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Colin Gibbs
Three ways LinkedIn can win in mobile
LinkedIn is enjoying a banner year, but unlike Twitter and Facebook the social network doesn’t enjoy much mobile traffic. It has a chance to be a major player in the booming mobile industry, though, if it pursues a few ambitious goals. Read more »
Lots of promise, lots of competition for enterprise tablets
The market for enterprise tablets shows enormous promise as end users take their own devices to work and IT departments begin to deploy the new gadgets. But a small army of manufacturers is vying for a slice of the market, and competition will be fierce. Read more »
How daily deals can target the mobile space
Groupon and LivingSocial dominate the burgeoning market for email daily deals, but the landscape could change quickly as those models expand to the much more complex world of mobile. Here’s what coupon distributors need to keep in mind as they target mobile users. Read more »
3 reasons why iMessage won’t kill SMS
This week Apple unveiled iMessage, a feature that enables iOS users to exchange text messages and images without incurring carrier messaging charges. Despite headlines to the contrary, though, iMessage is not going to kill the cash cow that is SMS, for at least three reasons. Read more »
What Voice Recognition Technology Could Mean for Apple — and All of Us
Voice recognition has long failed to gain much traction in mobile thanks to technology that was overhyped and underwhelming. But Apple could once again change the way we interact with our phones by integrating the technology with its upcoming iOS 5. Read more »
Why “Web vs. Native” Isn’t a Black-and-White Battle
The debate over whether the future of mobile data lies in native applications vs. Web-based offerings is often depicted as a Darwinian contest where only one will survive. But the truth is much more complex than some pundits would have you believe. Read more »
Why a Microsoft Takeover of Nokia Could Pay Off
Recent reports have Microsoft set to enter talks to acquire Nokia’s mobile business outright for a price tag that could be in the range of $30 billion. It’as a risky move, but here’s why a takeover of the world’s largest handset maker could pay off. Read more »
What T-Mobile Could Do if the AT&T Acquisition Fails
T-Mobile’s latest quarterly earnings aren’t pretty, and there’s a chance its acquisition by AT&T won’t survive the federal scrutiny that begins this week with congressional hearings. So what should the nation’s fourth-largest carrier do if the deal is scuttled? Here are a few ideas. Read more »
ESPN Balks at Sprint’s New Text Fee
Sprint has quietly hiked its text messaging rates for businesses that send text alerts over its cellular network. But ESPN, The Weather Channel and MSNBC have all opted to cease sending free messages to Sprint users altogether rather than pay the new fee. Read more »
Why Apple — Not RIM — Is Poised to Own the Mobile Enterprise
Despite a series of promising announcements at this week’s BlackBerry World, Research In Motion’s share of the smartphone market continues to erode, and no QNX handsets are yet on the horizon. Apple, meanwhile, could be poised to take RIM’s crown as king of the mobile enterprise. Read more »
Tablets, T-Mobile and AT&T Topped Mobile in Q1
From AT&T’s controversial proposed deal with T-Mobile to the ever-changing tablet landscape and the rise of near field communications, there were many stories to report from the first quarter of 2011. Here’s a look back at some of the key trends in the mobile technology space. Read more »
Usability and Shareability to Drive Tablet Market
Although Apple’s iPad has everyone’s attention, the tablet wars won’t be fought and won this year alone. A number of contenders are on the way and this disparity in platforms and form factors will help increase tablet sales 54 percent per year through 2015. Read more »
How Mobile TV Could Finally Find an Audience
The mobile TV hype machine is up and running again thanks to the Open Mobile Video Coalition’s efforts surrounding mobile DTV. If a greater number of consumers are finally going to start watching video on their phones, though, at least three key challenges must be overcome. Read more »
Android’s Fragmentation Won’t Fly in the Mobile Enterprise
Google is hoping its new, tablet-friendly version of Android can help it become a major player in the mobile enterprise. For that to happen, though, it will need to continue to move to fix its fragmentation problems. Read more »
QNX, Not the PlayBook, Is the Key to RIM’s Future
The pressure is mounting on Research In Motion ahead of the launch of its PlayBook, which will debut April 19. But RIM’s success over the next few years will hinge on its QNX operating system, not on a piece of hardware. Read more »
Why Carriers Still Matter — for Better or Worse
Carriers no longer dominate the mobile world thanks to the emergence of Apple, Google and the rise of third-party app stores. But they can retain — or even increase — their relevance by leveraging a few important things. Read more »
3 Things the Mobile Wallet Needs to Replace the Real One
Some of the groundwork is finally being laid for mobile payments, but the industry still has to find ways to convince users to pay for stuff with their phones. For the mobile wallet to catch on, apps will have to do much more than execute transactions. Read more »
