Which types of mobile communications/computing devices do you, or employees of the company you work for, use for business?
This is what was said:
•59% Cell phones (voice, text, email)
•54% Smart phones (voice, text, email, internet, etc.)
•49% Laptop/notebook computers
•31% Two-way radio
•26% GPS/navigation/dispatching systems
•15% Wireless cards
•8% Slates (iPad, Galaxy, etc.)
•0% Pagers
Showing posts with label smartphone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label smartphone. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Can You Use A Smartphone To Promote Safe Driving?
Can you promote safe driving habits - or curb unsafe habits - with the use of a mobile app? The new App4Drivers sets out to do just that.
Designed by Dangerous Decisions LLC, this new mobile app for Android and iPhones tracks and documents texting, excessive turns, excessive speeds, quick accelerations and sudden braking. Check out how App4Drivers works on YouTube.
Users have the ability to program speed or acceleration set points not to be exceeded. A combination of internal GPS locator systems, an accelerometer and the speed of its 3G network allows for instant real-time analysis of motion, which is then documented.
Text, email and E-Alert notifications will then notify the users, vehicle owner or fleet manager of driving behavior and infractions.
While I've never used this app, I think it's important to consider possible downsides or challenges to using this app. In order for the behavior to be tracked, documented and notifications to be sent, the app must be active at the time the driving is being done. How can you ensure employees will activate and leave the app on while driving? There's a whole lot of trust involved here.
Also, it's possible the driver could get distracted by the app and its graphics while driving. In order to record the driving log, the driver must start and stop the log on the app. What guarantee is there the driver might start and/or stop it while driving - in which case they would be looking at the phone and not the road.
This is not to say employees and drivers should not be trusted with the responsibility this app requires. If you're looking for a new way to monitor and discourage unsafe driving habits and you feel you're employees might respond well to a new approach like a smartphone app, maybe this one's worth a try.
Have you used the App4Drivers in your business? If so, how has it worked for your drivers? If not, what are your thoughts on using a smartphone to monitor driving? Share your thoughts with FCP.
Designed by Dangerous Decisions LLC, this new mobile app for Android and iPhones tracks and documents texting, excessive turns, excessive speeds, quick accelerations and sudden braking. Check out how App4Drivers works on YouTube.
Users have the ability to program speed or acceleration set points not to be exceeded. A combination of internal GPS locator systems, an accelerometer and the speed of its 3G network allows for instant real-time analysis of motion, which is then documented.
Text, email and E-Alert notifications will then notify the users, vehicle owner or fleet manager of driving behavior and infractions.
While I've never used this app, I think it's important to consider possible downsides or challenges to using this app. In order for the behavior to be tracked, documented and notifications to be sent, the app must be active at the time the driving is being done. How can you ensure employees will activate and leave the app on while driving? There's a whole lot of trust involved here.
Also, it's possible the driver could get distracted by the app and its graphics while driving. In order to record the driving log, the driver must start and stop the log on the app. What guarantee is there the driver might start and/or stop it while driving - in which case they would be looking at the phone and not the road.
This is not to say employees and drivers should not be trusted with the responsibility this app requires. If you're looking for a new way to monitor and discourage unsafe driving habits and you feel you're employees might respond well to a new approach like a smartphone app, maybe this one's worth a try.
Have you used the App4Drivers in your business? If so, how has it worked for your drivers? If not, what are your thoughts on using a smartphone to monitor driving? Share your thoughts with FCP.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
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 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.
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