Tablet adoption is reportedly outpacing the take-up rates of smartphones, computers, mp3 players, or game consoles. Adoption is underway in a variety of sectors beyond the consumer segment, into retail, industrial, education and business. The demands for mobility and real-time access to data are driving the tablet market. Sales are expected to exceed 147 million by 2015.
The financial geniuses at Citi (C) that brought us the housing bubble also believe that Microsoft (MSFT) can still win the tablets wars. The BusinessInsider cites a report by Citi that says despite being late into the market Microsoft can become “#2 behind iPad” for these reasons:
Tablets are too expensive – Citi notes gadgets need to fall below $300 before they really take off. Until they reach that cost, Microsoft has time to reach people who haven’t jumped on the iPad bandwagon.
Android tablets are not very good – Citi believes that Android tablets won’t take off like Google’s (GOOG) Android Smartphones.
Android faces legal challenges – Android tablet makers are already facing a bunch of intellectual property suits from Apple (AAPL), Nokia (NOK), Oracle (ORCL), and Microsoft. Citi thinks Microsoft is hoping for royalties of $7.50 to $12.50 per unit. That would erase some of the cost-advantage of shipping Android.
Apps – Microsoft has an army of 6 million .NET developers who could start developing touch-optimized apps for Windows tablets. Plus, Citi says Microsoft can make Office an exclusive for its tablet and exploit its Xbox business to offer exclusive big-ticket games.
Enterprise – IT departments already know how to deploy, update, and push apps out to Windows PCs, so a Windows-based tablet should be easier to deal with than other tablets. Microsoft will also probably make Office an exclusive to its tablets and could create a technology where a tablet can “extend” a PC by giving them access to locally stored files. Citi does note that the “bring your own device” trend might favor the iPad instead, but this trend is still in the early days and not proven.
Citi predicts that about 75 million tablets will ship in 2013 and that Microsoft will have a “meaningful share” of those.
GigaTrust Brings Enterprise Rights Management To Apple’s iPhone And iPad
GigaTrust, a publisher of Enterprise Rights Management (ERM) content protection software that enhances and extend Microsoft (MSFT) Active Directory Rights Management Services (AD RMS) announced the release of the GigaTrust for iPhone and iPad mobile devices. The product consists of a client and “Mobility Server” that enables persistent content protection for the Apple (AAPL) iPhone and iPad equivalent to that provided by GigaTrust for the Research In Motion’s (RIMM) BlackBerry smartphone and Windows Desktop according to DarkReading.
Reportedly GigaTrust for iPhone and iPad protects content at rest, in transit, and in use, allowing users to securely deliver and persistently protect emails while they are being read on the device. Additionally, iPhone and iPad users can apply GigaTrust protection to outgoing emails and email responses.
Research from Kaspersky Lab shows that many users feel more secure using mobile devices than PCs to surf the Internet and that most consider the risk of losing personal data higher on computers than on their mobile devices. The report noted by ITnewsLink says there has been a recent increase in the number of attacks on mobile operating systems like Google’s (GOOG) Android and Apple’s (AAPL) iOS, and experts expect to see considerably more in the future. Despite this, users in the Kaspersky Lab survey feel more secure accessing the Internet via a mobile device.
In the survey, users consider the risk of losing personal data lower on a mobile device than on a PC – despite the fact that around a fifth of all smartphone users has already experienced the loss or theft of a mobile device. The majority of users reported they store personal data, such as photos, emails or contact details, on their mobiles. Around one-third also save login information, such as PIN codes or passwords, for services on their mobile devices, demonstrating a large gap between secure reality and user perception
AppScout says Next! For iPad is proof that the iPad can do work The app is a getting-things-done (GTD) styled app that will help keep your projects organized, keep your tasks from overwhelming you, and keep you moving towards your goal.
Next! can help you organize your to-dos and projects. AppScout says it doesn’t have the same features as a project management suite like Microsoft Project, it’s perfect for those projects that are essentially a long series of tasks to be completed with due dates and dependencies for each of them.
You can take notes, store documents relevant to your project, and tag items that you want to review with others, all from your iPad. Next! will even serve as a light document management system, giving you a central place for all of your project-associated documents, images, and files that you’ll need to refer to as you do the work.
Since the app follows the GTD philosophy it allows you to create action lists based on when the tasks will be completed as opposed to an arbitrary priority list. Your tasks can be adjusted as they get nearer or come into focus. You also get overall project status and health bars that show how far you’ve progressed towards completing your tasks and how closely you’re tracking to your schedule.
Next! is available in the iTunes App Store for the introductory price of $9.99.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Surprise, surprise there’s another mobile-related patent lawsuit. David Meyer at GigaOM says this time the plaintiff is an obscure Delaware-registered limited liability non-practicing entity called Steelhead. The patent in question covers ‘mobile radio handover initiation determination’ – in other words, choosing which cellular base station has the best signal as the handset moves from one place to another.
The defendants are a who’s who of the mobile world: Apple (AAPL), AT&T (T), Google (GOOG), HTC, Kyocera (KYO), LG (LGLD), MetroPCS (PCS), Motorola Mobility, NEC Corporation (6701), Pantech, Research In Motion (RIMM), Sony (SNE), Sprint (S), T-Mobile, Verizon (VZ) and ZTE (763). The article says these firms committed the mortal sin of allowing their mobile phones to act like mobile phones. But the interesting thing about this particular suit is the origin of the suit – or, more precisely, the reporting around that origin.
The author suggests that this case may not be BT “aggressively monetizing” its patent portfolio. BT told Mr. Meyer, “BT sold all of its rights to the patents last year. We have no involvement in Steelhead Licensing LLC’s litigation activity.”
Shame on BT if this is a legit patent and they were not smart enough to enforce their claim when they had it. I’m no lawyer, it seems to me that mobiles that can’t find a cell tower to connect to don’t work.
Today is Labor Day in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Labor says Labor day is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. Outplacement firm 
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