Amazon.com Android tablet business apps vs. iPad 3/HD

By Richi Jennings (@richi ) - July 14, 2011.

Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) is expected to launch an Android tablet soon. But it's not just for reading books; oh no, it'll also be a business tool, we're told. A Q3/Q4 release date would put it head-to-head with the expected iPad 3 (or HD). In IT Blogwatch, bloggers round up the rumors.

Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: The Sagan Series - End of an Era: The Final Shuttle Launch...

Melissa J. Perenson reports:

A September or even early October introduction would be well-timed [for] the holiday shopping season. ... [It] could be the most asked-for stocking stuffer of 2011. [The timing] coincides with when arch-rival Apple plans to launch...potentially, a new, higher-resolution iPad.
...
...[T]he company's CEO, Jeff Bezos, has indicated in the past that a tablet is its next frontier. And that makes perfect sense. ... Amazon and Apple are two behemoths each vying for consumers' digital media purchase dollars. ... Rumors put the screen at "roughly nine inches." ... The tablet will run Android, presumably Android 3.2.  

Cade Metz addz:

There's quite a rivalry developing between Amazon and Apple. ... Both are now selling digital music, videos, and books, and...Apple actually sued Amazon for calling its Android app store the Android Appstore.
It's nonsense of Jobsian proportions.  

Our old mate Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols says what to expect:

...[H]ere’s what my sources have been telling me...people both inside Amazon and from Amazon’s partners. ... The Kindle Tablet is going to be made by Quanta. ... It will run Android Honeycomb 3.1. ... [I]t will have dual-core OMAP 4 (ARM Cortex A9) processors running at 1.5GHz [and] a solid-state drive (SSD).
...
[B]esides having the usual collection of Android applications...[it] will also have serious business applications. ... I’m talking about interfaces to enterprise-level applications. ... I expect Amazon to price its tablet very aggressively. ... .  

      
Mark Sigal offers his thoughts:

Amazon is the only company with the media relationships and...billing relationship with consumers to directly challenge Apple. ...Amazon understands product discovery and recommendation even better than Apple does.
...
...Amazon is also very well-positioned to outflank Google's play with Android. ... By better leveraging their installed base with Kindle; by building...tight integration with the Amazon Android App store and with Amazon Cloud Services; by...harnessing their recommendation services on both digital and physical goods.
...
...[T]he market needs an integrated alternative to iOS...to keep Apple honest, and...because not enough developers are making serious coin. ...[T]here are legions of Android developers who...don't like having to support the compatibility matrix from hell...not to mention the fact that the Google model is all about free.  

Surprisingly, MG Siegler is pleased:

The fall is going to be very interesting. There’s a reason Apple wants to get another iPad out there before the end of the year.  

 The Sagan Series (part 6) - End of an Era: The Final Shuttle Launch
Beautiful, inspiring, and downright essential to watch.
[hat tip: Blake Patterson]


Don't miss out on IT Blogwatch:

Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. He's the creator and main author of Computerworld's IT Blogwatch -- for which he has won American Society of Business Publication Editors and Jesse H. Neal awards on behalf of Computerworld. He also writes The Long View for IDG Enterprise. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com. You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

In-house app stores can help manage tablet mania

Computerworld - As more and more tablet computers enter the workplace, IT managers are facing this question: Do you allow employees to load any applications they want on the devices, or do you offer a specific set of enterprise applications -- sort of an internal "app store"?

The answer often comes down to factors such as your organization's goals, how employees are using tablets on the job, and your corporate culture. One possibility is to adapt your existing smartphone policies to tablets.

"Enterprise applications [on tablets] are an important and growing phenomenon," says Philippe Winthrop, managing director of the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, a Boston-based think tank. "Organizations are realizing that a lot of applications that the company uses can be relevant on mobile devices."

Whether it involves creating software internally or purchasing prebuilt apps, there must be some level of control, Winthrop says.

The Enterprise Mobility Foundation recommends that organizations set up their own in-house enterprise app stores. By adopting an approved list of apps, enterprises can ensure that users download programs that the organization has tested and OK'd and can maintain, Winthrop says.