How to Avoid the Pitfalls of Mobile Marketing
Mobile marketing is an emerging industry with tremendous opportunity, but it also is a space teeming with potential pitfalls. Here are some of the key mistakes to avoid for advertisers attempting to target users on their phones. Read more »
Who Mobile Malware Affects, and How
Mobile malware has become a very real threat thanks largely to Google’s lack of oversight in Android Market. The company’s refusal to play app cop will increasingly take a toll on its app distribution business — and maybe on Android as a whole. Read more »
How Mobile Is Changing the Video Game Market
If your image of a video gamer is a 30-something chugging Red Bull and playing first-person shooters all night, think again. Mobile social gaming — which includes everything from Electronic Arts’ Pogo lineup to Zynga’s FarmVille — is changing the video game space in a very big way. Read more »
NFC: More Than Just a Mobile Wallet
NFC will arrive in handsets in a big way in the coming months, but other components of a viable “mobile wallet” scenario aren’t in place yet. Here are some possibilities for the technology beyond using it to pay for goods at the retail counter. Read more »
Carriers Could Move the Needle in Mobile Music
The hype surrounding mobile music continues despite the lack of evidence that the space will ever generate much in the way of revenues. But carriers still have a chance to use music to attract new consumers and keep the ones they have. Read more »
What the Ringtone Era Can Teach App Distributors
In-app purchases represent a huge opportunity for developers to generate revenues and for consumers to enhance the user experience. But the market will only reach its potential if it can avoid the public relation problems that plagued the ringtone market a few years ago. Read more »
Challenges for Hyperlocal Mobile Advertising
Google, Facebook and others are investing in hyperlocal ads that deliver marketing pitches to users within small, well-defined areas. But before the concept can truly take hold in the mainstream markets, several challenges await businesses looking to bring their advertising strategies to the table. Read more »
Facebook Has an App for Feature Phones. Should You?
Facebook recently joined other high-profile brands in releasing a new app for feature phones. The move suggests a wealth of expanded opportunity for distributing products and extending their reach, but should developers target feature phones in addition to smartphones running newer, more powerful platforms? Maybe. Read more »
Mobile Q4: All Eyes Were on Android, 4G, Tablets
The mobile industry saw several key trends during the final months of 2010: Smartphone sales soared again, use of the high-powered devices fueled increases in data consumption and the epic battle of Apple vs. Google escalated thanks to Android’s remarkable traction. Read more »
Why Windows Phone 7 Needs a Dedicated Gaming Device
Microsoft last week declared Windows Phone 7 its mobile platform for games. But the company will need to offer superior gaming hardware if it is to differentiate its platform from Android and Apple’s iOS. Right now, that isn’t happening. Read more »
How App Stores Can Compete With Android Market
Amazon last week launched a developer program in advance of its opening of a store for Android apps. The move underscores the opportunities for third parties looking to distribute apps to users of Google’s mobile operating system. But first they must meet a few key challenges. Read more »
GigaOM Pro: This Week in Mobile — Enterprise Security in the App Era
Should employees be allowed to bring so-called “rogue devices” into the corporate world or should IT deploy the handsets and tablets? As the mobile-app phenomenon accelerates at a ludicrous speed, here are points IT departments should consider when making that decision. (GigaOM Pro subscription required). Read more »
How to Tap the Power of 2D Barcodes
Mobile barcodes have finally become a viable tool for mobile marketing, giving brands an easy way to engage with consumers through their phones. Here are a few tips for getting the most of any 2-D barcode campaign. Read more »
RIM Faces Challenges in Moving to New OS
Research In Motion’s pick-up of The Astonishing Tribe should bring polish to the aging BlackBerry OS and improve the upcoming QNX platform. But RIM’s challenge will be losing as little ground — not to mention, money — as possible as it moves from one OS to the other. Read more »
How to Reach Mobile Shoppers This Holiday Season
Mobile will play a bigger role than ever during the U.S. holiday season, according to IDC. It’s crucial then, that retailers tackle a few key challenges — from building a mobile site to understanding location-based services and rewards — to effectively target consumers on their phones. Read more »
Why Samsung’s Bada Could Win Big
Samsung’s Bada is only a few months old, but already the operating system is accruing substantial market share. If the Korean manufacturer can overcome several key challenges, Bada could become a major worldwide mobile platform to compete with iOS and the increasingly fragmented Android offerings. Read more »
