New DeWalt Mobile Pro Calculation App for Construction Professionals

Delmar, part of Cengage Learning and a leading provider of learning solutions for ongoing career development and education, and DEWALT today announced the launch of DEWALT Movile Pro, a new mobile application (app) for construction professionals. DEWALT Mobile Pro - for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad - is an innovative and powerful mobile solution developed specifically for the construction industry, with a wealth of free features and numerous ways to customize the app based on each user's trade focus. The app has been designed with custom interfaces to suit the various screen sizes of each device.

The DEWALT Mobile Pro app is available as a free download and provides an array of powerful and convenient features for everyday use on the job. It contains a construction calculator for solving complex jobsite math in the field, and five basic calculations with integrated reference materials to offer help, examples and illustrations. The app also provides additional high-value functionality including a running history of recent calculations, a customizable list of favorite calculations for quick and easy access to those used most often, and the ability to instantly email calculation results.

Once the free app has been downloaded, the user will have the ability to add on hundreds of additional calculations and corresponding reference materials unique to a specific trade. Add-ons will be available at an additional cost in the areas of business and finance, conversions and math, site work, finish work, concrete and masonry, carpentry, electrical, plumbing and more.

"This app will offer immediate results for hundreds of difficult construction calculations along with valuable reference content and many other convenient features," said Greg Clayton, vice president, Delmar.

Is freemium the answer to making apps pay?

Ask Any Mobile developer: getting users to pay for smartphone apps is not easy - and it's only going to get harder, According To Screen Digest analyst IHS. Developers need to turn Their attention to making money from In-App Purchases, Which it said are on the rise.

The analyst said the freemium business model, where 'apps are free at the point of charge to download But fee for new content, will soon be the dominant smartphone apps business model.

IHS Screen Digest reckons In-App Purchases will rise to account for well over half (64 per cent) of total revenue in 2015 app market, up from just over a third (39 per cent) last year, while revenue from In-App Purchases will swell to $ 5.6bn in 2015, up from $ 970m in 2011. The data comes from STI Mobile Media Intelligence Service.

"In 2012, it Will Become increasingly apologetic for app stores and developers to justify charging an upfront fee for Their products When faced with competition from a plethora of free content. Instead, the apps industry embrace the freemium FULLY Must model and monetise content-through in -App Purchases. "

By the end of the third quarter of 2011, free-to-download apps Already close to half Represented (45 per cent) of the top-grossing U.S. iPhone apps, According To IHS Screen Digest, as well as Almost a third (31 per cent) of the highest-earning U.S. Android Market apps. The analyst Calculates That a Majority substantial businesses (68 per cent) of the top-grossing U.S. Some apps featured form of additional content or functionality unlocked by an in-app purchase.

While games Have pioneered the in-app payment model - with virtual currencies Such as poker chips accounting for the largest proportion (63 per cent) of In-App Purchases on the U.S. iPhone App Store at the end of the third quarter of 2011 - the analyst said the approach has Been So Successful That other types of companies building apps need to Get Involved to "mobile app to Maximise Their Revenues."

The next most popular in-app purchase virtual currency after WAS for specific in-game function or features, accounting for around a fifth (22 per cent) of the most popular U.S. in-app sales. Other popular buys include time-limited navigation services, dating and social network access premium, plus specific functions or features for photo and video apps.

Just two per cent of the top U.S. In-App Purchases Were half for additional content or TV Such As video content. Time-limited subscriptions or In-App Purchases to newspaper / magazine content WAS more Successful - in the UK Such in-app buys half Accounted for five per cent of the top iPhone In-App Purchases During The third quarter of last year.

In related news app, professional services firm Deloitte Predicts That as the overall supply of apps Continues to grow the number of paid downloads - app downloads and indeed generally - is likely to shrink. But writing in STI Technology, Media and Telecommunications Predictions 2012 report, the company says this does not mean the app is Fundamentally flawed model - but Rather Reflects the "winner-takes-all" nature of much online content.

As competition Between Increasing numbers of apps intensifies, countries with More mature app Ecosystems are expected to see production and marketing for apps Costs escalate. Deloitte Predicts events produced the apps Most Expensive This Year Could cost millions of dollars.

It's not just getting your app that's going Noticed to get harder, Either - developing apps is going to become increasingly complex as the app and device Becomes more diverse landscape, Predicts Deloitte.

"In the future, the overall market is likely be apps characterised by the co-existence of multiple platforms, countries, languages, genres, manufactures, file sizes and model-specific events application stores. To reach more than 90 per cent of all app users, a developer may need to create versions for five Different operating systems (plus HTML5), five major languages, three Different processor speeds, and four Different screen sizes. In other words 360 variants of a single app may be needed to be created in order to FULLY cover the overall market, "the report said.

Also Deloitte Predicts the feature and capability gap Between top of the range smartphones and more budget $ 100 or less devices will widen This Year - adding to the number of versions of apps developers need to make.

"In 2012, the fastest smartphones will likely offer quad-core processors 1.5-2.5GHz while the growing numbers of $ 100 smartphones is likely to processors with speeds Have 200MHz and 600MHz Between," it said.

The Core Principles of Technology Business Management 3º part

Continuous Improvement and Planning

IT must continuously identify opportunities for operational optimization. This includes leveraging third party services and cloud services, ongoing labor management and service innovation, consolidation and retirement. After a decision, IT must track the cost and performance results to ensure projected ROI is achieved.

IT must become more agile by automating and continuously managing the budget, forecast and plan of IT. This allows for rapid response to changes in company strategy or economic climate. It also cements the alignment of IT with the business on an ongoing basis.

The Core Principles of Technology Business Management

The core principles of TBM are very similar to core principles of manufacturing or sales. IT is responsible for delivering to the business units a core set of IT products or services.

Cost Transparency

IT leadership must drive transparency into the total cost of delivering each IT product or service. This includes defining and identifying the core cost drivers of the IT service or product. The TCO of each service is highly analogous to a cost of goods sold (COGS) in a manufacturing environment. This deep understanding of unit costs and cost drivers empowers IT managers to make better cost-based decisions and surgically reduce cost while improving service quality.

IT must establish transparency with their business units by delivering a Bill of IT or “pro forma invoice” on a regular basis. This Bill of IT should make clear to the business unit what IT services they consume and the cost and quality of those services.

What is Technology Business Management (TBM)?

Every corporate function— sales, manufacturing, human resources — has a business management solution today except for IT. Sales executives have a Customer Relationship Management solution from Siebel or Salesforce. Manufacturing executives have an Enterprise Resource Planning solution from SAP or Oracle. Human resources executives have a Human Resources Management solution. Given the strategic impact of IT to both the top and bottom line of a company, the time has come for a solution to help CIO’s and IT executives run IT like a business.

Technology Business Management is an emerging category of software solutions designed to help CIOs and IT executives manage and communicate the cost, quality and value of IT Services.  TBM brings the best practices of financial and performance management evolved for sales and manufacturing and applies those to the complex environment of IT.

Business technology management

Business technology management (BTM) is a management science that seeks to unify business and technology decision-making at every level in an enterprise. BTM delivers a set of guiding principles, known as BTM capabilities. These capabilities are combined to form BTM solutions, around which a company's practices can be organized and improved. BTM also defines the expected characteristics of an organization according to five levels of a maturity model.
BTM builds bridges between previously isolated tools and standards for business technology management by strategically incorporating both operational and infrastructure levels of technology management to ensure that an enterprise’s business strategy can be realized by the technology it deploys. This structured approach is used by enterprises to align, synchronize and even converge technology and business management for the purpose of ensuring better execution, risk control and profitability.