Mobile Computing and Social Networks - Coursework Example

? Mobile Computing and Social Networks Introduction: There are thousands of iPhone Apps, iPad Apps, and AndroidApps that have been developed to perform a myriad of tasks and processes. Initially, most of these applications were games intended to be played on mobile devices. The popularity of these applications led businesses to ponder whether some of their business process applications that run on desktop platforms and the Web could be redesigned to run on mobile devices. The response was undoubtedly positive. As it is known that Nationwide developed the Nationwide® Mobile, a free iPhone App that allows its insurance policyholders to file a claim on the spot when an accident occurs. The application can snap pictures of the accident and attach them to the claim data and upload the claim information to a server. This reduces the length of time to process a claim filed this way. Nationwide competitors have followed suit and developed iPhone, iPad, and Android applications of their own. Policyholders can receive messages via Facebook or Twitter. Other business processes that have been reengineered as a result of mobile computing include Quick Response (QR) codes which have replaced one-dimensional bar codes. They are read using mobile devices, accepting credit card payments from an iPhone, iPad or Android device, depositing checks using an iPhone without visiting a bank, and many more. Several surveys have come to general conclusions that applications like Facebook are raising as essential application development platforms. Many others find Google to be more significant in this regard. Considering the mobile computing platforms, Apple seems to be the leader in the market (Vizard, 2012). The present study focuses on mobile computing and social networks learning about their effectiveness, challenges, methods and applications as influencing the lives of all human beings. Mobile Based Applications: Effectiveness and Efficiency: Different companies are in the present times trying to organize for innovative mobile applications that exhibits the feature of geo-location. It is a technology that uses data available from the mobile device of an individual and identifies their exact location at a particular point of time. These days this feature can be found in almost all mobile devices particularly enhanced in the Smartphones that enable GPS (Global Positioning System) such as iPhone, Droid and others. The benefits of geo-marketing have already been identified. These applications enable discounts and promotions to the users when they make the purchases and in turn also provide them real time valuable data based on the preferences of the customers. This data may be put together with the profile of a customer providing a personalized experience (Jaiswal, n.d., p.1). Location-aware applications can also be combined with the social media platforms that permit third-party developers to incorporate geo-location apps into their service. This requires lesser technological investment and a company can control the capabilities of the platform services – like Facebook – to advance its marketing approaches by letting them to provide local information and publicity. “For example, Booyah, a “location-based video-game company,” is the creator of myTown, one of the most popular iPhone apps. The company recently launched InCrowd, a location-aware app built on Facebook Places technology, which lets users interact with friends and share posts in real-time in real-world locations” (Jaiswal, n.d., p.2). However, although the technology proves to be beneficial, there are certain concerns amongst the customers in regard to the privacy around the use of the apps particularly concerning the collection of the location data, spamming by advertisements, and other associated factors (Jaiswal, n.d., p.3). With the GPS systems being available in the mobile handling devices in the recent times, the use of systems based on location have become more popular. The most recent “killer app” is being concentrated fully to be developed by the developers for platforms such as Apple's iPhone and Google's Android. These applications are mostly involved in tracing the user's location followed by availability of on text-sensitive information (Mior, 2008, p.1). The importance of going mobile with purposes of work has been considered significant in the recent years. Wireless and remote access infrastructures are thus the targets of development of the mobile companies for allowing successful companies to let their workers work from different locations without the need of a desktop. Such solutions are already thought by mobile companies like the Blackberry. For individuals in need for selective information, mobile solutions can be provided through business intelligence and selective push information, reliable, systematic communication systems, alerts and notifications, and workflow automation. For those who need to be highly responsive, the solutions include automated system for alert/response systems and knowledge systems, workflow automation