How the mobile revolution really played out
Life before the iPhone was very different. We had Palm Treos, Hewlett-Packard iPaqs, and of course BlackBerrys that enthralled executive management with the ability to read and send email from their...
View ArticleWindows 10 on Windows Phone: Not bad!
Windows Phone, Microsoft's 2010 answer to the iPhone and Android, was a classic case of the bad Microsoft. Prerelease reviews of the first Windows Phone OS were very negative, yet Microsoft released...
View ArticleLet us now finally bury the BlackBerry
Can we all finally admit that BlackBerry is dead as a smartphone maker? Every one of its savior devices -- the BlackBerry Z10, Q10, Passport, Classic, and now Priv -- has been a failure. Some, like...
View ArticleIt's official: Mobile means only iOS and Android
The tech industry loves to watch platforms and products duke it out, and the competition can produce truly useful innovation that betters us all. It can also lead to lots of wasted effort and...
View ArticleiPad, Android, and Surface: The fight for the soul of the tablet
Android dominates low-end, reader-style tablets, and iPads dominate tablets used to get stuff done (which is why they hugely dominate in businesses). But then there are those PC tablets running...
View Article2015: The year mobile become boring
Not to be a Grinch, but the mobile industry wouldn't be on my Christmas list if I were Santa. Not because it's been bad, but because it's been boring. The sad truth is nothing really interesting...
View ArticleAndroid is ousting Windows from its last mobile bastion
They're everywhere, but you rarely notice them: the millions of handheld devices -- often equipped with scanners -- that delivery people, store clerks, and hospital staff responders often carry to...
View Article5G follies: The network that doesn't exist
You're forgiven if you think you need to prepare fifth-generation (5G) cellular networks, which have been getting increasing buzz, fed mostly by the carriers and the equipment makers who sell to them....
View ArticleExpect these mobile advances in 2016
Although mobile innovation is nowhere as dramatic these days as it was in the first half decade of the smartphone revolution started by Apple and later joined by the Android community, innovation is...
View ArticleSamsung comes at BlackBerry’s security crown -- and will not miss
The BlackBerry is all but dead, with the company having abandoned its own operating system in favor of an older version of Android. Even if BlackBerry keeps investing in deep Android security...
View ArticleWelcome to the postmobile future
I regularly get pitches from companies touting the importance of using their technology on mobile devices: for better UX (user experience) design, for access to APIs and other back-end microservices,...
View ArticleMore like Windows: How Android N targets the enterprise
Apple's iPhone and iPad have long ruled the enterprise, with high market shares in every survey. Apple's iOS devices were the first post-BlackBerry device to take enterprise security and management...
View Article8 secrets for even more iPhone productivity
If you rely on your iPhone or iPad for productivity, you know Apple's apps handle a lot of useful tasks, such as figuring out travel time to an appointment or checking co-workers' availability when...
View ArticleOpen secrets: BlackBerry might share what's on your phone
As Apple and Microsoft battle the U.S. government to keep customer data secure from prying eyes and to keep secured electric data unavailable through backdoors, BlackBerry is defending government...
View ArticleShocking news: People do lots on their smartphones
Maybe it's the absence of real mobile news lately, but I've seen a crush of "studies" that show people use their mobile devices to do Web searches, bank, make restaurant reservations, watch videos,...
View ArticleWindows Mobile gets good just as Microsoft stops caring
Windows Mobile is Microsoft's version of the "boy who cried wolf" -- after years of broken promises, customers, manufacturers, and carriers have moved on. Even Microsoft has moved on, demoting Windows...
View ArticleThe Microsoft admin’s brave, new post-Windows Phone world
As the industry was focused last week on Google's I/O developer conference and the specter of its Google Home voice assistant monitoring everything you say, Microsoft quietly dropped a bomb about the...
View ArticleiOS 10 preview: A sad present for a milestone birthday
Apple's iOS is in its tenth iteration and nine years old, believe it or not. In tech years, that's, what, 63 years old? At that age, you're about as mature as you can be, and you really slow down the...
View ArticleAndroid Nougat: A yawner, except on the Pixel-C
A few weeks ago, I lamented how minor an upgrade iOS 10 is -- it's the least interesting update to iOS ever, in fact. But Android 7.0 Nougat -- which should appear on devices in the next month or so...
View ArticleGalaxy Note 7 catches the eye and more
Remember when Apple debuted the Touch ID fingerprint reader in the iPhone 5s in fall 2013? Many in IT pooh-poohed it as a fad that couldn't really be secure, and security consultancies raced to find...
View ArticleBeacons take baby steps into businesses
When Apple debuted the iBeacon technology three years ago in iOS, Bluetooth beacons showed a lot of potential. Today, little of that potential seems to have become reality, despite all the tests by...
View ArticleWhen Apple and Samsung fight, everyone wins
People love a fight, and the battles between Apple and Samsung have provided years of entertainment, from Apple's suit against Samsung claiming design theft to the constant back and forth in feature...
View ArticleWarning: iOS 10 makes email harder to use
Tomorrow, we'll get the details of the new iPhone 7 and the release date for iOS 10. The new iPhone and iPad operating system has been in public beta for months, so its features are well known. What...
View ArticleThe IT lowdown on iOS 10, Android Nougat, and MacOS Sierra
iOS 10 will be released today, and you can expect most users to upgrade their iPhone and iPads within weeks. Google released Android 7.0 Nougat on a handful of devices in late August, but it'll be...
View ArticleApple dumps Watch 'innovations' for the tried and true
The Apple Watch is not a device you need, though it is handy for those who travel or are fitness-oriented. Still, it provided Apple an opportunity to experiment with the user interface, since the...
View ArticleThe new BYOD backlash hides an ulterior motive
Recent research from IDC shows a clear picture: IT organizations are increasingly unhappy about BYOD and now want to curtail or end the practice. Their stated concern: The costs are too high and the...
View ArticleNote 7 doomsayers sell Samsung short
We all know the Galaxy Note 7 has been a debacle, first with the exploding batteries shortly after its September release, then the "safe" replacement units catching fire in the last week. Samsung is...
View ArticleFor mobile, PowerPoint still can't match Apple Keynote
Until last year, Apple's iWork suite was my go-to productivity tool on the iPad and iPhone. Then Microsoft released revised Office apps for iOS that matched iWorks' capabilities, with the advantage of...
View ArticleSamsung's unwinnable Android AI dilemma
Trying to get people to focus on a positive development, after the debacle of the exploding Note 7 smartphone and more recently of clothes washers that burst at the seams, Samsung has announced that...
View ArticleCelebrate 2016’s mobile gems
There’s been no shortage of new smartphones and tablets this past year, but there sure has been a shortage of “oh wow” innovations. Of course, we have the usual enhancements: faster processors, more...
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