News and Insights

• Ericsson has introduced “capitative coupling” technology: the natural electrical properties of the human body are used to transmit signals with digital information
• iCloud will get some big updates at WWDC including syncing photos across devices, videos to be synced through Photostream
• 14 tips for making the most of the tablet for your business, according to a panel of successful entrepreneurs
• Forrester analyst Julie Ask discusses how mobile success can be measured in relation to real-time data
• Forget an Apple TV, here are four other industries that Apple could dominate next, in Business Insider’s opinion
• Looks like the Foxconn CEO did not, in fact, confirm they are building the Apple TV.
• Four key practices for tablet adoption within enterprise
• Agile methodology is an exploration into the unknown: truly good Agile teams embrace the uncertainty
• Why IT departments should let employees use their own devices
• Amid the talk of Smart TVs and an Apple TV Forrester says Microsoft is in the lead with Xbox
• Tablets are making waves in education. Lebanon looking to deploy 15,000, Thailand to deploy close to one million tablets
• Google to give up to 5 mobile-device makers early access to Android Jelly Bean, selling the “Nexus” devices direct to consumers (not through carriers)
• As the Facebook IPO debuts, a question remains: Will Facebook adapt to mobile or will mobile adapt to Facebook?
• This article from Fast Company discusses why in innovation today, the smartest companies collaboratewith partners
• Rumors: The next iPhone will have a larger screen, and Steve Jobs “worked closely” on the redesignbefore his death say sources
• Here’s a great collection of 40 innovative UI concepts from Dribbble designers
• What Enterprise Mobile Apps Can Learn From Mobile Games

Could moving content from desktop to tablet save a life? When it comes to making it easier for doctors to view medical images, it just might.

Converting from desktop to mobile opens up new possibilities in form factor and workflows, but it also changes how information is consumed and shared. And even these seemingly small changes can completely reinvent an existing solution.

This piece is the first in a series exploring the transition from desktop to mobile, with attention to the less-considered opportunities and differences it surfaces. We’ll begin with a medical case study in which simple tactile differences result in a much richer and more consultative overall experience.

Case Study: Mobile Medical Consultations with SeeMyRadiology
With SeeMyRadiology – a system that offers instant access to medical images and reports via the cloud – moving to mobile brought a new ease to scanning through images. Doctors can flip through hundreds of images from CT scans by sliding or swiping a finger. This provides greater animation control and makes it significantly easier for a doctor to spot irregularities.

Unlike its desktop counterpart, the SeeMyRadiology mobile interface lets users dynamically resize an image, tapping and dragging on the screen to bring about even better clarity. The nature of a handheld device makes it effortless to bring the image closer for inspection.

While the desktop version offers similar basic functions, mobile introduced a better way to view and control images.

Creating a Consultative Experience
SeeMyRadiology’s mobile solution empowers doctors, health care professionals, and patients by giving them immediate access to images and medical charts on an iPad. Using a tablet, doctors can quickly provide diagnoses and consultations from any location with access to an internet connection.

But the consultative aspect isn’t specific to healthcare. While desktop monitors are larger in size, there’s a discernible barrier created by the information being tied to an stationary screen. As more industries begin to utilize tablets to power field enablement solutions, they’re discovering that this experience naturally encourages collaboration in a way that desktop has not.

Since many desktop products are made for individual experiences, they haven’t been matured for for the consultative, collaborative aspect. This transition not only requires clear visuals, but a completely new way to think about how you manipulate and access information.

Taking Users Beyond Desktop
With enterprises moving from rigid desktop programs to major mobile solutions, they should be aware of how great an impact even the smallest adjustments can be. The transition in mobile isn’t just a change in software, but a change in expectations and possibilities.

Nope, just another Mutual Mobile hackathon.

Designers and engineers met on the weekend at high noon for the latest smack down. Throwing out app ideas gathered prior to the event, participants piled them into good, decent, and those “not so great.” Clear winners included an Instagram global map and a Jira status board, and from there it was all about how to divide and conquer.

Ryan Engle, an engineer focused on building the Instagram app, said, “My goals were to first display a 3D globe that showed the real-time position of the sun, then import the top photos and their location information, finally displaying them on the globe.”

A big part of the hackathon is dividing tasks amongst participants, so they don’t conflict with each other’s implementation to make the most of crunch time. Hackers stopped to ask each other for advice or clarifications, but mostly it was a day of headphones on, straight-up coding. “My drink of choice was Mountain Dew, and snacking on Goldfish,” said Engle.

There’s hope for an even bigger and better turnout for the next one, since any hackathon’s success lies in a group of people truly passionate about creating, willing to get it done at any cost. That energy is where the next big idea is born.