and access to tracking systems, and push-type information on relevant topics (Developing an application mobilization plan for your business, 2008, pp.1-4). Those who need organizational knowledge are capable of getting benefits through access to knowledge systems, workflow automation, and push-type information on relevant topics. There are needs for capturing and responding as well that can be assisted through structured forms and mobile input systems, access to knowledge systems, and workflow automation. Also those who need to be kept alerted and informed can be helped through reliable, systematic communication, alerts and notifications, access to organization knowledge system, workflow automation, and GPS and location-based services (Developing an application mobilization plan for your business, 2008, p.4). Consumer Benefits: Mobile devices such as smart phones have facilitated consumers to achieve the right of entry to an increasing number of interactive and valuable applications, at any point of time and at any place. These have enabled the consumers to access their own data and the data that they need for themselves with the availability of the smartphones and their mobile applications. If the available source of the data is trusted, consumers will be able to obtain accurate information assisting them to make informed decisions on choices of product and optimal purchases. “For example, GS1 Australia and Victoria University conducted a trial to assess how smartphone technology and GS1 barcodes could be harnessed to fight obesity” (Providing Digital Information Consumers Can Trust, n.d., p.15). Through the survey, it was obtained that participants who were overweight used the smartphones to scan barcodes on breads, breakfast cereals and cookies and obtained information on the sodium and saturated fat content of all of the products, depending on the serving values that were recommended from the National Heart Foundation. This was achieved by the smartphones by the drawing standardized data, and supplementing them with the information that they collected on the products from different supermarkets (Providing Digital Information Consumers Can Trust, n.d., p.15). The information was helpful for the users of the smartphones who could use the information to make correct choices of products that enabled them assistance towards their own health The digital data being made available through the mobile apps by these smartphones also enable the consumers to see their own data since they can see anything that they wish to. The primary intention of these apps is focused on the satisfaction of the customers satisfying them with all the information that they require (Providing Digital Information Consumers Can Trust, n.d., pp.15-16). Challenges of Developing Applications on Mobile Devices Owing to their Small Screen: Since the screen of the mobile devices are small, thus the mobile companies encounter challenges and they need to bring in ways to incorporate such applications that might be useful for consumers to use even through the small screens. For instance, it has been known that Flex and Adobe Flash Builder have been incorporated by Adobe Flex in the smart phones as well as tablets. Mobile applications can now be developed in Flex with the equivalent simplicity and superiority as could be done on desktop platforms. Several active Flex mechanisms have been expanded to perform on mobile devices, where this has been made to include the insertion of support for touch-based scrolling. Flex also consists of a set of new parts that have been considered to make easy the building of applications that follow standard design patterns for phones and tablets, including the small screen of mobile devices (Developing Mobile Applications with ADOBE® FLEX® 4.6 and ADOBE® FLASH® BUILDER TM 4.6, 2011, p.1). Since the screen sizes of the mobile devices are smaller, mobile applications characteristically follow varying patterns of design choosing from browser-based applications. While the mobile applications are developed, one usually separates the content into a sequence of observations for presentation on a mobile device. Such observations contain parts that are determined on a solitary assignment or hold a single set of information. The user in general bores down or alters from one observation to another by arranging the components in the view. The back button can then be used by the user ca to go back to a earlier view, or put up routing into the application (Developing Mobile Applications with ADOBE® FLEX® 4.6 and ADOBE® FLASH® BUILDER TM 4.6, 2011, pp.1-2). “Flash Builder brings a productive design, build, and debug workflow to mobile development. The goal of the mobile features in Flash Builder is to make it as easy to develop an ActionScript- or Flex-based mobile application as it is to develop a desktop or web application” (Developing Mobile Applications with ADOBE® FLEX® 4.6 and ADOBE® FLASH® BUILDER TM 4.6, 2011, p.2). Thus it can be well understood that while the benefits of the mobile apps have been realized the mobile companies are concerned with