Imris, a Winnipeg, Manitoba, provider of medical equipment, has given Apple iPads to sales and marketing personnel, product managers, executives and other employees. The company lets users download software from an internal app store that it set up using a tool from Apperian called Enterprise App Services Environment, says Ben VanOsch, IT director at Imris.

The IT group identifies publicly available apps that it wants to adopt as recommended company tools, and they're added to the Imris app store. This allows for "consistency" throughout the enterprise, VanOsch explains.

Currently, Imris has 16 privately developed apps and two public ones in its app store, which the company calls InfoCentral. It expects to deploy two more public apps within a couple of months, after the IT group vets them, and it's in the process of developing two more private applications that will be released by mid-June.

The company has a total of 32 iPad users, all of whom have downloaded apps from InfoCentral. "We are considering deploying iPads to our board of directors, other leaders and to every employee," says VanOsch. "We believe the iPad can become a strategic communication tool, providing increased timeliness of the message and increased environmental responsibility by reducing paper as a means of communicating."

While the app store is the preferred source of applications, VanOsch says it's likely that Imris iPad users have downloaded personal software as well -- and he says that's OK with him.

The company's strategy provides flexibility for end users while at the same time giving IT some control over what can be used on the devices. Most users "have the same app requirements," says VanOsch. "However, due to their different roles and localization needs, [they have] the latitude to personalize their iPads in a manner they believe will provide them the greatest benefit."

This independent paper from senior analyst Jon Collins at FreeForm Dynamics considers how Web-based security threats are evolving, within the context of IT trends including mobile, home computing and other forms of remote access that could potentially increase the attack surface of the companies. It defines the scale and types of threat, what to look for in a corporate web security solution and compares the different types of technological approach available to companies and the processes that need to be considered for effective protection.

Read now.

Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Social-networking sites have revolutionized how businesses use the Internet. Instead of relying on faltering newspapers to find job candidates, companies can access thousands of potential employees through Facebook and Twitter. But social-networking sites have also left businesses vulnerable to new security threats. So are they tools to be used or security traps to be avoided?

Read now.

iPads run amok: Does your company need a tablet policy?

Computerworld - When RehabCare executives started asking IT for the Apple iPad several months back, CIO Dick Escue didn't skip a beat.

Unlike many of his peers in the healthcare industry, he had no real qualms about security, despite the specter of compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Nor did he have misgivings about users loading up the devices with personal stuff like photos and music. As for worries about putting an additional support burden on his IT staff -- according to Escue, not a problem.

While these concerns have other IT shops scrambling, the RehabCare team was well ahead of the game. Thanks to a widespread deployment of the Apple iPhone a couple of years back, the company had a formal deployment strategy for the iPad and, potentially, for other emerging tablets.

Rather than trying to ban mobile units or deploy them haphazardly, RehabCare's IT group implemented new corporate policies and standardized on mobile management technologies that opened doors for the iPhone, and now the iPad, to participate in the enterprise in a secure, centrally managed fashion.

Based on this prior experience with the Apple iPhone, Escue was already well aware that users, not the IT department, are rapidly becoming the driving force behind new technology adoption -- a trend some call the consumerization of IT. (For more on the "bring your own technology movement," see Computerworld's recent video chat with Carfax CTO Gary Lee.)

"There was a time when work was where you got new technology, but that day is over thanks to unbounded innovation in the consumer technology world," explains Escue, who heads up technology efforts for RehabCare, a nationwide operator of acute care and rehabilitation hospitals.

With the recent introduction of the iPad 2, Motorola Xoom, RIM PlayBook, and new versions of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, tablet mania is taking the enterprise by storm.

Gartner estimates that 69.8 million media tablets will be shipped in 2011, and analysts and forward-thinking tech managers say it's time for IT execs to do more than simply take notice of that surge.

As with the iPhone before it, the iPad is cropping up in all corners of the enterprise, brought in by C-level execs, sales folks and worker bees who purchased the device for personal use and, now hooked, are hungry to use it on the job.