Last year I paid my taxes from my iPhone. I did it from the parking lot of a Target store, using Intuit’s SnapTax app only hours before the deadline. I did it because I had waited until the last minute and had no other choice, and because there was some novelty in telling people I had filed from my iPhone.

The experience wasn’t a bad one, I got a hearty return and all things went smoothly. But I couldn’t help but think of mobile as “less than” and wonder if I couldn’t have gotten a fatter return by diving into Intuit’s robust desktop version, TurboTax. This year I resolved not to resort to filing again via smartphone. This isn’t to say I didn’t wait until the last minute, but it was enough minutes before midnight that I could make some conscious choices about how I would file.

I still chose to file via smartphone.

If not for convenience or novelty, why would I still choose mobile over desktop? Let me tell you why:

• One of our biggest mantras at Mutual Mobile is that apps should be sharp blades and not Swiss Army knives…they need to do one thing well, not everything under the sun. There are infinite different taxation situations a person can end up in, and the TurboTax website it designed to cater to every one of them. But I don’t own a home yet, have a dependent, or work a bunch of contract jobs on the side…my taxes are relatively straightforward, so why should I have to wade through these infinite scenarios? SnapTax is designed for the simplest of filing situations and gives me only what I need.

• At first I thought that SnapTax’s camera feature, which scans your W2 and pre-populates all your answers, was a bit of a novelty. But why shouldn’t we tap the entire power of our devices to make a better experience? The camera feature kept me from having to rehash the painful taxes already being sucked from my paycheck, and the hyperlinked phone numbers made it easy when I had to call in to get my e-file PIN.

• SnapTax is dead easy and idiot proof. This is most definitely an app for the masses and Intuit has gone to every measure to eliminate human error from the equation. One of the best examples is the tutorial that comes before the photo scanning, that shows the exact type of lighting and alignment you need to make it work. They make the progression of steps as small as possible and incredibly clear so you know exactly what you’re missing. On top of all this, I never had to enter a credit card, the billing was done directly through my iTunes account…and for about ten dollars cheaper than TurboTax’s basic package.

I realize that there will be people who read this and consider me an exception, perhaps because I’m younger or because I work for a mobile company, but the fact of the matter is I’m slowly moving from the exception to the rule. There are predicted to be one billion mobile-only internet users by the year 2015. This is particularly true in emerging markets where 25% of users are accessing the web strictly through their phones. 

We’re also increasingly becoming used to doing very private and sensitive activities on our phones, such as banking and shopping. There was a time that consumers were scared to purchase from online stores for fear of getting robbed, but today there are people who do their entire Christmas shopping on Amazon. The same shift is occurring in mobile. It’s a trend that even surprised Intuit:

To be honest, some of the folks on the team were surprised consumers were willing to file taxes on their phone at all. However, after Intuit began studying the issue two years ago it found that a number of consumers, particularly young people, had no problems putting their social security number and other information into their phones.

“Having their taxes on the phone isn’t any worse than all the private information that’s already on the phone,” said lead designer Alan Tifford, noting that the app tends to be popular among the same set that has their whole life stored in Gmail.

The new, post-PC workforce demands consumer-grade experiences. This means well-planned, well-executed user experiences (UX) that are useful, delightful, and desirable to the end user.

Mobile has forced us to rethink how software is made and used. It’s shortened development lifecycles, introduced more competitive marketplaces, and simplified publishing. As a result, consumers have become more selective and developers must do more to keep users coming back.

In other words, apps need great user experiences.

These three UX tips will help keep your app focused, relevant, and useful, no matter how many new feature requests are added during development.

Help Your Team Understand Your Users

During initial planning, the delivery team should create user personas that consist of everything from an actual name and job title to motivations and expectations. By examining how these individual personas currently accomplish a set of tasks without an app, the delivery team can mimic these mental models through user journeys within the app.

The delivery team needs to be able to put themselves in the mindset of the user, which doesn’t necessarily follow the traditional enterprise software model but will definitely result in more intuitive processes. Accessing the actual end users through online surveys, phone interviews, and on-site contextual inquiries will help paint a portrait of end users in a way that simply speaking with stakeholders cannot.

Approach UX as an Iterative Process

UX should be fleshed out at the start of every project – never jump immediately into coding. Detailed, upfront planning can greatly reduce the need for costly redesign and redevelopment later on.

That being said, the app development lifecycle is not like a factory. Designers can’t just hand off wireframes to the developers and move on to the next project.

App development is an immersive, fluid process. An app will be revised and refined many times during its lifecycle, and many different roles will touch an app before it is released to market. But these changes should always be made with the goal of creating a better UX.

Rarely (if ever) does an app match up perfectly with the wireframes or app map created at a project’s start. Avoid falling in love with individual features or visual designs, as new circumstances and feature requests may make those beloved features a detriment to your app’s success.

