruses and malware, while keeping your system running at optimum speed. It scans, detects and kills viruses with award-winning twin-engine (Cloud + Client) anti-virus scanning technology! Anti-lost runs with remote control-like functions, providing worldwide protection for financial losses and privacy leakage. 'Anti-lost' allows users to locate a lost phone, sound an alarm on it, and trace where exactly it is. Try it from here : http://www.netqin.com/en/antivirus/

I am using a Symbian S60 version for my Nokia E63. It is good.

How to create awareness on securing smart phones?

Smartphone is not just a next generation fancy device anymore. It is becoming an unavoidable gadget for most of the IT and non-IT employees. Just check around you – How many friends in your office are using Smartphone? Based on my experiences, I see almost 40% to 60% of IT staffs are using Smartphone. Yes, the non-IT industry is also having Smartphone impact – I see at-least 30% to 45% users.

The challenge is – most of the Smartphone users are unaware of its security risks. So, my question is – are you taking any steps to create an awareness on securing smart phones! Yes, it is required – not only for personal security purposes, but also for corporate IT information security purposes too.

I recommend the following simple activities to create a basic awareness on securing Smartphone devices.

1. Create Simple Posters about known smartphone security challenges and stick them around work places

2. Educate about secured Bluetooth usage and keeping Bluetooth off – while not in use.

3. Create small Case-Stories and publish them in official emails / Official social networks.

4. Guide a session on insecure Wi-Fi networks, and security challenges in using such networks.

5. Call for a Security weekend Day – to make them present their security tips for public interest.

I suggested these activities to my clients – many are following it and seeing some good improvements. I would like to listen in your experiences.

Have a nice day.

Share your experiences with Android Platform...

You recently moved from Blackberry / Symbian / Windows Phone (6 or 6.5) to Android Mobile Device? Please share your experience..![caption id="attachment_589" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="android"][/caption]

Wordpress Blogs on the go…

Are you traveling without computer access, and you want to post a blog entry? Are you using a mobile phone with internet access – here you got an interesting utility for mobile devices – “Wordpress Mobile Apps”.

Wordpress for Mobile is available for all flavors –including iOS, Windows Phone 7, Andriod, Blackberry and Nokia. You have to simply download and install using appropriate stores.

URL : http://wordpress.org/extend/mobile/

You can create blog entries, edit, delete, approve or reject comments, do some administration and also can upload and share media components from your mobile [based on your network capacity].

I downloaded and installed for Nokia platform, wordmobi – works on python + pips framework.

Try it and share your views.

Microsoft Mango

News BY MATT HARTLEY, POSTMEDIA NEWS (http://www.ottawacitizen.com)

Microsoft Corp.'s quest to reassert itself in the smartphone industry entered its next phase on Tuesday with the release of "Mango," the latest iteration of the company's flagship Windows Phone software.

Microsoft is adding 500 new features to its Windows Phone 7 software, which first launched in November. The "Mango" version of Windows Phone 7 will be available later this fall.

It said several new smartphone manufacturers, in-cluding Acer Inc., Fujitsu Ltd. and ZTE Corp., would begin building Windows Phone devices. Joining a list of existing manufacturers that includes LG, Samsung Electronics Ltd. and HTC Corp.

For Microsoft, Windows Phone has given the world's most powerful software company a strong foothold in the mobile device industry as it seeks to counter the dominance of Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Google Inc.'s Android platform and Research In Motion Ltd.'s BlackBerry devices.

Smart Phone + Flickr = Snaptu

Flickr is a well-known name for those who are into Photography and Arts. It is a social networking site with content (images) posting, organizing, sharing and collaboration. The flickr user can also add friends and participate with other common groups.

Smart Phones provide a great opportunity for photography interested bloggers / Flickr users to participate in Flickr, through the Java based mobile software Snaptu. It contains a Flickr widget along with many others for facebook, twitter and Picasa.

I am using Snaptu from early last year – from my S40 Days. The S60 edition is having same app, but with quality in processing time. This widget is having below listed functionalities for quick and efficient Flickr Browsing.

Search: Users can search for any specific user’s album.
Explore: Users can search for public photo albums.
My Photostream and Photosets: The user’s photo blog.
Contact’s Uploads: Photo albums from User’s contacts / friends.

The mobile users can enjoy photo albums, share their albums in Facebook / Twitter / Email, comment on Photos and visit their contact list – with just few clicks. Try Snaptu and share your views with us.

To Download snaptu: www.snaptu.com/download