their products to ensure that the small screen of the mobile devices do not become a problem. Hence the challenge that the size if the mobile devices create is being considered significantly by the mobile companies leading to enhanced creation of products and mobile applications. Methods to Decide Which Platform to Support: In order to decide which platform to support for use of mobile application, the experience is necessary. A platform with a superior core platform experience would be the one that users would find better to use. For example, a consumer might be using an Android or iPhone. Microsoft in the meantime has initiated the invention of Windows Phone where the handsets would be able to manage complicated email, calendar, contact and management of documents. In such a case in order to understand which platform to support, certain other factors are necessary to be realized. These include the exchange support of the phone, the updates, the apps provided, the speed, and the features (Brust, 2012). The exchange support feature on Windows Phone has very high dependability in comparison to the Outlook client on a PC. This has been exhibited since the platform launched in the late 2010. This reflects a significant disparity with iOS and Android since neither of these had even fundamental connectivity with Exchange until their second versions were in place. The Kindle Fire which is an Android device does not offer any native Exchange support, even if free apps are present to deal with this. “On an Exchange server, especially in large companies, being able to search the GAL (Global Address List) when selecting recipients in a new email message is a very important feature. Android does this automatically; Windows Phone provides it as an option” (Brust, 2012). The availability of the apps is essential and consumers who require such phones for business purposes must look into whether the phone provides with several apps that they might require. For instance, even though the phone developed by the Microsoft might have certain benefits, yet it has been observed that all features needed are not available on its platform as they are available on other platforms. Live Tiles is an additional feature of the Windows Phone platform that has proved to be essential for business users. These are shortcuts on one’s home screen that provide important information taking one directly to a significant part of the related app. These have proved to be better in a way than iOS’s icons and lighter-weight/more battery-efficient than Android’s widgets. Hence consumers need to find whether the platform provides this feature or not before they choose one (Brust, 2012). To choose correctly, it is necessary to understand whether the smartphone platform market preferences are based on the qualities of the core operating system experience. “Everyone fleeing the Blackberry platform would be finding a home on Windows Phone, especially because its touch keyboard is a little better than the iPhone’s and leagues ahead of any Android keyboard, be it standard or custom. But the smartphone wars are also based on ecosystem strength, fashion, costs and popularity amongst influencers” (Brust, 2012). It can be well realized that there are huge competitors in the market of smartphones and influences of the mobile companies might also affect the choice of the platform. However, one needs to compare the features among the different available devices and their apps before choosing. The choices might depend on one’s personal or business needs and consultation with mobile devices and apps experts might also help in this regard. Providing High Availability to Mobile Applications: It has been observed over the last fifteen years that solutions to the use of mobile devices have developed from cell phones and pagers to platforms for wireless email and mobilizing business applications. In the present times the dependency on mobile devices has significantly increased for fast, reliable, easy access to applications and corporate data. Hence mobile solution downtime can negatively influence services to the customers, efficiency, sales, and revenues. Not considering the organizational sizes, high availability needs might differ based on the business and mission that an organization is associated with. For instance, high availability might be required by a brokerage firm during trading hours only, while it may be required 24/7 throughout a holiday season by a supplier of gift commodities. If a global enterprise is large it may require automatic uptime if there is a failure in its mission accompanied with crucial accessibility to information, systems and corporate data (Understanding High Availability for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, n.d., p.2). Selection of a mobile solution with high availability building it accurately into the parts of the system can enable an organization to considerably decrease the risk of downtime. This can in turn assist maximization of employee productivity, improve customer service, and give both mobile users and the IT administrator greater