Is Android going the Windows Way?

Remember the time when ‘you think of a computer as a body, you think of MS Windows as its soul’. Almost every computer in the world had Windows operating system. Now Android seems to be doing that with its impressive growth as the OS for the Smartphones.

Since its introduction in 2008, Android has been successfully in capturing the market and emerged as the market leader. A recent Gartner report said, “Android in the Smartphone operating system (OS) market doubled to nearly 62 percent in the second quarter of 2011, up from just over 31 percent in the corresponding period of 2010”.

As per my perspective, Android came in at the right time when the market was changing. The scene was changing from the computer to Smartphones. It was able to address the pain-points and the needs of the market. Additionally, it was open and flexible—and gave everyone the option to play and develop. If you look at the apps currently provided by Android market—it’s simply amazing.

The buzz in the market about Android is positive. There are rumors that Google is planning to foray into manufacturing of mobile hardware like Smartphones and tablets. Another step that will likely change the market scenario is the recent buy of Motorola mobility. It gives Google access to 17,000 patents!

But the most significant change would be mobile OS providers teaming up with the handset manufacturers and churning out products that meet the needs of the manufacturers and the customers. You might why is this change or step so significant?

Well, do you remember the major step that ushered in the personal computer revolution? Companies like Microsoft tied up with OEMs and brought in the revolution where Windows became the dominant player. The same revolution will happen in the mobile handset space, and Android will likely become the dominant player (going by the latest reports).

But will Android become as popular as Windows? As of now that it’s hard to say. Personally, I feel the market dynamics will not allow a single player to become as dominant and popular as Windows became in the personal computing space. But let’s wait and see what the future has in store for Android and its competitors?

What are your views on it?

Android on the Roll- Gartner

Google's Android is on the roll. A recent Gartner report showed that Android has soared ahead of its competitors. As per Gartner, "Google and Apple are the obvious winners in the smartphone ecosystem. The combined share of iOS and Android in the smartphone operating system (OS) market doubled to nearly 62 percent in the second quarter of 2011, up from just over 31 percent in the corresponding period of 2010 (see Table 2). Gartner analysts observed that these two OSs have the usability that consumers enjoy, the apps that consumers feel they need, and increasingly a portfolio of services delivered by the platform owner as well".

Though Symbian takes the 2nd spot, it is clearly in a down-slide motion. I feel continuous innovation and amazing apps on Android and iOS are fueling their growth. It is extremely crucial for Nokia to perk up its OS and make it strong enough to compete with Android and iOS. Additionally, the market seems to be getting restless to see what the Nokia-Microsoft partnership brings to the table.

Google and Apple OS will definitely keep growing. And with the latest acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google, Android is bound to have a great run for the next couple of years.

Please do share your views.

Users store sensitive data on Android and iPhone devices

Nowadays, almost all of us use Smartphones to do our work. We download apps, network, watch videos, listen to music and do much more than we did or even imagined a couple of years back.  But more than often, we never care about the security aspect of the device that we use. ViaForensiscs, an innovative digital forensics and security firm, has come out with a rather interesting report Mobile App Security Study which specifically mentioned that sensitive user data stored on Android and iPhone devices.

As per the report and from the conclusions that I have drawn, the following are likely to become trends:

• Data security will stay as a major pain-point for the organizations. The last few years have seen major companies and their customers being affected by security breaches and data loss. Hence, organizations will definitely spend massively on innovative and strong security measures to protect their consumers’ data.
• The large-scale growth and spread of Apple and Google in the Smartphone market has opened up business opportunities. App developers, content providers and other such companies are taking advantage of these platforms to provide services and solutions to the customers. This trend will continue.
• The Smartphone OS providers and app developers will work together to secure the data on their customers’ Smartphones as data security will gain prominence among the consumers.
• As we all know and as report pointed out, “Smartphones today handle a great quantity of private and sensitive data, in a highly portable, network-connected mobile computer. The data stored and transmitted can include security credentials, personal financial information, private communications, sensitive company data and more”. So it will become increasingly important for the services providers, developers and the consumers to work together to prevent the cybercriminals from accessing personal data.
• Financial apps are being used by consumers to do business and banking on their Smartphones. Contrary to popular beliefs financial apps developers are adding encryption to the apps as a security measures. As we use our Smartphones more to do our banking activities, the need from fool-proof security measures will increase.
• As the consumers become aware, they will demand secure apps from their service providers. To meet the growing threats on mobile devices, the ideal outcome is for app providers to develop higher competency in mobile app security.

 Knowledge empowerment among the consumers and demand for secure apps will definitely make the companies provide secured solutions to the consumers. Additionally, preventing breaches and data loss is extremely important for the companies to ensure happy and loyal customers.

What do you say?

Nokia Behind Apple & Samsung in Smartphone category

You must have read the news—both Apple and Samsung have surged past Nokia in the Smartphones category. Nokia was once the undisputed leader not only in the SmartPhone category but also in the overall mobile category. So what does this change signify?

• One thing is pretty clear. Nokia can no longer sit on its past laurel and need to quickly come out with products that are in sync with the latest trends and customer needs. Although it is still a leader in the overall mobile phone category, but competitors are eating into its market-share.   
• The greatest pitfall for Nokia seems to be its Symbian OS. It fell through as Android and iOS raced past it. As others went ahead with innumerable innovative features, Symbian looked a bit off-beat. In fact, as compared to Android and iOS, Symbian seems to be the least preferred OS.
• The market expects Nokia’s partnership with Microsoft to bring in some positive changes. But both Symbian and Windows OS lag behind. Hence, whether the deal will be beneficial—only time can say. Additionally, products born out of the partnership are still to hit the market

Nokia needs to look closely at the market and come out with products to attract the consumers. More than the premium customers, the masses can have a big impact on the market. And that’s exactly what the market leaders have learnt from the success of the non-branded and local low priced products. Nokia made a late entry to the dual sim market too.