Collaboration Between Design and Engineering is Key

Apps with the best UX are most often created through close-knit collaboration between visual designers, interactive designers, and software engineers.

Each team member brings his or her own strengths and experience to the table, and as a result each considers different elements when crafting the app. Forrester agrees:

Designers that are separate from developers often hand off designs to app dev and never see them again. Both designers and developers lose when that happens because designers don’t learn about what works for the developers and what doesn’t, and developers get cut off from a resource that could help them find solutions when they run into problems. Ideally, your app dev group and designers should be located together to encourage collaboration and skills transfer to each other.
-Forrester, Best Practices in User Experience (UX) Design

App dev teams complement each other: what one person lacks in Objective-C know-how, they make up for in design expertise. A colocated team can bounce ideas off each other and edit one another’s ideas, learning as they go, resulting in the smartest decisions and an app with extraordinary UX.

1. Make the First App that Pops Into Your Head

When it comes to mobile, always go with your gut. There are so many possibilities for what you can do that you’ll just get overwhelmed or, worse, second guess yourself. Relax – like any software project, there’s no way to miss the target.

2. More Features Are Always Better

Dollar for dollar, there’s no better way to boost productivity than to pack every imaginable feature into a single application. Need to track a shipment or request a new forklift battery? Consult the ‘Manufacturing and HR’ tab, cleverly nestled between a flashlight and a crowd-sourced list of neighboring sandwich shops.

3. Design for Your CEO

Don’t let passing trends like consumerization or measuring worker satisfaction derail your IT goals. It doesn’t matter what platforms your employees are embracing; if your CEO still uses a BlackBerry, you’d better make sure he’s happy.

4. Involve as Many Stakeholders as Possible

Steer clear of naming a dedicated product owner. From start to finish, every detail of your application should be debated and argued over by as many executives, vice presidents, and directors as your boardroom can handle.

5. Keep Engineers Out of the Planning Phase

Software engineers like to talk about what “isn’t possible” or “defies basic logic.” Their childlike dependence on reality will smother great ideas, so keep them distracted until somebody absolutely has to start building the application.

6. Focus Your Strategy Around QR Codes

Nothing beats the simple pleasure of opening a QR reader, capturing an artfully arranged jumble of squares, and tapping through a series of pop-up notifications to land on a corporate homepage. Absolutely nothing.

7. Don’t Let Designers Ruin a Good App

Those user-focused hippies throw around jargony phrases like “behavior,” “expectations,” and “is there a way to get there in under 70 touches?” Leave the application up to the engineers, and let your designers focus on their real strengths: tweaking color schemes and napping.

8. Mimic the Best App You Find

Mobile may be new, but all the good ideas have already been snatched up. So if you don’t have an app, just latch onto your biggest competitor and ride them to the top.

9. Always Augment Reality

Reality just doesn’t cut it anymore. If your employees can’t reach out and hug a pie chart then they’ll never be able to understand how many TPS reports they’ve processed in a quarter.

10. Leave Testing to Your Users

QA is expensive and, let’s be honest, a bit of a chore. Leave that step for your users; they’re sure to find all the bugs eventually.

That’s all there is to it. Once you’ve put your app on the market, you can sit back and reap the rewards. The app will take care of itself.

Editorial Note: this piece was first published on April 1st. Readers should approach with a healthy measure of skepticism.

When companies approach us to develop their mobile roadmaps, few have considered the strengths and weaknesses of every front-end solution type. For instance, can an HTML5-based web app handle their needs at a smaller investment? Could a hybrid app expand their user base? And is it possible for a native app stay relevant across changing campaigns?

When determining the front-end approach for a particular app, we base our decision on 11 criteria. Some aspects, like the need for augmented reality, make it easy to determine the solution type. But it will not always be that simple.

The truth is, every mobile solution is different, because every mobile objective is different. That’s why we only deliver custom applications, and why it’s important to carefully evaluate your mobile needs at every stage of your larger product roadmap.

We developed this flowchart to introduce the strengths of each approach and educate your decision-making process. After exploring several routes, familiarize yourself with each solution type through our video and slide deck.

Please note that this flowchart is not a definitive tool, but a guide to help you start thinking about the many approaches to mobile. It cannot account for the many intricacies that should be considered for every project.

During the event, the “Rebounding Station” was without a doubt the hit of the night. Two designers started with the same image, and went head-to head during a ten-minute period while the audience watched their progress through connected monitors.

Attendees were encouraged to relax and chat with fellow designers at blank-canvas picnic tables. To get the creative juices flowing, all of the picnic tables were left bare except for Sharpies, crayons, markers, and pencils. By the end of the night, the tables and benches were covered in amazing drawings and sketches, which our company game room now proudly display.