Regardless of whether staffers work on their own tablets or are given corporate-issued gear, the influx means IT needs a systematic approach for managing, tracking, securing and supporting these devices, just like they do for any other corporate computing platform.

At a recent Computerworld Premier 100 event, Gary Lee from Carfax chats with technologies editor Johanna Ambrosio about the issues and challenges surrounding letting employees choose their own technology, including smartphones, tablets and even notebooks. This independent paper from senior analyst Jon Collins at FreeForm Dynamics considers how Web-based security threats are evolving, within the context of IT trends including mobile, home computing and other forms of remote access that could potentially increase the attack surface of the companies. It defines the scale and types of threat, what to look for in a corporate web security solution and compares the different types of technological approach available to companies and the processes that need to be considered for effective protection.

Read now.

Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Social-networking sites have revolutionized how businesses use the Internet. Instead of relying on faltering newspapers to find job candidates, companies can access thousands of potential employees through Facebook and Twitter. But social-networking sites have also left businesses vulnerable to new security threats. So are they tools to be used or security traps to be avoided?

Read now.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1: A slim and sexy Android tablet

Computerworld - In the realm of Android tablets, standing out from the pack is becoming an increasingly challenging task for manufacturers. With its new Galaxy Tab 10.1 device, Samsung has managed to set itself apart with a quality few have achieved: sexiness.

That's right: The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is sexy. At a mere 8.6 mm in thickness, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is even thinner (by a hair) than Apple's celebrated iPad 2, which is listed at 8.8 mm.

It weighs about 1.25 lb., making it 6% lighter than the iPad 2 and a whopping 20% lighter than the Motorola Xoom, the current flagship device for Google's Android Honeycomb tablet platform. When blindly holding the Tab and the Xoom flat in your palms, like plates, it's tough to gauge the difference in weight. But holding the tablets individually in front of you, as you would when actually using them, the new Tab's light form is impossible not to notice.

At a mere 8.6 mm in thickness, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (top) is noticeably slimmer than the 12.9 mm Motorola Xoom (bottom).

And the Tab 10.1 practically begs to be held. This thing is all smooth curves: Its silver metallic trim forms a gently rounded border around its 10.1-inch screen. The trim extends about half an inch down the Tab's back, covering the rear camera area. The back plate itself is shiny white plastic; a dark gray model is also available.

So the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a rockin' body; that much is clear. But will it also wow you with its brains? Let's take a look.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 is powered by an Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core 1GHz processor, the same processor used in the Xoom and numerous other high-end Android devices. Like the Xoom, the Galaxy Tab has 1GB of RAM.

As you'd expect, given those specs, the Tab's performance is impressive: I found that swiping through home screen panels was fast and fluid, and apps loaded almost instantly. Resource-intensive games such as the Tegra-optimized Riptide GP and Pinball HD played smoothly, showing off what Nvidia's GeForce GPU can do.

Web browsing on the Tab 10.1 was speedy and hassle-free (aside from some Web sites loading as mobile versions -- a Web development problem that's solvable with a simple fix). With the separately downloaded Adobe Flash Player in place, Flash-based videos played effortlessly in the Honeycomb browser; I watched several clips without so much as a single blip in the playback.

(Flash content on Android, it's worth noting, loads only on demand; as such, you don't end up seeing things like Flash-based ads unless you choose to tap and load them.)

The only performance-related issue I noticed was a tendency for the screen to sometimes take too long to rotate when turning the device, particularly on the home screen. This seems to be a common hiccup with Android Honeycomb tablets, however, and not exclusive to the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

In terms of battery life, the Tab can last a solid nine hours with continuous video playback. For regular day-to-day use, you should easily be able to go a good few days without needing to charge.

The core component of any tablet is its display, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 shines in this department. The Tab's 1280 x 800-pixel LCD is bold and vibrant, with brilliant colors and crisp definition. The color-intensive configuration makes the Xoom's screen (also 1280 x 800) look almost muted in comparison.

That said, the Tab's display did seem a bit oversaturated at times. In photos, for instance, skin looked significantly more orangey than it should -- not necessarily a bad thing for the pale among us -- while the Xoom's color representation was far more true to life.