Nokia has the potential to become a leader again after all its design and technology has always been great. But the organization needs to understand that the demands of the market are different as compared to say a couple of years back. Today customers look for applications, innovative features, and cost also does make a major difference.

So my advice to Nokia would be:

• Innovate on your OS
• Provide applications that makes the life of the consumers easy
• Give features that are easy to use 
• Introduce products that are cost effective and goes easy on the wallets of the consumers

I welcome your viewpoints.

Security Market Grows, Trends I see

A recent IDC report caught my eyes - APEJ (Asia/Pacific excluding Japan) security market posts a 7.5% growth in 2010. Additionally, IDC expects the:

• Identity and Access Management (IAM) and Security and Vulnerability Management (SVM) markets to experience the largest growth of 17% and reach US$375 million and US$161 million respectively in 2011.  
• Secure Content and Threat Management (SCTM) market to grow at 13.3% and reach US$1,059 million in 2011.

We definitely cannot deny the fact security threats are a major headache for the enterprises. In fact, the threats are evolving at a fast pace, and at times become difficult for the companies to keep track of all the threats. Moreover, virtualization and cloud is also increasing the worries for security. Based on the report and current scenarios, the trends I foresee are:  

• IT Security threats will no longer be confined to the enterprises, it will impact the customers and partners and to some extent the other connected stakeholders too.
• Security breaches and data loss will happen via social media and network.
• Security attacks will happen via employees personal mobile devices.
• With 3G and 4G enveloping the telecom arena, the number of attacks using smartphones will rise.
• As the enterprises adopts virtualization and moves on to cloud, the security issues will take a whole new dimension.

I see more additional scenarios. In such a situation what should a CIO do?

• For starters, we are in an age of IT Consumerization and it will not be a good idea to ban personal devices or access to the online services and solutions. So it becomes important for the CIOs to draft foolproof security rules and regulations, and implement them.
• CIOs should proactively adopt the latest security solutions, and create a highly secured network.
• Social media activities should be monitored and come under standard guidelines. For examples, denying access to unknown sites.
• Security vendors should be encouraged to develop robust solutions which should be dynamic enough to keep in pace with the changing security threats.

There can be and definitely will be more measures. I do look forward for your views.

NASSCOM to focus on start-ups and small IT companies

You must have read the latest report that NASSCOM will focus on start-ups and small IT companies. This is a major development and is bound to create positive ripples in the Indian IT industry. I have seen many start-ups and small IT companies fold up because the support to sustain was not there. But things will definitely change for good with this stance of NASSCOM.

You might ask- what would be the great shakes if NASSCOM supports the start-ups and small IT companies? Well, one thing you should know-- it was NASSCOM, spearheaded by late Dewang Mehta, which revolutionized the Indian IT industry and acted as a strong catalyst in the emergence of India as an IT powerhouse. This latest development will give further boost to the Indian IT industry and I strongly believe will make the following possible:

• The main difference between the Indian and US IT industry is that we are providing the support whereas they were and are still innovating and are seen as innovators. And that’s one of the major reasons for the world to become so dependent on them. This support from NASSCOM will lead to a spurt of IT companies with innovative solutions. Earlier many start-ups and small companies with great ideas, innovative products and right motive, failed because the support was not there. 
• Our IT acumen is very strong but our entrepreneurial zeal is not that strong. In comparison to the western world, we have very few IT entrepreneurs. The reason varies from lack of support to fear of failure. But this development will encourage many Indians with innovative ideas and solutions to set-up shops. It will truly lead to a spurt of start-ups and small IT companies. 

Although this stance was long due, but it has come at an opportune time as the world is coming out of recession and people are looking for the next big idea or solutions. I foresee some great solutions and products coming out from the Indian IT sector in the near future. Additionally, I strongly feel that we should get together to support and encourage the entrepreneurial spirit lying dormant inside us and come out with companies that continuously innovate. In the IT world of the future—Innovation will be the key to success.

Private Cloud will create jobs and lead to investments

Cloud’s potential and expected benefits just keeps on growing. Organizations and governments are opening to the benefits of the cloud. Now another piece of news comes as music to the proponents of cloud. A study on private cloud space in India conducted by EMC Corporation and Zinnov Management Consulting estimated that the total cloud market in India will reach a market value of $ 4.5 billion by 2015.

 I have always propagated the fact that cloud will be a job generator in India. I feel vindicated by the report on the employment scene- private cloud is expected to create 1 lakh jobs by 2015. I personally feel with the increasing adoption of the cloud, the number of jobs too will further increase.

In fact, in India the private cloud adoption is increasing- though at a slow pace currently. The study pointed out that private cloud adoption will dominate and account for $3.5 billion in revenues, growing at over 60%. Hence, cloud computing is bound to increase and will form a significant part of an organization’s total IT spend.

IT/ITeS, telecom, BFSI, manufacturing and government sectors will contribute largest to the cloud market in India. But the study also mentioned that private cloud deployments will lead to cost optimization in segments like telecom and networking, facilities and fabric, hardware, software, internal labour and external IT services.  

Cloud is definitely the future!!