One of the event organizers had the idea to build an app specially for the meetup. Our iOS engineers worked with members of the design team to create an app which showcased the finished designs from the Rebounding Station, attending Dribbble members’ past work, plus any tweets with the hashtag #MMDribbble. An iPad running the app was connected to a flat screen TV for everyone’s viewing pleasure. This was a great opportunity for our designers and engineers to collaborate and create something special, and everyone was excited to work on an app that would help make the event a success. The app is open source and will be available for fellow Dribbblers to use during future meet ups. Download the app here.

Mobile is transforming the healthcare industry as we know it. Today, healthcare professionals are using tablets to pull up patient histories, view CT and MRI scans, and better educate patients. Meanwhile, consumers are using their smartphones to track everything from their sleep patterns to blood sugar levels.

According to a survey conducted by Float Mobile Learning, 40% of doctors believe that mobile health technologies can reduce the number of hospital visits. This can only be expected to increase with the release of the new iPad. So what should those in the healthcare industry consider when developing a mobile strategy?

Don’t underestimate SMS

Keep an open mind when considering platforms. Sometimes a simple, well-executed solution will have the farthest reach. For example, Johnson & Johnson created an engaged audience of 270,000 through its text4baby campaign. The program sent text messages to pregnant women and new mothers to improve the health of their babies.

Stay user focused

Think about the life of your target users and how a mobile device can best meet their needs. Will your users be healthcare professionals, patients, or both? When and where will they be accessing your app? Employing techniques such as creating user stories will allow you to understand the thought process and environment of your users.

Stay realistic

One of the best aspects of mobility within healthcare is giving patients access to professional medical advice wherever they are. But this requires a serious time commitment on healthcare professionals’ part. Be sure to consider this before promising “instant” feedback to user-submitted questions.

You don’t have to reinvent the wheel

Build off of existing social and mobile frameworks that your users are already familiar with. For example, the company Within3 saw a need for online communities similar to Facebook and LinkedIn within healthcare. Medical associations and hospital staff use the app on their tablet or smartphone to share knowledge and build relationships.

Don’t let regulation hinder creativity

Yes, the regulations within the healthcare industry are very real and require due diligence to make sure they are followed. However, these regulations should not hold down the industry from offering its mobile users fresh solutions to age-old problems. By focusing on the user and thinking beyond the QR code, you can create truly innovative solutions to meet the needs of your users and better patients’ lives.

It was inspiring to view the world’s most innovative mobile technology on display amid the timeless Old World architecture of Barcelona. Seeing someone snap a photo of the Palau Nacional with an iPhone, then post it on Twitter or Facebook in a span of mere seconds, is a spectacle that makes one realize just how far mobile technology has come within the past several years.

“New World” Mobile

Mobile carriers started Mobile World Congress (MWC) back in 1987 when mobile phones resembled bricks and only made phone calls. Today, these carriers are only a drop in the bucket compared to the vast amounts of tech companies that line the convention room halls. This year’s MWC – the largest conference of its kind – had over 600,000 attendees and exhibitors ranging from corporate giants like AT&T and Samsung to the smallest app development shops.

Ironically, recent conferences have seen the emergence of companies chipping away at the profits of the very carriers that once started it. Companies like Pinger and WhatsApp have disrupted the once lucrative SMS industry with free messaging services. Social networking apps are reducing the amount of time people spend talking on the phone. And when we do make calls, MWC is filled with every flavor of VoIP companies who further cut into the carriers’ revenues. By giving birth to “old world” mobile, the carriers unknowingly also gave way to a brave “new world” of mobile.

Mobile Has Become a Non-Negotiable

Walking upon the 500-year-old stone-cobbled walkways from one booth to the next, one can’t help but feel that we are at an incredibly significant, albeit fleeting point in history. Companies like Microsoft, Facebook, VISA, and Ford Motor Company all gather in Barcelona because they share the common thread of mobile, despite coming from drastically different industries. Mobile has become something much more important than a differentiator; it has become a non-negotiable. Every company, regardless of their field, must embrace consumer and enterprise mobility to remain competitive.

This, however, is the very reason that colossal internet or computer conventions like COMDEX no longer exist: the technology became ubiquitous to the point that the conferences were no longer relevant. Every major company either integrated these technologies or ceased being a major presence. We are now seeing this same trend with mobile, as every industry from automotives to healthcare integrate mobility as a key initiative.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

One of the best ways to appreciate how the “new world” of mobile has become a paradigm equally significant to the computer or the web is to breathe in the diversity of the companies present at MWC; the level of fragmentation is truly astonishing. It would easily be possible to break the conference up into entertainment mobility, POS mobility, supply chain mobility, and dozens of other similar categories.

The larger realization is that in only a few years, the “Mobile” in MWC will feel redundant. This is a testament to the infrastructure and innovation that the mobile carriers originally debuted, as mobile technology will soon touch every facet of our lives.