Like any glossy-surfaced gadget, the Galaxy Tab looks worse in the sun. But while the screen appeared more washed out in outdoor conditions, I was able to view images and read text with relative ease, even in direct sunlight. Still, I found the Xoom to generally fare better in bright conditions.

I had no qualms with the Tab's touch-screen responsiveness; it struck me as roughly comparable to that of other high-end Honeycomb tablets.

This independent paper from senior analyst Jon Collins at FreeForm Dynamics considers how Web-based security threats are evolving, within the context of IT trends including mobile, home computing and other forms of remote access that could potentially increase the attack surface of the companies. It defines the scale and types of threat, what to look for in a corporate web security solution and compares the different types of technological approach available to companies and the processes that need to be considered for effective protection.

Read now.

Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Social-networking sites have revolutionized how businesses use the Internet. Instead of relying on faltering newspapers to find job candidates, companies can access thousands of potential employees through Facebook and Twitter. But social-networking sites have also left businesses vulnerable to new security threats. So are they tools to be used or security traps to be avoided?

Read now.

How IT shops are coping with tablet mania

Computerworld - When RehabCare executives started asking IT for Apple iPads several months ago, CIO Dick Escue didn't miss a beat.

Unlike many of his peers in the healthcare industry, he had no real qualms about security, despite the specter of compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Nor did he have misgivings about users loading the devices with personal photos and music, or about the possibility that iPad users would need additional IT support.

While these concerns have other IT shops scrambling, the RehabCare team was ahead of the game. Thanks to a widespread deployment of Apple's iPhone a couple of years earlier, the St. Louis-based provider of acute care services had a formal deployment strategy that it could apply to the iPad and other tablets.

Rather than trying to ban mobile units or deploy them haphazardly, RehabCare's IT group implemented new corporate policies and standardized on mobile management technologies that opened doors for the iPhone, and now the iPad, to be used in the enterprise in a secure, centrally managed fashion.

Based on his prior experience with the iPhone, Escue was well aware that users, not the IT department, are rapidly becoming the driving force behind new technology adoption -- a trend that has come to be known as the consumerization of IT.

"There was a time when work was where you got new technology, but that day is over, thanks to unbounded innovation in the consumer technology world," says Escue, who heads up technology efforts for RehabCare, which has operations nationwide.

With the recent introduction of the iPad 2, the Motorola Xoom and the RIM PlayBook, and new versions of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, tablets are taking the enterprise by storm.

Gartner estimates that 69.8 million media tablets will be shipped in 2011, and analysts and forward-thinking tech managers say it's time for IT to do more than simply take note of that surge.

As with the iPhone before it, the iPad is cropping up in all corners of the enterprise, brought in by C-level execs, sales folks and people who purchased the devices for personal use and, now hooked, are hungry to use them on the job.

Regardless of whether staffers use their own tablets or company-issued models, the influx means IT needs a systematic approach for managing, tracking, securing and supporting these devices.

"What the iPhone started to show us -- and the iPad is absolutely making clear -- is that these devices are coming in whether you like it or not," says Leslie Fiering, a Gartner analyst. "That means that IT has its work cut out for it."

This independent paper from senior analyst Jon Collins at FreeForm Dynamics considers how Web-based security threats are evolving, within the context of IT trends including mobile, home computing and other forms of remote access that could potentially increase the attack surface of the companies. It defines the scale and types of threat, what to look for in a corporate web security solution and compares the different types of technological approach available to companies and the processes that need to be considered for effective protection.

Read now.

Security is not an option. This KnowledgeVault Series offers professional advice how to be proactive in the fight against cybercrimes and multi-layered security threats; how to adopt a holistic approach to protecting and managing data; and how to hire a qualified security assessor. Make security your Number 1 priority.

Read now.

Social-networking sites have revolutionized how businesses use the Internet. Instead of relying on faltering newspapers to find job candidates, companies can access thousands of potential employees through Facebook and Twitter. But social-networking sites have also left businesses vulnerable to new security threats. So are they tools to be used or security traps to be avoided?

Read now.