reconciliation of mind. Considering the case of Blackberry, it has been known that BlackBerry Enterprise Server puts together “with the enterprise messaging and collaboration systems to provide mobile users with highly secure access to email, calendar, voice, instant messaging, browser, enterprise applications, and personal information management tools. It also provides advanced security features and access to administrative tools that simplify management and centralize control of the BlackBerry® Enterprise Solution” (Understanding High Availability for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, n.d., pp.2-3). Making Mobile Devices More Secure: According to experts within the industry, there are expected to be 1.2 billion mobile workers worldwide by 2013. Also, it has been estimated that 75 percent of all U.S. workers will be movable; thus the use a mobile device would be for at least 20 percent of their work. Another survey has focused on the fact that several users have either lost their phones or use a phone that is stolen. From these facts, it could be feared that several lost phones would be available that might lead to access of confidential information. Hence the security of the mobile devices has become a matter of serious concern in the current times. However, it has been observed that all mobile companies are not sincerely concerned with the security of the mobile devices (Mobility Advantage: Why Secure Your Mobile Devices?, n.d., p.1). The four primary areas of vulnerability for the business operations of the mobile devices have been obtained to be as follows: Lost or stolen devices Unauthorized data access Risks arising from combining personal and work use in one device Gaps in device management and policy enforcement User authentication at the device level, remote lock and wipe, data encryption, data control, security policies, mobile application provisioning and settings, remote configuration updates, event and activity monitoring and logging, segregating business functions on the mobile device, data fading, and proper management programs are some of the measures that can ensure security of the mobile devices (Mobility Advantage: Why Secure Your Mobile Devices?, n.d., pp.2-4). Conclusion: From the above study, it can be concluded that the mobile devices in the recent times have become more developed with the computing and social networks providing the users with various apps and benefits. As the study reflected, these applications are highly effective and efficient in the way they provide the consumers with several benefits in capture of geolocation data and other information that they require for their personal purposes or for the purpose of business. This has enabled several works to be achieved without the use of the desktop. Consumers can access their own data and whatever they wish to. However the suitable platform needs to be chosen after comparing the several devices available in the market and seeing which one provides with the best features and facilities. Also, with the increasing use of the smartphones, the security of the devices has also been considered nowadays significantly thus benefiting the customers effectively. References 1) Brust, A. (2012). Nokia Lumia Windows Phone vs. iOS, Android: The business apps view, zdnet, Retrieved on June 16, 2012 from: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/nokia-lumia-windows-phone-vs-ios-android-the-business-apps-view/72961 2) Developing an application mobilization plan for your business (2008), blackberry, Retrieved on June 14, 2012 from: http://us.blackberry.com/apps-software/Developing_an_Application_Mobilization_Plan_for_your_Business.pdf 3) Developing Mobile Applications with ADOBE® FLEX® 4.6 and ADOBE® FLASH® BUILDER TM 4.6 (2011), adobe, Retrieved on June 15, 2012 from: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/flex/mobileapps/developing_mobile_apps_flex_4.6.pdf 4) Jaiswal, J. (n.d.). Location-Aware Mobile Applications: Privacy Concerns and Best Practices, truste, Retrieved on June 13, 2012 from: http://www.truste.com/pdf/Location_Aware_Mobile_Applications.pdf 5) Mior, M. (2008). Rapid Prototyping of a Mobile Location-Based Tour, CS, Retrieved on June 13, 2012 from: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~mmior/thesis.pdf 6) Mobility Advantage: Why Secure Your Mobile Devices? (n.d.), Sybase, Retrieved on June 16, 2012 from: http://www.sybase.com/files/White_Papers/Sybase_Afaria_WhySecurity_wp.pdf 7) Providing Digital Information Consumers Can Trust (n.d.), GS1, Retrieved on June 14, 2012 from: http://www.gs1.org/docs/b2c/Beyond_the_Label.pdf 8) Understanding High Availability for the BlackBerry Enterprise Server (n.d.), AE, Retrieved on June 16, 2012 from: http://ae.blackberry.com/services/business/server/full/pdf-understanding-high-availability.pdf 9) Vizard, M. (2012). Mobile Application Development Becoming Hybrid by Definition, itbusinessedge, Retrieved on June 13, 2012 from: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/blogs/vizard/mobile-application-development-becoming-hybrid-by-definition/?cs=50044 Read More